Alpaca Farm

This is a new thing for me. I've always loved alpaca as a fiber and have used alpaca yarn to make all sorts of things. For a long time I worked on archaeological surveys across the country and have often pondered things that are new world in origin.

It was this past fall that I decided to check out Alpaca Farm Days in September and visited 2 farms. I ended up getting a few bags of carded fiber. I only had a drop spindle but spun enough to make a 2-ply alpaca scarf for my sweety. I decided it would be great to get an actual spinning wheel which alleg- edly is 7 times faster than a drop spindle, bringing me technologi- cally ahead a few millenia.

I won one on ebay, a used Louet S10 but it won't be shipped until after the 18th.

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff leading into this series of pictures but I don't think I can write coherently. Let me just say that this is the 2nd blog I started this year. If you look at my about me blurb, you'll see that I am a landscaper and landscapers are not very busy in the winter around here, which is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I think this will keep me busier while the snow flies.

So here's my photo explanation. The 1st photo I believe is my source of black fiber. I will figure this out later. I love the idea of knowing the guy that gave me his fur.

Next we have the girls including the cria who is wearing a coat to keep her blanket clean. a cria, for those uninformed is a baby alpaca. Their fur was reserved for royalty.

Then there's the studly guys, I wish I could remember their names. I intend to figure that out and fix this post.

Next is the trouble maker, DeMolay, I believe. I don't know why he's jumping up like that but we found it cute. The farmers found him annoying. Alpaca as you can see have a lot of personality. I hear this guy takes after his mother, who they chose to sell. Todd is wearing the scarf that I both spun and knit. Very GQ isn't he?

Finally here is the cria. I must say that at the farms I visited in September did not have alpaca as friendly as these. I was told that this cria liked to kiss people, and she did kiss me!

I also learned that they don't like to have their heads touched but are OK with their necks. Based on that I figure that the naughty boy above is being agressive but it still was hilarious to us. He just had a thing for Todd.

The baby was just sweet and I was glad that she let me touch her oh so soft neck. I gotta thank her mom for tolerating me too.

This farm is quite tiny, not an exclusive business, more of a family thing and it showed. Maybe I'll get to see these guys next spring.

I sorta want to keep this to myself, but this is Pennsylvania Keystone Alpacas. I really liked this place, good people, good alpacas, and I didn't even mention the goats, dogs and parakeet.