Sheffield folk are lucky for so many reasons but one of the main reasons everyone loves living here is that we’re on the edge of some of the most beautiful countryside in England. Me, hubby and the pug try to get out there as much as possible and recently we visited Mayfield Alpacas in Ringinglow Village, on the outskirts of Sheffield.
I’d never visited before, but as an avid knitter I was determined to go and have a look and I wasn’t disappointed. The Saturday we visited was a very sunny (but freezing) day and it was very quiet, just us and a rather large herd of alpacas.
I’ve seen plenty of pictures of course but never come face to face with an alpaca, it’s a fantastic experience, they were all absolutely beautiful. Most of the time they were busy chomping away on the frozen grass, they are inquisitive creatures though, so as soon we started to talk to them they came over to say hello and to take a good look at us.
I had hoped to get some local alpaca yarn and the shop at Mayfield does have a small collection but only in white. One of the best things about knitting with alpaca yarn (apart from it’s gorgeous softness) is the great range of colours. If you’re looking for some then try one of my two favourite companies: Toft Alpacas and Purl Alpacas, both companies have wonderful yarn and beautiful patterns. Purl have a larger range of clothes patterns to knit but Toft at the moment have the larger range of colours and weights of yarns. Here is my next knitting project (if I can actually find some spare time to sit down and knit) but no doubt it’ll be summer before I even get started on this one, it’s called Cleo and is by Purl Alpacas.
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