Llama Face!

 

Well, I guess, it's really an alpaca face, not a llama face.   But "alpaca face" doesn't really roll off the tongue as well.

So somewhere in the magic of the InterWeb, I found an ad for the Alpaca Owners' and Breeders' Association's (AOBA) National Alpaca Farm Days event.  Basically, it was a big open-house at your local alpaca farm to come and pet the fluffies.  I've never heard of it before, but I live out in the country and people have farms out here, so I figured there had to be an alpaca farm out here.  I dragged John out today (in the rain) to pet the 'pacas... and buy some yarn.  :)

 

I felt bad for the farmers today because the weather was so horrible that what should have been a good-sized event was very... very small.  We were there, another family with small children, a couple who were friends of the farmers, and then one last couple arrived as we were leaving.  It wasn't raining very hard at all, but it was drizzling pretty steadily all day.  Just enough to keep you inside if you weren't a crazy knitter in need of some good alpaca homespun.  :)

 

There were several noticeable things during out visit:

1 - Before we noticed the 'pacas, we noticed what I like to call the Big Effing Dogs.  :)

 

 Farmer said that they are Great Pyrenees, bred to be herd protectors.  And when we walked out to the main herd in the field, this one got up from by the barn and calmly followed us out to the herd.  Friendly dog, but definitely curious about what we were doing with his alpacas.  (You can see in the other pictures how big the 'pacas are compared to us, and thus how BIG these dogs are!)

2 - Alpacas are highly organized.

 See? They not only line up for the food bin, but they do so chromatically!  How fabulous is this?

And yes, I got some chocolate yarn for gloves for John (made from Mojave) and I got a two-tone tan/white yarn for something for myself (from Mojave, Sugar, and Pintura).  I met Pintura, too.  I am now one of those crazy knitters that knows the animal her yarn comes from.  :)