Alpaca Fiber ArtsWell, we believe that we will love them all! You see, we have not tried them all yet. So, we do not have a favorite at this time. Our plan is to learn to do everything and to share our experiences with you here. And we will welcome suggestions from those of you who are much more experienced than us. I am sure that we will need all of the help that we can get! So, let’s get started at alpaca fiber arts! We know that there are many crafty things to do with alpaca fleece. 
We have already learned to skirt our fiber into firsts, seconds, and thirds.
We opted to have a local fiber mill wash and machine card the skirted fleece into rovings since we were a bit lazy. Hand carding is just too much work for us! However, some of you may want to learn to wash and card your own fleece. Now that we have lots of boxes of alpaca rovings with various colors (fawn, brown, gray, black), we are ready to start making our own fiber creations! The first skill that we learned was to use the drop spindle for spinning our own yarn. It took a bit of practice, but we finally figured out how to make somewhat decent alpaca yarn. We tell ourselves that our yarn has character. OK, we will keep on practicing! We have also purchased our own Ashford spinning wheel. We chose the Joy model since it is easily portable and can be tucked away out of the reach of our curious dogs and cats. We are excited to learn how to use our spinning wheel! We hope we can do the yarn twist properly! We are also thrilled to learn how to use our weaving loom. We are starting with an Ashford rigid heddle loom since it is portable, and yet it is big enough to weave small rugs and wall-hangings. We plan to weave with rovings and with yarn, too. We are not too worried about weaving, but we are terrified about warping the loom! We are also going to try locker hooking which is rather like rug hooking. However, locker hooking uses yarn or roving strands instead of small pieces of yarn. It also has its own special hooker. We believe that we will enjoy this alpaca craft since it does not look like it takes too much talent! Sierra created a landscaped picture with dry felting with a cute white alpaca amidst lush green pastures with a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds. She won first place at the county fair for her alpaca felting project! Jill can tell you more about how to felt so you can make your own felted projects. When most folks think about alpaca fiber arts, they probably think about knitting and crocheting. Well, at least we do. Fortunately, alpaca fleece makes awesome knitted and crocheted projects! If you are looking for crochet tips, I suggest that you check out the Craft Lady Crochet . Ellie is a veteran crocheter who will help you unravel the mysteries of crocheting! Karen can show you how to make most most adorable crocheted and knitted doll clothes! I have almost completed my first alpaca scarf using double crocheted stitches. It is so soft, dense, and warm! I cannot wait to make more crocheted and knitted items! We would greatly appreciate it if you would submit your original knitting patterns and crocheting patterns to us so we can post them on this website. Actually, we would appreciate felting patterns, weaving patterns and locker hooking patterns, too! Please contact us using the form below if you would like to let others know about your patterns! Remember that your patterns need to be originals with no copyright issues! You can find other submitted patterns below the following box. We really want to hear from you! Knitted Barbie Alpaca DressKnitting doll clothes is a great way to use yarn remnants, and even to design patterns that you can later enlarge and knit for yourself!Here is an easy pattern for a Barbie doll dress. You can find a photo of this dress and a matching shrug at Making Doll Clothes . Enjoy! Materials: 100% Baby Alpaca (Color Mist) from Knit Picks. Use two strands. Needles – Size 2 U.S. Gauge: 9 stiches = 1 inches; 10 rows = 1 inch Directions: Cast on 35 stiches. All odd rows: P Rows 2, and 4: K Rows 6 and 8: K2tog, K to within last 2 sts, K2tog. (34 sts) Row 8: Repeat Row 6. (32 sts) Row 10: K12, inc 1, K6, inc 1, K12. (34 sts) Row 12: K Row 14: K12, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K12. (32 sts) Row 16: K4, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K4. (27 sts) Row 18: K6, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K6. (23 sts) Row 20: K6, K2tog, K7, K2tog, K6. (21 sts) Row 22: K4, inc 1, K3, inc 1, K3, inc 1, K3, inc 1, K4. (25 sts) Row 24: (K3, inc 1)* 3 times, K1, (inc 1, K3)** 3 times, K3. (31 sts) Row 26: (K2, inc 1)* 5 times, K1, (inc 1, K2)** 5 times. (41 sts) Continue stockinette stitch (P 1 row, K 1 row) until dress measures 3 3/4" from start. End with P row. "Lace Row": K2, (YO, K2tog)*** 12 times, YO, K3. YO = Yarn over (wrap yarn around needle) Next Row: P Second lace row: K1, (YO, K2tog)*** 12 times, YO, K2. Next rows: P, K, P. Bind off 41 stitches, leaving about 12" of yarn to use for sewing the back seam. Block the dress before weaving the back seam. Sew back seam from bottom to waist. Crochet 3 button holes along back opening by SC 5, ch 3, sc in next 5, ch 3, SC in next 5, ch 3, and attach to top of opening. Bury yarn. Sew 3 pearl buttons to finish this soft, stylish sheath.
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