I'm Off To Play With Alpacas

Tomorrow I start my journey to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to speak, teach, and autograph my books at the MAPACA Jubilee. This is the shows 15th year and it will be a ton of fun.

The Mid-Atlantic Alpaca Association includes farms up and down the east coast. The very early ancestor of the Camelids, which includes llamas, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos as well as the camel and dromedary developed in the Great Plains of America but then some traveled across the land bridge to Asia and Africa and some wandered south through Central America to settle in the mountainous regions of South America.

However, they began returning to North America beginning with the efforts of famous newspaper mogul William Randolf Hurst who brought some in to his California estate. In recent years, the popularity of these wonderful animals grew from the level of novelty to wonderful provider of fleece that could be knit into luxury clothing. There is a movement on among the thousands of alpaca farms across North America to get serious about marketing the more than 20,000 pounds of fleece as a group to encourage Americans knitters as well as the garment industry in the US to Buy American. 

The yarn is a "green" product in that it doesn't require a great deal of energy to get it. The animals are shorn every spring to protect them from the heat of summer and will grow a new full coat by the next spring. Since they come in over 20 natural colors, dying is not necessary to knit a wonderfully colorful garment. There is very little oil in the fleece so it doesn't have to be treated by harsh chemicals. But the biggest benefit for knitters (where my interest lies) is that the hairs in the fleece are so fine that the resulting yarn is incredibly soft. 

And so, I shall wend my way south tomorrow to spend a long weekend reveling in fleece, yarn and the excitement of this wonderful show.  I hope to see you all there.

Good Times With Friends

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Monday evening I had fun visiting with author friends Debbie Macomber and Marie Bostwick. Debbie was on a book tour for her new book One Simple Act and we got to share what is going on with our lives and books. Both Debbie and Marie have books on the NYT bestseller list now.

I got to catch them up on what has been going on here. October was extremely busy here at Kanine Knits. It started with book signings at the Big E in Massachusetts. It was great meeting all the people who made a point to find all the authors in the Connecticut Authors & Publishers Assoc. booth in the Connecticut Building.

Next I was off to Torrington to be part of the WOW Forum celebrating the women of the world. It was a great chance to meet business women from all over Connecticut and connect as they discover the books and pattens. The speakers were excellent but it was the attendees that made the event more fun.

Then it was Stitches East in Hartford and three wonderful days meeting knitters from all over the east coast. Of course, not only did I meet all the dog lovers who enjoyed my books and

patterns but I also met with people who have cats who wanted to know when their book will be coming out. I am collecting photos from fanciers around the country that show off these cats and hopefully The Crafty Cats Knit will be out soon after Christmas

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However, people who love cats weren’t the only ones looking for a book. When you raise llamas and alpacas, the beautiful soft yarn that comes from them gives knitters some wonderful colors. These colors need designs so, to gain inspiration, I went to photograph a herd of llamas last week and this week I’m off to do the same with alpacas. Then it will be constant designing.

I will also be bring out more dog breed patterns. I have created about 30 more but they all need the samples knit, so as each is finished, I will upload them to the Kanine Knits webpage

pattern list.

I am delighted that the newest book from Kanine Knits, The Crafty Poodle Knits has met with enthusiasm not only from visitors to Stitches East but from fanciers around the world.

Carol Burgers, Cape Town, South Africa commented

"This book is highly recommended ........ excellent, accurate and exciting poodle patterns for poodle lovers all over the world!!!! Thank you Peggy!!!!!!! :-)"

It's adorable! I love the pictures and designs. Thank you for a lovely book.
Jackie Castaldo, New York

Peggy
I am really enjoying your book. I do not have time to knit a sweater but am going to do pockets and appliqué then on a store bought one. I have shown poodles for 30 years. I think your poodles are the most accurate/realistic poodles that that I have ever seen .Thank you for doing them. Pat Aloe-Stauber