The Road to Alpacas

We took the Prius and headed west...to Berkshire County in western Massachusetts, that is. Not only did we get 49 mpg, we got yarn... and fleece... and had a great time in the process.

First stop: Web's in Northampton. Laurie had never experienced Web's famous warehouse, but she handled it like a pro. She emerged with only three cones and a ball of sock yarn. I exercised restraint (given my already monumental stash) and selected just a single bag of natural-colored closeout Jo Sharp DK for the dyepot. Well, that and some single balls of a few other colors. The cones of alpaca/silk laceweight in the front room, however, were another story. Yum. I also got a whorl and a copy of the most recent SpinOff. I have to make one of those sheep puppets!

The highlight of the trip was our visit to Red Barn Alpacas in Sandisfield, an hour or so west of Northhampton. Sonja and Jeff made us feel right at home, and Wotsie, my favorite little dark brown alpaca, marched right up to say hello. Maybe it's because we made the trip specifically to buy his fleece. I have his 2005 fleece as well, and will send one of them out to be processed with the black border leicester fleece I got at MDS&W. The other I'll spin solo.

Since I was in the groove, I also bought an amazing light brown cria fleece from Copper. It'll spin into fabulous lace on my new Schacht.

Everyone had a good day.