Textile Courses
Enjoy learning in the company of our lovely meandering alpacas
My studio is a traditional Mongolian yurt set amongst our alpaca fields. You will be working with the natural fibres from this beautiful herd in the peace & quiet of the countryside.
Working with Alpaca Fibre
Alpaca is a soft, luxurious, warm, hypoallergenic natural fiber.
ALPACA FLEECE
I have always worked with the fleeces from our herd and am a spinner, weaver, felter and knitter. Alpaca fibre is extremely versatile and makes the most wonderful fabric, be it knitted, woven or felted. The first stage is to sort and grade the fleeces. The fibre needs little preparation, however the cria fleeces can be full of debris - just like any babies they love messy play and will take half a hedge with them if they can!
Natural Colours
Alpaca fibre has a beautiful lustre and comes in many colours and we have alpacas from pure white to the deepest black, with numerous creams, fawns & browns in between - not to mention all the gorgeous greys, which are my personal favourite.
HAND SPINNING
Hand spinning is a gentle process and a great way to relax and focus on the moment. Making your own yarn is extremely rewarding, the process of taking a project from the animal - be it an alpaca, sheep or your pet dog - to a finished garment has a marvellous sense of achievement.
WEAVING
Alpaca makes a wonderful woven fabric that is soft, warm and has an elegant drape. I prefer to use a simple weave that allows the natural beauty of the yarn to characterise the pieces. Working with handspun yarn gives fantastic texture and blends beautifully with our mill spun yarn. As Alpaca is such a strong natural fibre I use our yarn for the warp and weft to create a truly luxurious finish. Please visit our Store for details of current our current stock of handwoven alpaca scarves and shawls.
ALPACA YARN
Alpaca yarn can be knitted to make the finest cobweb lace shawl or a super warm winter jumper. The natural insulating properties of alpaca make the yarn an especially good choice for people with poor circulation. Our alpaca yarn is 100% alpaca and shows off the herds many natural colours. We usually have a limited amount of yarn for sale Please visit our Store for our current stock.
DYEING
Natural dyes create lovely soft tones which perfectly compliment the alpacas natural palette. There is a world of colour in our hedgerows and gardens! Growing and dyeing with our own Indigo plants has given me some beautiful blues to work with and Queen Anne’s Lace produces wonderful yellows to mention but a few.
FELTING
Alpaca makes fantastic strong, soft felt. It can be used to make the lightest Nuno felted silk shawl or a sturdy felt hat that will keep the coldest wind at bay! I prefer working with raw fleece as the fibre has an inherent memory that produces wonderful textured effects. For our Nuno Felt silk scarves we use the very soft blanket area of the fleeces to create an extremely lightweight felt combined with silk.
KNITTING
Alpaca is soft and silky, once you've knitted with alpaca yarn you may never go back! You can substitute alpaca for most patterns but it is helpful to know the length of yarn needed (not just the weight), as alpaca is a denser fibre which makes the length per 100g slightly shorter than an equivalent sheep wool.
As the fibre has no lanolin, it is hypoallergenic, and a great choice for people who are allergic to sheep wool. We usually have a limited amount of yarn for sale. Please visit our Store for our current stock.
