Well, I did it. I made the last payment on my alpaca and he is officially mine. His name is Cagney and he has amazing off white fleece.
Cagney was a surprise to all of us at his birth. We were having a family get together at my eldest sister's farm. She had just informed us that one of their alpacas was due and would be birthing soon. Just then my other sister pointed to a cria asking when it had been born. To my eldest sisters surprise, Cagney had been born while we were eating breakfast. His birth coincided with my nephew's birthday and thus was named Cagney J.
That is not Cagney's only name, he is also called "Bob" due to his bobblehead tendancies. He loves to bob his head from side to side. It almost looks like he is asking "What??" He is adorable and I love to visit him.
I have been spinning Cagney's fleece for a couple years now and just loved the feel so much that I had to buy him. However, I have to live in town and do not have any access to a farm locally so he is borded at my sisters farm and I get to visit him on occassion.
Recently, I started to sell the items I have spun and crocheted with his fleece. The first shows were a slow start - but then again, I was working the shows more to help out my sister and brother-in-law than to make any money. The first shows were rough. The economy was bad and many people did not understand the benefits of alpaca. I also had not spun much yarn at that point and had not used it in my projects. Since then, I have spun to my hearts content and found that many people want to buy the yarn itself, as opposed to the items already made from them. This year sales went up along with my ideas. Now that Cagney is paid off I am looking forward to learning how to care for him. My hope is to eventually have a small farm, care for them myself, and own a few fiber boys. As I think about what the future holds, I find myself looking forward to the next part of the journey with anticipation and wonder. I plan to share what I discover in this quest to be a fiber farmer and help others take the jump into the unknown. God only knows what my future holds but hopefully it will hold furry critters with warm, soft, cuddly fleece and a spinning wheel close by.
