Welcome to ASimplerTimeMill.com

You have arrived at A Simpler Time's
Fiber Processing Mill Since 2003

Satisfied customers tell our story best:

You always do a great job!
LaJean Rieff
Mineral Mountain Alpacas
Customer since 2003

I have heard a lot of complaints from people up here about their processing mills...I told her A Simpler Time does an awesome job! My Friend will be sending her alpaca fiber to you for processing.Debra

We love our yarn, felt and batting that you processed
and wanted you to know we appreciate you and your work.Pam and Al Schlosser, Ranch Noelle

Full Service Fiber Mill with Great Prices and Superb Customer Service because...

We run your fiber through the fiber separator up to four passes at no extra charge to provide you with the best yield and cleanest possible fiber at the lowest possible cost.​

A Simpler Time Mill is a Mini Mill that processes alpaca fiber, llama, mohair, angora & some other natural fibers.
Due to our current backlog, we are not taking sheep wool at this time

All prices for alpaca fiber processing include washing and are based on finished weight only. We never charge for the dirt and the hay the animals love to roll in.

Alpaca fiber is never charged at incoming weight.

All Batt, Roving, Felt Sheets, Slivers and Yarn INCLUDE
going through the fiber separator which is where vegetation is removed
from the fiber with NO per pass or additional per lb. charge.
We can not guarantee all vegetation will be removed. Some fiber comes
in so dirty that it can't all be removed, but we will do our best which
means up to four passes through the fiber separator at no additional
charge. The cleaner it comes in, the less you lose in processing.Your
yarn comes back more affordable, cleaner and with less scratchy guard
hair.
In addition, it helps to reduce pilling in your final product when run through the fiber separator.

A Simpler Time Mill Price Sheet

  • Roving or Batting

    $24.00 per lb

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator & carding

  • Felt Sheet, Sliver, or Core spun rug yarn

    $30 per lb

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator & carding and
    Felting-for a felt sheet
    Running through drawframe for sliver
    Putting the fiber on cotton core for Rug yarn

  • 2 Ply Chunky Yarn

    $42 per lb
    Skeins are $2.50 each

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator, carding, drawframe, spinning, plying,steaming, quality control and cone wound. Skeins are an additional charge

  • 2 Ply Medium Yarn

    $37 per lb
    Skeins are $2.50 each

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator, carding, drawframe, spinning, plying,steaming, quality control and cone wound. Skeins are an additional charge

  • 2 Ply Sort Yarn

    $37 per lb
    Skeins are $2.50 each

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator, carding, drawframe, spinning, plying,steaming, quality control and cone wound. Skeins are an additional charge

  • 2 Ply Fingering Yarn

    $41 per lb
    Skeins are $3.25 each

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator, carding, drawframe, spinning, plying,steaming, quality control and cone wound. Skeins are an additional charge

  • 2 Ply Lace

    $47 per lb
    Skeins are $4.00 each

    This price includes tumbling, washing, picking, fiber separator, carding, drawframe, spinning, plying,steaming, quality control and cone wound. Skeins are an additional charge

  • Additional Information

    • Lot fee is a $24 charge for any size lot.
    • Lots under one lb. will be charged at the one pound charge.
    • Fleece longer than 6" staple length requires an additional resizing charge of $5.00/Lb
    • There is a $2.50/lb charge for Suri Alpaca

  • Specialty Handling

    • 2 ply yarn is standard. It is $2.00 per lb for each additional ply requested.
    • There is a $2.50/lb charge for adding any additional fiber asked to be blended
    • There is a 15% special handling fee for all fiber excluding alpaca and llama
    • There is a $35 per lb for dehairing cashmere and will be based on
      incoming weight in addition, washing weight will be based on incoming
      weight due to the loss in weight dehairing creates
    • There is a $17.50 price per pound for dehairing all other fibers
      and washing weight will be based on incoming weight due to the loss in
      weight dehairing creates

Contact us to get in line for mill processing before shipping your fiber to:
A Simpler Time Mill
1802 Alta Pl.
El Cajon, CA. 92021
Please follow shipping instructions below when you are instructed to ship your fiber in :
Shipping Your fiber:

Please send in your fiber in CLEAR plastic bags.NO black bags. Bugs love to hide in dark dirty fiber

A $10 handling fee will be added to your bill for fiber sent in black bags.

Please  mark your ranch name or personal name on the bag and what you
would like the fiber to be processed as: roving, or 2 ply sport, skeins...etc.

To save a lot in shipping expense, place a nylon foot sock over the end
of a vacuum hose and suck all the air out of the bag and twist the bag
close and place in shipping box. This will save you a lot in shipping
expense because you will be paying weight for the box not volume.
Removing the air will not hurt the fiber.

Pictorial View of the Mill Process

  • Tumbler

    This begins the process of removing dirt and vegetation.

  • Washing

    The Fiber Washer gently circulates the fiber without an agitator because if you agitate the fiber during the washing process, it will felt the fiber.

  • Drying

    We use the sun to dry the fiber in our greenhouse. Glad we are in San Diego, fiber typically dries out over night.

  • Picker


    Picker opens fiber up to help get the vegetation out since alpacas love to role in the dirt which tends to mat their fiber.

  • Fiber Separator

    Fiber separator removes vegetation and guard hair. We run your fiber through the separator up to 4 times at no additional charge to get you the cleanest products possible.

  • Carder

    The carder makes roving, batts or rug yarn by combing the fiber which aligns the fiber in the same direction for spinners, hand felters or rug artists.

  • Bumps or Bags of Roving

    Our roving for hand spinners and needle felters comes standard on a bump for ease of use and less expensive to ship but can come loose in a bag at your special request.

  • Drum on the Carder makes batts

    The drum collects the fiber and layers it into a batt.

  • Batts

    Batts are clean, layered fiber which is great for large hand felting projects

  • Felt Sheets

    Batts are layered out onto the felting table and with water hot water and the felting machine agitates the fiber back and forth into felt sheets which come standard as 1.6 lb sheets but can be made to the 2 or 3lb sheets as desired.

  • Needle Felter

    Felt sheets can be run on the needle felter for denser, more compact felt than wet felting can obtain.

  • Drawframe

    Drawframe makes roving into slivers for more consistent hand spinning

  • 8 Bobbin Spinner

    Our spinner turns the slivers into single ply yarn by drawing out the slivers and spinning the bobbins.

  • Lace Spinner

    The Lace spinner has a shorter throw so as to cause less breakage for fine fiber creation.

  • Plyer

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  • Steamer

    The yarn is run through the steamer to set the twist into the yarn after the plyer twisted and balanced the yarn. This process is like the old days when people ironed clothes to get the fabric to be wrinkle free.

  • Skein Winder

    After the steamer, the yarn is placed on the skein winder to put the yarn into loops that are then hand twisted into hanks for individual purchase.

  • Cone Winder

    The cone winder is the machine that pulls the yarn through the steamer and is where we do the final quality check on the yarn.