Alpacas part one: My lovely ones

Before I take you on a journey to one of the most rural and gorgeous places in the world, high in the Andes where the nature is spectacular, I’d like to talk about Alpacas. Yes, Alpacas. Those funny lama-looking creatures that you’ve probably already heard of trough the LN collection (maybe from the scarf, vest or beanie you have), but don’t really know much about.

Alpaca is the core of my business, and it has been long before I took the risk/chance of becoming a full time independent (& entrepreneur), now already 4 years ago. I’m not sure if you know that I created the fundaments of what LN is today already over 12 years ago. At the age of 16 I started knitting ‘beanies’ for family, friends & everybody who just wanted to have a unique LNBeanies, handmade from wool and alpaca. Yes, Alpaca.

Alpaca is the softest in its kind, besides cashmere. And cashmere comes from a goat, yes, a goat. So Alpaca wins when it comes down to ‘being exotic’ ;-). Once you have worked with this lovely material, it’s very hard to go back to others. I have a passion for natural fabrics and am completely allergic to chemical, fake stuff like Acrylic and other horrible materials. These you will hardly find in the LN collection, only when needed in a very small dose to create a certain effect to the yarn.

We also experiment with other natural blends, like the LNAndes SS16 collection. Here we’ve added silk & linen to our standard baby alpaca bouclet giving it a fresher look & feel for spring and summer. And… I didn’t think it is possible, but it’s even softer…

Alpaca’s today are ‘hot’ (and you can take this literally). Mario Testino did a shoot for Vogue using Alpacas next to gorgeous models. Also Isabelle Marant étoile gave Alpacas a special place within her SS15 collection (call me a cheater… I bought the retro Alpaca sweater from her collection… and I love it…it’s too bad that it’s not 100% baby alpaca). And even in advertising Alpacas are being frequently used since they are simply funny. Hilarious actually. Every time I see Alpacas, they just make me smile. Selecting these alpaca pictures together with Griet equals stomach pain from laughing.

And am I not lucky that, as said, alpaca’s are the core of my business and my brands? Every year I travel to Peru and get the chance to visit the alpaca farmers to see the Alpacas in their natural habitat; the amazing, breath taking mountains of the Andes.

Getting up in the middle of the night to get to the alpaca farmers before sunrise, is a pleasure. I find it hard to describe the feeling you get when you are hiking in this beautiful landscape where the Alpacas graze. Along the way to the alpaca farm we saw wild ‘trutcha’ (trout), snacked on fresh, sweet water seaweed (yes,seaweed!) & beautiful miniature flowers whilst soaking in the energy and air of the Andes. Exhausted from hiking at an altitude of 4800m+ we took a rest and took mental pictures of the beautiful surroundings.

After spending 7 hours at this altitude, it was time for us to head back to Ayacucho town. We took a ‘pit-stop’ at a local little restaurant where we all had fresh fried trout sprinkled with lime, served with Peruvian rice and (yes, and!) Peruvian potatoes. Yum yum! It tasted like heaven. Where I thought I was that day (I assume the light-headedness as a result from the altitude has also something to do with it).

Once back in the hotel the altitude sickness hit. Headache, twisted stumach and very very tired. Off to bed early, back to the village ‘Sante Fe’ the next day.

Read all about the second part of the live at the Alpaca farmers and especially on how they herd, shave, and spin the alpacas and their fiber tomorrow.

Now time for vino,

Ciao,

LN