Projects

Say hello to my friend Pandora. I met her along with all of her other friends over Thanksgiving weekend. I went to my grandparents house which is in the very beautiful Trout Lake, WA in a valley of the Cascade Mountains. There is a husband and wife team who own and operate the alpaca farm and they were kind enough to let us meet the animals and give us a tour of the barn. What originally brought us there was the newly opened gift shop which features socks, lots and lots of socks made from alpaca wool. The majority of their socks and other accessories are imported from Peru however she did have some amazingly thick socks made in the USA from a Co-op they belong to. We couldn't go there of course without learning something about these adorable animals. They are rather shy until you get some food in your hand, then watch out! Their wool is amazingly soft, warmer and stronger than sheep's wool. In the gift shop there were several toy animals made from their wool and I just wanted to snuggle with it all day. Let me tell you, I had a really hard time putting them down. I couldn't leave without getting something so I decided to purchase a skein of yarn. They had about five or six different selections to choose from with pictures of the respective alpaca the wool came from. I couldn't help but choose Pandora. Her picture made me laugh with the expression that was on her face. I mentioned that to Barbara, the shop owner, as she was ringing me up. She told me that alpacas chew their cud so they make a figure 8 shape when chewing and she happened to take the picture as Pandora was eating, thus the funny picture. I wish I could share it, but wasn't lucky enough to catch her eating. However I was amazed at the length and beauty of their eyelashes. Amazing right? Even the babies had these lushes lashes.

I am in the process right now of turning Pandora's yarn into a scarf. I have managed to make a big mess of the yarn so far. I'm trying to roll it into a ball to make it easier to work with but all I'm coming up with is tangles and knots. Hopefully I will get that resolved soon so I can keep on moving.
I'll post photos soon. If you happen to be White Salmon/Hood River area I encourage you to stop by Meadowrock Alpacas and say hello to Pandora and her friends. You'll be glad you did!