Monday 2 July 2012

A Knitting 'Crafternoon' at an Alpaca Farm......

Hello, I hope you all had a good weekend, I'm back today to share my weekend with you. I spent Saturday afternoon at Toft Alpaca Shopfor a knitting 'crafternoon'.
What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, it is in a small village called Dunchurch which is full of thatched cottages, very chocolate box, set in the rolling countryside of Warickshire. The shop is a converted barn, full of soft, squishy balls wool, Toft only sell 100% British alpaca yarn, gorgeous, modern designs samples, comfy tub chairs covered in knitted alapaca wool covers, and the staff were lovely, so friendly and helpful.
Firstly we had a walk around the farm to meet the 220 alpaca's, a lot of the females have just given birth, the name for a baby alpaca is a cria and they were so sweet, I could of taken one home with me.
All the adult alpaca's had just had their annual shearing and their fleece sent off to the mill to be spun, Toft don't dye their wools and all the colours you can buy are either natural alpaca colour or two or three colours spun together to create other natural colours like mushroom, steel and silver.
As we walked around the farm, we were given different facts about alpaca's and you can appreciate why 100% alpaca wool is more expensive, one alpaca produces just 5 balls of wool per year !!!!
Here are a few photo's of my day.


 












When we got back to the shop we were greeted with tea, coffee and handmade cake, we were then given a Toft goodie bag with a pattern book and a small ball of alpaca wool to make a little phone sock or you could buy some wool and do one of the many patterns in the book.


I decided to buy a kit for the Mini Bulb Bag.



We all sat around a huge wooden table, on stools that were made from old, metal tractor seats, very rustic and surprisingly very comfortable. I managed to get the bottom of the bag done and pick up the stitches for the sides before the shop closed, it was a quick knit and I finished the bag on the night.



It doesn't look much here, does it, but  it then goes in the washing machine with non bio washing powder to felt it and this is the end result.




I couldn't leave without buying some wool and I bought myself some fine alpaca yarn to crochet a delicate lace scarf, I'm also waiting for some silver Suri alpaca yarn to come in, it's at the mill at the moment waiting to be spun. I will definitely be visiting again, I had such a lovely time.


xxxxDebxxxx

18 comments:

Unknown said...

What a splendid way to spend your weekend Deb! Such cute animals, love the photos you took. Sounds like a really beautiful surrounding, very romantic even. What a great result of your bag, who would have thought of this effect! Love it! Ira x

irascreacorner.blogspot.com

Ros Crawford said...

Oh Wow! I can't believe that knitting turned into that cute bag! Amazing ... and I love your photos ... fabulous!

karisma said...

Now this sounds like my kind of excursion. The alpacas are adorable. I especially love to visit with baby animals too. I love all the pictures. And how perfect to sit and knit at the end of the day. The bag looks fabulous. Very stylish. :-) Hugs xox

Martha Herrera said...

The alpacas look beautiful! Don't see many of those here in L.A. LOL.
Thanks for sharing!

Martha H.

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Sounds like a great weekend!! I loveeeeeeeee the pics and love love love your bag you made!! GORGEOUS!

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

Oh wow, the bag is amazing, love the "after" look!

Anonymous said...

Great photos of the alpacas Deb! Love the end result with your bag! It is amazing and darling! Hugs, Joanna

Sue Lelli said...

Wow! All kinds of new interesting info, Deb! LOVE the photos and I had no idea when you washed it that it felted like that! What a FUN day and FAB bag!

Lynnda said...

Great photos Deb... Love your handbag too... hugs...xoxo

~Tammy~ said...

ok wow that is cool!

Debbie said...

Awesome handbag!

Jak said...

Oh Wow!! I love the bag, I need one lol, it really is lovely x

Heather Rogers said...

Love Alpacas and those darling babies. I would love to live somewhere I could have some. They are too cute. I love to see them gallop around. Your bag turned out amazing.

Sarah said...

Those Alpacas are gorgeous and what a fabulous way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Your bag is adorable!

Sarah x

Jackie xxx said...

WOW, love it. The bag looks awesome. x

Carole said...

Wow thanks for sharing your weekend adventure. The alpacas are so darling. The knitted felted bag is fabulous.
Be well Carole

Unknown said...

Oh my stars girly.. I am loving that handbag. Thanks for always inspiring me.. Great photos also..

Hugs~

Stefanie said...

My gosh! What a field trip. Lucky you, Deb. That baby alpaca is adorable. Good for you on picking up some. Loved the power of felting; what a big diff!
Does it shrink much?

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