Alpaca, Alpaca & more Alpaca!

Last Wednesday evening, the Purling Petals took a little field trip to Sallie's Fen Alpacas. We got an informative behind-the-scenes tour of the mill (thank you Sallie), a visit with the gorgeous animals (thank you Jack), and a unique shopping experience with the most knowledgable person there to tell us all about the yarn (thank you Nicola).

So, have you ever wondered just what it takes to get from this...

... to this?

Lots of processes... and lots of machines!

Fiber needs to be washed... (then carded, but somehow

my camera missed the mega huge carding machine)...

Roving needs to be made...

Then its spun...

Then its plied...

And the final product gets wound

into hanks... check out this swift!

There were lots of drying racks for the fiber before it moves along in the process... and lots of barrels of roving waiting to be spun.... such a fun place!

Even though it was dark, we still got to check out the animals! This cutie pie was only 8 days old...

Jack even brought several of the girls out of the pen for an up close & personal visit!

After the tour, it was time to shop till we dropped!

Mmmm... a wall of alpaca!

I did bring a few friends hanks home...

This super soft, dark brown baby alpaca (a blend of 3 different babies' first shearings) will be a pair of fingerless mitss for me, using this uber soft alpaca/silk blend as a trim...

This is their new sock yarn, which pictures do not do justice! The tones and little shimmers of color are gorgeous. Joanne test knit a sock for them and it was so stunning, I had to have some! Its 48% alpaca, 20% soysilk, 20% wool, 12% nylon...

Pictures also do not do justice to Nicola's hand dyed alpaca... this skein was very fallish and well, it just had to come home with me!

Thank you again to Sallie, Jack and Nicola... it was a wonderful night!