Today my family and I had the opportunity to meet Richard Brandt, owner (along with his wife, Deb) of Circle B Alpacas.

He and his daughter graciously give us a tour of this enterprise, and we got to meet the alapacas. I was particularly excited about this, because I have heard that alpaca fiber is both very warm and is generally better tolerated by people like me who get very itchy when wearing wool.

I learned an awful lot today, not the least of which is that alpacas love to have their photos taken, and I was fortunate enough to be able to get these photos of alpacas in action:

The alpacas at the Circle B are segregated by gender. Here is a photo of one of the males:

Here is a photo of a second male alpaca:

and here is a picture of Sequoia, a third male:

While the males were not shy, the females were even more determined to have their photos taken:

Here is a photo of the baby Goldrush nursing from the mom named Confetti:

While I didn’t get to meet Richard’s wife, Deb, today, I did get to see her spinning wheel and some of the tempting yarn she had left on her coffee table. She is working toward the goal of opening an etsy shop and selling the yarn she spins. I am seriously hoping to be able to help her get started with her goal and purchase some gorgeous pin yarn that was sitting of the coffee table of her home.

And while I am, at the moment, too tired to share all that I learned today, I am amazed and appreciative of all of the people who work together to bring these fiber products to us. They are truly devoted to their craft, to their animals, and to keeping those of us who don’t know how to spin our own yarn up to our ears in stash we can use.