ALPACAS
While Cappie lives in Seattle and Maja lives in San Francisco, our small herd of alpacas make their home on Cappie's family farm in northeastern Colorado. Each of the four girls has her own personality and her own qualities, and we're delighted to introduce them to you.
Pippin is the leader of our small herd of four. She is not only the metaphorical mom of the group, she is also literally Bow's mother. All three other alpacas end up following her lead and look to her for guidance when there's danger. Pippin was born in 2013 and hails from Absaroka Alpaca Ranch in Brighton, CO. She is a huacaya alpaca with beautiful chestnut colored wool. Her wool is of a particularly long staple length and soft texture, making it excellent for spinning fine yarn. Because of her dark color, her fiber takes less well to natural dyes given their lower intensity of color. However, a strong acidic bath of cochineal will transform her rich chestnut locks into a beautiful crimson color.
Bow is our baby. When she first arrived at the farm, she was just one year old and could often be found attempting to feed from her mama Pippin. The two of them hailed from Absaroka Farm in Brighton, CO, and were bred to be show alpacas. Both were sold because their conformation would have prevented them from ever winning a blue ribbon. Fortunately, her family history has led Bow to be a shining star in terms of her wool. Her perfectly white wool is amazingly soft and has an incredibly long staple length. This means that a skein spun from just 4 ounces of Bow's wool can yield up to 400 yards of yarn. Bow herself is incredibly curious and the least shy of the four alpacas. She loves peppermint horse treats and will come right up you if she thinks you may have some.
Prince is a quirky girl. She and Genevieve both came from Gentle Spirit Alpaca Farm, a large alpaca farm formerly found in Wiggins, Colorado. She was born in 2013, and is also a pure white huacaya alpaca. While her staple length is not quite as long and luxurious as Pippin and Bow's, her pure white color takes very well to dyes, and we've managed to achieve a high intensity of color in her yarn. Prince can often be seen scratching her head on the ground in an odd fashion which has given her top tuft of hair a bit more of a punk rock appearance. She's the wiliest of the four alpacas and always the last to be caught when it's time for summer shearing.
Genevieve is approximately the same age as both Pippin and Prince. She is our only Suri alpaca, meaning that instead of growing very fluffy, her sleak and tight curls give the appearance of hair. Her fawn-colored wool has a silky texture that we often blend with sheep's wool to make it easier to spin into yarn. Gen came from Gentle Spirit Alpaca Farm along with Prince, although she was not officially a part of the farm. She was boarded there temporarily and then abandoned by her original owners. Fortunately, she has found a permanent home on our farm and become the shyest girl in our tiny herd.
