Check out my new rug! Yes, it is alpaca fiber, how sweet of you to notice! (:
What an awesome weekend at C&M Acres Fiber Mill and Alpacas in Maxwell, Iowa. Christian and Michelle sure know how to share their love for all things animal, fiber, and small business! As a blessed member of the family, I was able to visit and stay with these two wonderful folk at their farmstead last weekend and experience life on an alpaca farm.
First, a little bit about alpacas because they are absolutely one of the most unique animal breeds I have been privileged to spend time around:
- Alpacas come in two breeds, the Huacaya which is more puffy with dense, crimped fiber and the Suri whose fiber appears more silky and clings together, looking like dreadlocks. C&M Acres have both types, but the Huacaya is far more common. Both fiber types are considered a luxury material.
- Alpaca fleece is incredibly soft, often softer than processed sheep wool and is much warmer because the fibers are hollow. For an added bonus, alpaca fleece is hypoallergenic and almost completely waterproof. I would have never guessed this until talking with the alpaca experts!
- Alpacas spit (like llamas) when they feel agitated or anxious. Usually, and as was the case at C&M Acres, it is the males that spit at each other in a battle over food. The hilarious thing about this is that the spit may contain stomach bile and the guilty alpacas will get ‘sour mouth’ which makes their bottom lip droopy and useless. The males fighting over the food will not be able to eat until this wears off, and the less dominant or aggressive males will eat first.
- Alpacas poop in the same two to three spots in their pastures. This keeps the area cleaner than most other herd animals and easy to maintain! Apparently, this keeps predators confused and would make a herd more difficult to find in the wild. Also, the mothers will eat the poop (or ‘beans’ for the alpaca folk) of the babies (technically called cria) to hide their scent.
- Personality wise, they are docile and slightly hesitant creatures that love food and sunshine. I think with more time, they could really really love me. Opinion, of course.
Ok so they are the best and I love them, I will happily support a small herd of alpacas on my own land as soon as possible. C&M Acres typically have an average of 70 alpacas with 1 guard llama, 3 working Great Pyrenees dogs, 5 cats for funzies and 7 goats of various ages they keep on their farm for the neighbors. Sound like your kind of people? Heck yeah!
With all of these animals comes great fun, lots of fiber, and a busy mill! Not only does this farmstead process all of their own fiber, they get shipments from all over the country of multiple different kinds of animal species to process into yarn. The mill equipment is way over my head and part of an impressively intricate manufacturing system. All of the fiber work is processed by hand and directed through a series of equipment to make yarns and fleeces and felt of all colors and size. Meticulous and efficient, Christian and Michelle have picked a really cool hobby to become masters of.
BUT WAIT: the fun doesn’t stop after the fiber products are created in the mill. Anything you can think of that should be warm, water repellent, or soft they have made it. We are talking pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, bags, scarves, hats, headbands, shoe insoles, dog coats, herd animal coats, rugs, on and on and on! They will custom-make just about anything a client could think to ask for with their fiber or fiber that is mailed to them.
I was honored and so excited to hop on a loom this weekend and make my first rug! I used grey fiber from Lucky Man, one of their first sires, and was blown away by the process. Included below are pictures documenting some of the steps I went through before reaching my final product.
The basic steps for this six to eight hour endeavor are as follows:
I counted (warped) 240 strands of white cotton thread. These threads individually were fed through a reed and then through heddles (large needle tracks) in a specific pattern. The threads were tied down and the foot pedals were adjusted to match the heddle pattern. We pulled the threads through to wrap around the other end, checked for errors, and tied it all together. After tension was applied, the weaving began!
We are talking 5 to 6 hours of set up time just to get the ‘scaffolding’ in place for the fiber to be woven in. Once I began weaving, it was just making sure the correct foot pedals were applied and ‘tossing the shuttle’ of thick fiber through the appropriate threads.
Words cannot describe how mind blowing this process was- I will never ever look at a rug the same way. This equipment is specialized and beautiful and I cannot wait to sit in front of the loom again.
Please comment below with any questions or check out their facebook page here! You don’t want to miss those cute alpaca faces, trust me. Also, they have some great photos of their products (dog lovers, you know who you are, those coats are ADORABLE) and the equipment that they use.
And finally, friends, I will forever be looking for more excuses to visit them again. It is a long drive, but if anyone would like to join me, LETS TAKE A WEAVING CLASS TOGETHER. Your life will be changed, and the world will be a better place with more people learning how to value and appreciate hard work and natural resources.
Happy alpaca stalking, Drifted Way <3 (:
