Before the Mr & I went on vacation I dropped a line to the Central Coast knitters forum asking about yarn shops as I hadn’t really found anything on the net. What I was greated with was an invitation from Mette (alpacaholic) to come to her alpaca farm!  After a few other emails were exchanged it was decided. I had to go.  And I can tell you, I wasn’t sorry I did!

"Why hello there!"

Metta runs Ranch Of The Oaks with her husband Tom and they, along with a few other farmers were having an alpaca day where all the farms were open to the public.  We honestly didn’t go to any other farms as meeting Mette was the real reason for the trip but boy was it worth it. 

*Sorry about the bad picture Mette, I wasn't in the right setting & you were busy!*

Not only did Mette greet me like we had known each other for 20 years with a big bear hug (thankfully she recognized me from Ravelry, and had a name tag as her icon is an alpaca) but she is just so damn cute & such a lovely person! I am hoping to go back with the Mr for a longer visit when there is less people around & less going on.

Did you know that alpacas sing their frustrations? At least it sounded like singing to me. It was quite amusing but I think they were sick of being on parade & being stared at. Boy were they cute though!!!

Isn’t that the softed cutest looking nose ever? I realized when I was loading these on to my computer that my reflection is in all of their eyes which I thought was pretty darn cool.

Mette has ostriches, and I don't know why

You think that I didn’t come away from my trip with out yarn did you? I bought these at ranch of the oaks. They are natural undyed alpaca, in about a sport weight and beautifully soft.

Undyed Alpaca from Ranch Of The Oaks

I bought this at The Cotton Ball in Morro Bay which is actually a quilt shop (and a beautiful quilt shop at that!) but they had some classic elite yarn.

I am blue AND green.

I bought these at The Scarlet Skein which is a rediculously cute little shop in Atascadero (seriously, I still can’t pronounce this name with out thinking it over).  This is also where I had my first real Ravelry sighting!  When I walked into this shop I was greeted by a lovely woman knitting a sock behind the counter. A little chit chat & immediately she asked “Are you on Ravelry” & I was all like “Do bears shit in the woods?!” (well I didn’t say that because I’m outwardly more polite than that lol), and she was “you know…I think I know you.” Which if it hasn’t happened to you is a little weird. Someone you don’t know, never seen before & live in a diffrent city from says they know you, it’s just odd. So she looked me up & yes, she had been looking at my page the other day it seems! How funny!  When I got back I then realized that I did know her too! I had faved her beautiful Lush & Lacy cardi a month ago! SMALL WORLD HUH?!

Dream in color smooshy & Cascade sock

In knitting news, which I know has been a little slack around here lately, I finished my Conwy Socks and will be posting them soon. I’ve just had so much to say about non-knitting stuff! Plus I’ve been lazy taking FO shots of them. I’m 1/2 way done with my coffee bean socks (I don’t remember the dutch spelling for that) and I love them. I also am kicking myself in the butt to get working on my christmas projects. But of course, since I have to get them done I don’t really want to work on them lol.

And here’s a UFO shot of my coffee bean socks