Finally, I’m back from my month-long sabbatical (I’m barely counting the last post since it was rushed)! Every week, my task list has included “Update See Creatures”, but one excuse after the other kept compelling me to push it onto the next week’s list. But I’m back, and updates should be much more regular now that it’s summer! Should, of course – I’m not really promising anything.
My friend Lindsay, a fibers major (textile studies), has the coolest job ever, I’m sure of it: she’s interning this summer at an alpaca farm. For the past month or so we’ve been working out a chance for me to accompany her there, and today presented itself as the perfect opportunity. So we drove about half an hour south of Denton into the beautiful farmland of Flowermound. That’s one thing I love about where I live: I’m less than an hour away from Dallas’ premiere shopping, and even closer to beautiful farmland.
When we arrived, the alpaca congregated and stared at us. Cutest welcoming committee ever! Their heads look extremely large, as they were recently sheared.
Two of the babies
These are the young boys of the Alpaca farm! I love how the non-castrated males are called “studs”! These, however, have been castrated – it preserves the softness of their fur!
Again, the ladies, standing around and watching. Alpaca are so curious – they were standing and staring the entire time we were at the farm!
One of the studs – I forget his name! He had his own fenced-in area to himself, since the non-castrated males tend to be more aggressive.
This is Marinara – the most outgoing alpaca of the bunch! (In one of the first pictures, you can see her eating out of Lindsay’s hand.) Like any other animal, alpaca all have very individualized personalities.
Two of the babies – I believe the one on the right is Marinara’s.
This boy (whose name also escapes me) is a “Suri” alpaca, meaning his hair grows in dreadlocks. I love the way his hang in his face – it makes him look cool and adolescent, haha.
After feeding and admiring the alpaca, Lindsay and I invested about 20-30 minutes into the tedious task of cleaning out the already-sheared alpaca fur. Lindsay explained to me how Alpaca fur is valued not only for its softness, but because it isn’t oily like sheep fur. The fur we cleaned out was ~3 inches long, sometimes even thicker, and so incredibly plush and soft. It’s also very expensive, so it might be a while before I can buy any alpaca yarn!
Hope everyone is doing well!
June 2, 2010 at 10:09 am
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haha, they are lovely.
June 2, 2010 at 1:33 pm
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Ahhhh! Holy hell, that is pretty cute haha!
June 2, 2010 at 1:40 pm
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I LOVE knitting with alpaca yarn– so plush and soft, it’s perfect for winter scarves or hats and looks amazing knit into cables. But I’ve never met an alpaca. They seem adorable! I love the shot of them eating from the feed trough– they’re perfectly alternating!
June 2, 2010 at 4:40 pm
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Ah, I love alpaca yarn! So lightweight and warm. You’re lucky to go see the animals up close. I love their long limbs and big eyes. How cute. :)
June 2, 2010 at 11:29 pm
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haha, oh my gosh! they’re funny little things, i love these photos! :)
June 4, 2010 at 2:29 am
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The first photo of you is GORGEOUS! You have a way with your camera :)
June 7, 2010 at 12:18 am
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Oh my gosh, the sixth photo should be a postcard, or a print at least, I love it so much. I giggled when I saw it.
June 8, 2010 at 6:01 am
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Aww thank you, hahah! It is probably my favorite in terms of personality. I love how it looks like she’s smiling for the camera!
June 7, 2010 at 3:39 pm
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The photos turned out great! I hope you don’t mind me snagging a few to take to my family reunion to show off :3
The stud you got a photo of is Hobbes and the suri is Mo. The two lighter babies you got a photo of are Mimosa and Margarita. And yes, the red baby, MaiTai, is Marinara’s. And BTW, we discovered the other day that we were going about the cleaning all wrong ._.; It’s so much faster and more efficient to use the brushes to comb every thing out!
I’m glad you had a great time!
June 9, 2010 at 7:36 pm
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they are so cool looking! all long necks and big eyes. you got some great shots!
July 15, 2010 at 2:17 am
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thanks for sharing those pictures and educating people on the beauty of alpaca fiber! i LOVE it and i LOVED the photos. really well done — i just went to my first American alpaca farm the other day in New Mexico. it was great fun.
take care,
kate robertson
founder, mayu
http://www.shopmayu.com
July 27, 2010 at 4:30 am
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they’re so cutee! and they have beautiful eyelashes! thanks for sharing!