Some of Our Fibre Contributors

We shear our animals in June. Shearing is necessary for their health whether the fibre is used or not. Fortunately, the fibre is a gift that only nature can provide. The alpaca fibre is very strong, soft, water resistant and fire retardant. On average it will take the two of us about 25 to 30 minutes to shear an alpaca, clip their toe nails and trim their teeth if necessary. The sorting of fibre is a very necessary and time consuming job. All vegetation and foreign matter must be removed. The quality of fibre and length must be graded and sorted to determine the best form of product. For example, long fine fibre is best made into yarns. Depending upon the quality of fibre, we will have yarns, lopis, rovings, felts and other products made by your fibre mill - they will know best how to use your fibre.

After the shearing, sorting and cleaning, the fibre is finished. We take our fibre to our local mill – Legacy Lane - in Sussex. They use a biodegradable citrus soap to wash the fibre (no harsh chemicals are used!). They turn our fibre into lovely yarns, lopis, rovings and felts. We do not dye any of our products, just nature at it best. We also set some of our raw fibre aside for the avid spinners.

In our little shop, we have hand-made knitted and crocheted items available, insoles made from our felts, alpaca fibre dryer balls and Canadian machine-made Alpaca socks. Our yarn comes on cones from the mill and we wrap them off into 100 gram skeins or hanks. Of course they are all natural colours, some 100% alpaca, and others blended with merino, soy or bamboo. We make our own olive oil soaps, as well. No scents or colours added, ideal for folks with sensitive skin. This year we will also have felted soaps, that is, our olive oil soap has alpaca fibre felted around the bar for a lovely exfoliating experience.

To care for a knitted or crocheted garment - a gentle hand washing in cool water (no wringing out please) and laying flat to dry will allow your gift from nature to last a life time.

We have a variety of yarns in weights, colours, and some are blended with merino or bamboo. These are typically two or 3 ply or DK weights.

We also have Lopi weight yarns, a heavier but low twist yarn that is mostly cria yarns because they are often longer than adults' fibre. The yarn on the left shows you how much heavier lopi is. Lopi is a yarn developed for longer fibres, which tended to break if processed on regular fibre machines.

From felts made with alpaca fibre, we cut insoles for shoes and boots. These are cut to standard sizes - i.e men's 6, or women's 8 not simply small, medium and large, and you cut your own. They are also weighed so that someone with less room in their shoe takes a lighter pair. Their cut edges are also needle felted to keep them from fraying. We also have made several orthoitic liners which offer comfort as well as support.

Our soaps are hand made, and aged so that they last longer. They contain the natural glycerin that commercial soaps remove, and sell as hand creams at higher prices.

We also make alpaca stuffed pillows. Folks have bought them for themselves, and also their pets. We have fibre that can be used to stuff your own pillows.

From felted alpaca fibre, we make dryer balls. Several of these, used in a clothes dryer, will shorten dryer time, and soften the clothes. Since they are soft, they do not make loud noises in the dryer. While some may say that they decrease static, we do not make that claim.

They also make nice cat toys, so if you find they go missing, check your cat.

Raw fibre can be used by hand spinners to create their own yarn.

We carry alpaca socks that are machine made for Alpaca Canada. These are currently made from imported fibre, turned into yarn in Canada, and into socks in Okotoks, Alberta. We have carried these for several years, and find them well received.

We have hand-made products from our yarn, usually knitted, or crocheted. All items are priced by weight.