I can’t believe how quickly the months have flown by – before we know it the summer has gone and we are into Autumn!  Its been a fairly quiet few months starting off with the National Alpaca show in Telford at the end of March where we had a trade stand. Continue reading →

Winter is coming to an end and we are looking forward to Spring when the days become longer and the grass starts to grow and hopefully less rain and wind. It has been very mild this winter, but the alpacas have still grown lovely thick fleeces ready to be shorn off in June.

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I can’t believe how quickly time has gone as we are at the beginning of December already.  I made a decision at the end of June to close the shop in Church Stretton and concentrate more on markets, fairs and the alpacas. Continue reading →

What a wonderful summer we are having- lots of sunshine which is great for the alpacas so they can absorb the vitamin D that they require.  However it was a bit of nightmare keeping them cool before they got sheared, which wasn’t until the end of June! Continue reading →

National Show 24th/25th March 2018

The British Alpaca Society have an annual National Show and for the past five years it’s been held at Telford International Centre. Over 600 alpacas were at the show this year coming from all over the country.  The 2 days are filled with showing the alpacas on the quality of the fleece. They are put into different categories Huacaya and Suri (2 different types of alpaca), colour and age. The quality of the fleece is judged on the micron, staple length, density, crimp and consistency throughout the fleece.  At the end of the 2 days a supreme champion from the Huacaya and Suri group will be crowned and the winners this year both came from Houghton Hall Alpacas, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

There was also a fibre zone competition made up of various categories – household, shoulder wear, neckwear, garments, toys & yarn.  We entered in a few categories but we were absolutely thrilled to win the Neckwear category with a hand knitted brioche Infinity scarf made with Coco Alpaca yarn and knitted by Jen Bartl who calls herself The Prolific Crafter and is part of the Coco Alpaca team.  The fibre zone was judged by Alison Pearce and Iain Ager who are both from Newman Pearce Tailoring in London.

We also had a stall at the show which was very successful, so all in all we had a very good week-end and the win with our Infinity Scarf  was the icing on the cake!

1st prize Hand Knitted Brioche Infinity Scarf at the British Alpaca Society National Show

Brioche Infinity Sacrf

We’ve had a bit of lapse with our blogs so I propose for 2018 I will write them quarterly. Facebook is our way of letting you know what we have been doing and what events are coming up. If you haven’t seen our Face book page just type in Coco Alpacas and have a look and if you like it then please click on Like at the top of the page as this increases our following and credibility! Continue reading →

Friday 13th may be unlucky for some, but not for the two young boys who joined in one of our needle-felting workshops with Jen Bartl on October 13th- they made some amazing pumpkins, proving that this is a great activity for the whole family! Continue reading →

I’ve been wearing my midwife hat for the last couple of months, caring for the ante-natal and post-natal patients- my beautiful alpacas who have produced seven new cria (four females and three males). Continue reading →

This month I’m excited to announce that Coco Alpacas has joined the county-wide collaboration of artists and designer-makers Made in Shropshire, and we will be taking our products to a wider audience from now on. Continue reading →

Get your knitting needles out and your creative hats on- this Saturday (May 6th) is Yarn Shop Day, a great opportunity for us to celebrate the great British wool shop. Continue reading →