Shear Madness!!!

Some of you may know that Alpaca With A Twist wasn't always Alpaca With A Twist, and the yarn company that is now was once an alpaca farm: Copper Ridge Alpacas. There are significantly fewer alpacas there now, but they still need to be sheared to get that crimpy awesomeness turned in to yarn. And so a week ago, I met Jennifer at the crack of dawn (okay, 8 am) and we jumped in the car and first headed to Sheep Street in the Martinsville area to drop off some stuff and talk briefly about shearing (and meet the Sheep of course. Plus Jennifer keeps 2 alpacas there still) and were on our way to Georgetown to shear those Copper Ridge alpacas.I had never sheared alpacas before, only sheep, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. With sheep, you throw them over on their backs and shear from there, and by the time they figure out how to get upright again, they're pretty much done. Shearing alpacas is a much more....involved process. It starts with looping ropes around their wrists and ankles (can you still call them wrists and ankles? Must ask Jennifer) and then lowering them to the ground, pulling the ropes tight. Someone has to hold their head so they don't get spooked and try to get up and get all cut up in the process, and for a while that was my job. Jennifer did all the shearing, and we had a couple other people there to help. Each alpaca took around 45 minutes to shear, vaccinate and trim up their legs and head into a nice little mop-style that only works for alpacas and punk rockers.
But who cares about the process! The pictures are so fun! And check out the baby- she was only 4 days old when we went down to shear!

Single Skeins: Temptation

Name: Temptation
Color: Spearmint
Sign: Gemini
Yardage: 109

Story:
"Hi there! I'm Temptation, a fun loving silk/alpaca blend that's looking for someone to love and knit me into the object of their desire..."

Perfect Match:
"I think that my perfect match is someone who is bold and can appreciate the silkier things in life. My ideal match uses size 7-9 US needles, but I'm open for anything! I am very flexible and can be your perfect scarf or that sumptuous sweater you've always dreamed of...want to try me on, baby?"

Perfect Date:
"A candlelight dinner, a walk on the beach, a trip to your favorite yarn store- I'm up for anything!"

Movies/Music/Books:
"I love all sorts of movies. I adore foreign films- if it's been to Cannes, it's probably been in my DVD player. I love a good slapstick comedy, and I love everything but scary movies- I hate getting my stitches dropped! I'm not much of a reader anymore, but in my spare time I like to tackle some Tolstoy, get lost in some Orwell, and I'm super-sweet on Shakespeare. As far as music goes, I'm really in to alternative music like Ingrid Michaelson and Fiona Apple. What about you?"

Anything else?
"You can get to know me a little better at your local yarn store. Can't wait to see what you can do with me..."

What do we do besides yarn?

So in the last couple of years I have decided I like plants. Maybe because I have some friends who do really well with them I wanted (needed) to try it too. This year I have cucumbers (the pickling kind), zucchini, catnip, cilantro, oregano, and lavender started in the house. I brought a table into by breakfast nook just to hold the pots. Could be fun or a real disaster.

My other great passion is dogs. Many of you may have seen the 2 puppies that came with me to TNNA in Columbus a couple of years ago. Unfortunately having a dog that needs a home has become a little bit of a habit. Our latest resident was Huckleberry from Indianapolis Animal Control. He went to Vermont to a new home but was with us for 12 days before he went on his journey north.

The First Little Contest Was So Much Fun...Let's Make It Bigger

We had such a good time hearing your suggestions for naming a new color we decided to venture out and ask for help again but this time in a MUCH bigger way. We have been working on a set of patterns to make a triangular shawl out of 1 hank of Baby Twist (or 5 balls). We have 4 so far and a 5th coming from our favorite lace designer, Sharon Winsauer. We would like to finish out the series with a 6th from you. The details are below. If your favorite local yarn shop doesn't carry Baby Twist just have them give us a call and we'll be happy to help them out. Happy knitting!

To enter the competition:

1. Simply design and make a triangular shawl out of 1 jumbo hank (549 yards) of Baby Twist or 5 50g balls of Baby Twist. If you are using 5 balls, be sure to only use one color. Be sure to write down the design as you go, you’ll need to send it in to enter the competition.
2. The shawls and patterns must be received in our warehouse at 950 S White River Pkwy W Dr, Indianapolis, IN 46221 by June 1st, so please plan accordingly for shipping. If you would like your shawl returned, please enclose a self addressed envelope large enough for the shawl.
3. The winner will receive $250 and a jumbo hank of Baby Twist in the color of his or her choice.
4. The winning shawl and pattern will become property of Alpaca With A Twist as part of a shawl collection. However, the winning designer may sell their pattern themselves as long as it is promoted using Baby Twist and is not available to other yarn manufacturers. Our published pattern will also include the designers name and location.
5. The top 10 entries will all receive a replacement hank of Baby Twist in the color of his or her choice.
6. The winning shawl will be displayed in the new products section at TNNA promoting our single hank shawls.
7. Please be sure to include basic contact information (full name, phone number, address and if applicable, e-mail address) in the same package as your completed (and blocked if desired) shawl and pattern.
   

We look forward to your entry!

And the winner is......

Wow we got a great response for help in naming our new Baby Twist color. The names were all so great I want to go and develop additional green colors just to use more of the names. Key Lime Pie and Spring Green were definitely 2 of the most popular. It was really obvious everyone is ready for spring. My favorite as most of the names were coming in was Honey Dew because several of the new colors already had fruit names but then Victoria Hunemuller from Waterloo, Iowa suggested Pucker Up and I had my winner. Here are some of the other great suggestions: Iguana, Anole Green, Catkin, Sour Grapes, Melon Camp (very cute!), Apple Jacks (this is our warehouse cat), Forsythia, Dandelion, Promise of Spring, Sprout, Yummy Lime Jello, Kiwi, Green Tomato, Green Tea, Bamboo Shoot, and Margarita. This is only a partial list. Thank you to everyone who participated. We have a bigger and better contest coming up so you will have to check back for more information.

Baby Twist 10 packs and 7 new colors

We finally recieved a shipment of Baby Twist 10 packs. The shelves look much better and backorders will ship tomorrow. The exciting news is that in addition to restocking we also received 7 new colors. The colors are pictured on the left. (sorry I took the picture this evening without natural light) With the exception of 1 these are actually colors we had previously used for Punch. The one new color is the bright yellowish green and it needs a name. (it is slightly greener in real life.) We are coming to you for help. Please submit your suggestion of names and the we will send the winning person with the winning name a 10 pack of Baby Twist in this new color. Email us at jennifer@alpacawithatwist.com with your suggestions.

New Colors of Socrates!

So we've had a really big week here at Alpaca With A Twist! On Wednesday, a huge order of Socrates came in and we worked like crazy people trying to get all of the orders out the same day. Luckily for us, our favorite UPS guy ever, Chris, was running late and we were able to process and pack all but three but the time he got there. So you should be getting your backordered Socrates any second now!
But the really exciting news...somewhere hidden in those 26 boxes of sock yarn were 2 new colors, 0409 (Oil Slick) and 0292 (Coco Bean). I got to name these yarns and I'm so excited with how well they go with some of our other colors like 0100 (Natural) 0208 (Khaki) and 0403 (Charcoal). I'd really love to make a men's sweater out of all of these colors in a fun but very manly stitch pattern. (I just need a man I like well enough to knit a sweater for!)

If that's not totally awesome enough, we have also finish a couple more shawls for a series of patterns we are doing that use one jumbo hank of Baby Twist! Stay tuned for some pictures!