Alpaca Adoption

My friend Marci and I adopted an alpaca last weekend.

This has prompted a lot of questions from my friends and colleagues: “You’re adopting an alpaca? Where will you keep it? Do you know anything about taking care of alpacas?”

I sure don’t, readers. That’s why I’m just adopting her, and she can go live on the farm with the other alpacas and the farmers who know how to take care of her.

Let’s start at the very beginning: One day out at the Ren Fest, I had to tell Marci about this article I read in Spin Off magazine. It featured three different sheep farms that offered an ewe adoption program, where you “adopt” an ewe by paying for its upkeep, then come shearing time you get the fleece. Marci said she knew of an alpaca farm outside of Topeka with a similar program, so we decided to make a little trip out there to meet some of these adorable, fluffy creatures.

Aren’t they just the cutest! We spent a little time frolicking with them, feeding them treats, trying to decided what color fleece we would want. When we narrowed it down to a couple, we herded a few alpacas into pens, one at a time, so we could hold them and get a really good look at their fleeces:

The color changes a little bit as you get closer to their bodies. Look at that crimp too! This would be wonderful to spin.

In the end, we adopted Reba. She’s a sassy redhead (although her fleece will be more brown), and she’s super soft. Her parents have really long staple lengths, too, so her fleece should be a dream to spin.

Marci and I have been invited to come back and help during the shearing, how much fun would that be?! If we go, I’ll be sure to keep you all posted!