one alpaca, two alpacas

The real fiber news today is the trip to Brookfarm Alpacas in Glen Ellen, Sonoma County. My cousin lives in nearby Santa Rosa, so we went out for lunch to a lovely Indian/Nepalese restaurant in Jack London Village (not to be confused with Jack London Square in Oakland, CA), and then went up to see the Alpacas who are very cute:




This is Libby, who was less shy than her mates:



And this guy was a comic:



There were fleeces of all colors (natural) and roving, as well as yarn from the national Alpaca co-op, and locally produced fiber.


I bought yarn from Vicki of Alpaca Shire, which is local fiber spun in southern California, and then she kool aid dyed it yellow and aqua:



On the knitting for others front, here's the update: This sweater, I am happy to say, is completely finished:



and was a fun knit. I stumbled into using good color theory on the sweater, and I like the outcome.

The other sweater, the Ariann, had yet one more trial. At Knit Night, as I thought I was finishing the collar, Lisa helpfully pointed out that the bands were unfinished. With a sinking heart, I looked at the pattern, and yes, I was supposed to have included the button-band stitches in the collar. So, another frogged piece (but this time, fortunately it is garter stitch!), and I reknit it, sewed the small seams under the arms, wove in the ends, soaked it, spun it in the washing machine, and now it is blocking. Only buttons to sew on!