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Lis from Visual Anarchy
Lis from Visual Anarchy is the first guest reviewer for Stuff Worth Buying. Lis is one of the most talented people I know. From stained glass to knitting, both a mom and an artist, she excels at the beautiful and the clever. It did not surprise me to learn that she was reviewing yarn. Read her post below.
“Alpaca don’t really like to be hugged, but mine learn to deal with it because I love to hug them.”
– Linda Gardner, Owner of the Blue Moon Ranch in Woodland, Utah
Picture courtesy of Linda Gardner.
This weekend my husband and I had the pleasure of visiting Linda Gardner’s Blue Moon Alpaca Ranch. Linda has been running her ranch, which currently houses 50 or 60 alpaca, for eleven years. Within spending five minutes with Linda you’ll realize she is quite possibly the most passionate alpaca owner you’ll find. She knows the name and personality of every alpaca on her ranch. As we walk around she talks to them like they are her children, “Willy. Get over here. You know I’m talking to you. Come on, get over here.” Willy stands up and comes over.
She also knows the quality of each alpaca’s fleece. She keeps track of this so she can decide which alpaca to breed to get the softness and colors she is looking for. Even though she clearly sees her alpaca as an investment she also has a few “hay burners” she keeps around simply because she’s grown attached to them. “Look at him.” She says pointing to an older alpaca, “He’s an old man, he’s got his easy chair and cigar. I couldn’t make him leave. It just wouldn’t be right.”
She gets approximately fifty skeins of yarn, one hundred yards per skein, per alpaca each year. However, not all of the fleece is worth spinning into yarn. In fact she showed us a bag of fleece she uses as insulation around the windows in her home.
Each summer she flies in a specialist who can shear an alpaca in four minutes. He and a team of helpers can shear the entire herd in a day. The fleece from each alpaca is put into separate bags and labeled with the alpaca’s name. The fleece is then sent to a spinner who also keeps track of what yarn came from what alpaca. The result is amazingly soft yarn with rich, natural, un-dyed color. Each skein is labeled with the face and name of the alpaca it came from, and even has an occasional bit of hay still in it. This is how yarn is meant to be. 
If you are interested, she sells most of her yarn at her ranch on “open farm day” which she holds each year during the last weekend in September. She may also have a booth at the Great Basin Fiber Arts Festival.
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[...] an eclectic review feature: A look at everything from the Spotbot to the Colgate 360 Toothbrush to Alpaca farms and yarn. The theme that ties these diverse items together is that they are stuff worth buying, a favorite [...]
I love that yarn. I wish I could knit.