An Alpaca, Goat & Yarn Adventure

Not everything is simply knit and purl stitches.  Sometimes the fiber arts includes a field trip with friends on a rainy spring day.

After reading Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool by Clara Parkes, I had an ever so slight understanding of the intricate transformation required to place a skein in my hand.  Yesterday’s visit to Rach-Al-Paca Fiber Processing in Hastings moved Parkes’s words from paper into real life.  Our exploration began in the barn where I handfed corralled alpacas (no spitting allowed.)  We ooh-ed and aah-ed at the herd of goats and kids and then moved into the plant for a discussion of practical tasks like washing, before viewing the mechanical processes of carding, spinning and plying (all requiring lots of math, as well as physics.)  We did eventually reach the shop where, yes, we bought yarn.  

And, our fiber adventure was only half-begun as after lunch we visited MUSE2320 Fiber Co. and met Sara, an entrepreneurial color artist extraordinaire with ties to northern Wisconsin.  Even though she was in the midst of dyeing hundreds of special order skeins following last week’s Minnesota Yarn Shop Hop, we chatted about color, yarn, the river, and the naming of her shop:  muse – a source of inspiration and 2,320 – the approximate length of the Mississippi River.  I am enamored of the MUSE2320 palate. This shop will definitely become a regular source of beautiful yarn.

Happy knitting!