Cosy Alpaca Knits
All the patterns from Cosy Alpaca Knits are now available to download as individual patterns!
You can buy them via my Payhip and Ravelry shops and they should all be ready on Love Knitting very soon (it always takes them a little while to approve things). You can still buy the full physical book here or from your favourite Rowan stockist while stocks last.
Cosy Alpaca Knits was born from my love for/mild obsession with alpaca and their lovely soft fleeces. Alpaca have been one of my favourite animals ever since I spontaneously visited an alpaca farm while on a solo trip to Devon about ten years ago.
Since then, I’ve visited a few different alpaca farms and have fallen even more in love… we even had alpaca at our wedding!
I dream of one day moving from my little terraced house to a smallholding with alpaca, pigs and a much bigger veg patch.
Audrey’s pom pom neck tie and Colin’s ear tassels are a nod to the blessing ceremonies in Peru where alpaca are sometimes decorated while the locals wish for good health and an abundance of fleece for them.
There are approx. 45,000 alpaca in UK which is significantly smaller than the population of about 3.5 million in the Andean Highlands where they originate from.
As knitters, many of us are more familiar with alpaca, but people often mix them up with their slightly larger relative the llama. They’re both members of the Camelid species, but were domesticated for different reasons – alpaca for their fleece and llama as pack animals.
I went on a llama trek a couple of years ago with Cantanger Llamas (an excellent wedding pressie!) and learned a bit more about their differences. While alpaca are typically sheared once a year, a llama may only be sheared every other year. Llama have a double coat so each fleece will contain some lovely soft fibres ideal for knitting as well as some coarser (but strong) fibres which can be used for things like rugs or rope.
They’re also protective of other animals in their herd and will keep foxes at bay. I definitely want some llama on my fantasy smallholding as well as alpaca!
There are between 2,000 and 4,000 llama in the UK compared to the 45,000 alpaca, with the vast majority of both animals still living in Peru.
Alpaca and llama are often depicted in woven Peruvian textiles as they have an important role in supporting the livelihood of the Andean people through sales of their fleeces and woven textiles using their fibres as well as their meat.
You can learn more about traditional textile artists in Peru from Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco - a non-profit organisation who work with various communities from the Cusco region to revive textile traditions and empower weavers. Another interesting website is Mosquy - they work with the Quechua population in the Andean mountains of Peru, empowering local culture and working towards global sustainability. You can also find information on their websites on how you can donate to support them.
