Peaceful Heart Alpacas

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas & Discount

pheart — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:17:24 +0000

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and we wanted to let you know about the beautiful alpaca items we carry that are perfect for gifts or for treating yourself to something soft and warm.

We have a wide range of new plush alpacas and teddy bears in the store. We also have a great selection of our classic scarves, reversible coats and vests in stock. We have something for everyone.

See for yourself

Visit our store in person or online to see our new items and items on sale. In addition, we are offering a 10% discount on any one item during the month of February. To redeem online, enter Valentine as the Promo code when you checkout.

To redeem in the store, tell us you want to redeem your Valentine discount as you checkout. We are open Friday & Saturday from 10am-5pm or Sunday 1-5pm. Give us a call if you’d like to come by during the week. We look forward to seeing you.

If you are ordering for Valentine’s Day, we recommend you order by Friday, February 10 to allow enough time for your package to arrive by Priority Mail. The 10% discount offer expires February 29, 2012.

Sweet Alpaca Package

pheart — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:16:53 +0000

Special for the month of February, we are offering an incredible package of alpacas for those who are beginning their alpaca herd or seeking to increase genetic diversity.

A colorful package with two experienced, pregnant mothers and a proven herdsire and companion. A sweet price for a sweet group of alpacas.

Click here for more details.

Knitting Loom Classes

pheart — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:20:27 +0000

We have scheduled two knit loom classes for this winter. Classes are limited to 5 people and will be held in the yarn shop of our store.

We hope you can join us for this fun class on February 19 or March 18 from 2-4pm.

New Alpacas!

pheart — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:56:35 +0000

Klarice & Tebogo

We are pleased to introduce two new members of our farm, Klarice and her son Tebogo.

As we have grown over the past 6 years, we have sought to occasionally bring in new bloodlines to enhance our original herd. Klarice is a lovely, fawn, 5 year old alpaca. She is a daughter of Peruvian Pizarro’s Goldrush, who has had a long and successful show career, and Kaleen, who has Emilio in her genetic background and is known for passing on her persistently fine fleece to her offspring.

In addition to these new bloodlines, her fine fleece is the primary reason we have added Klarice to our herd. At 5 years of age, Klarice continues to have a 20 micron fleece (classified as baby alpaca fiber). She has also proven to be a great mother. Her 2009 cria, Athena Khan, has already won two first places and a color championship.

Her 2011 cria is our new Tebogo. Tebogo means “We are Thankful” in Sothos, which is a South African language. He earned this name because of an injury that occurred right after his birth. His neck was injured in a fall. He had a rough few weeks, but is thriving now and recovering well from his injury. The neck injury will keep him out of the show ring, but does not diminish the great genetics he brings to our herd. Tebogo’s herdsire is the dark rosegray, multi-color champion, Amaro Khan, son of the famous, ultra-dense, 11 time color champion, The Aga Khan.

Klarice proved her excellent mothering skills during Tebogo’s recovery. He had trouble nursing at first because of his neck injury. Klarice patiently worked with him and their previous owner to keep him strong. After Tebogo began to thrive, Klarice even assisted another cria that needed additional milk, nursing two crias like our own Ima Joy is currently doing.

To top off all these wonderful characteristics that Klarice and Tebogo bring to the herd, they are both sweet and gentle alpacas. They have beautiful, sweet faces with expressive eyes. They have both fit right into the herd. Our current crop of fall crias are particularly happy to have a new playmate.

Classic Alpaca Yarn – 10% Off

pheart — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:32:22 +0000

Classic Alpaca Yarn available in 61 colors

Peaceful Heart Alpacas will continue our Yarn of the Month discount throughout 2012. Since January is almost halfway over, we will be featuring Classic Alpaca yarn for the months of January and February.

We carry 61 colors of this lovely DK weight alpaca yarn. It is a 100% superfine alpaca yarn that is slightly thicker than a sportweight and slightly thinner than a worsted weight. We have a great pattern selection of sweaters, scarves and purses for Classic Alpaca, which are all 10% off as well as the Classic Alpaca yarns.

We invite you to stop by the shop to see these lovely yarns in person. They are also available online.

Classic Alpaca yarns and patterns are all on sale for 10% Off during the months of January and February. If purchasing online, use the coupon code Classic when you check out.

We also have some lovely alpaca yarns on sale for 20% off. These are all alpaca yarns that have been discontinued, so supplies are limited.

Therapeutic Alpaca Socks – All colors now in stock

pheart — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:09:25 +0000

Therapeutic Socks

We just received some new alpaca diabetic socks for both men and women. These incredibly warm and soft alpaca socks are one of our most popular socks. They are designed specifically for those with diabetes or other circulatory problems. The socks come up to approximately mid-calf and have a loose fit through the top so as to not bind. Several of our customers with diabetes have told us that these alpaca socks keep their feet warmer than any other sock. A lot of people love them just because they are so soft.

We now have all colors in stock for both men and women. We’ve been out of black for men and women and navy for women, but received them today. You can see the selection at the farm or at our online store.

How We Get Our Alpaca Yarn

pheart — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:06:59 +0000

2011 Alpaca Yarns on the Shelf

The last of our 2011 alpaca yarns have arrived! These all natural, undyed, 100% alpaca yarns come from our herd of 41 alpacas raised on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. We start with a careful breeding program by selecting breeding combinations that will give us the finest and most dense fiber. Examples of the success of our breeding program are seen in Reserve Color Champion Peaceful Heart’s Lord Tennyson and his son, Tennyson’s Beckett of Peaceful Heart.

Bill shearing in the background, assisted by Mike. David shearing in the foreground, assisted by Claire & Susan Gleason.

We shear our alpacas each May. As David has gotten older, he has become our primary shearer, and does a beautiful job. We were initially trained to shear by Bill Watkins of Frostglen Alpacas, who teaches a shearing seminar for other alpaca farmers at our farm each year. The shearing method we use focuses on maximizing the quantity of useable fiber off each alpaca and keeping the three grades of fiber (blanket, neck, and legs/belly) separate as we shear.

Fiber Sample from J Dubs 40

Once the fiber is off the alpaca, I sort it by color and fineness to create the best yarns possible. Alpaca fiber is sorted by the fineness of the fiber, which is measured in microns. We test a sample from all our alpaca blankets to confirm the fiber diameter for each. For reference, human hair is approximately 100 microns thick. Alpacas have been bred for their fine fiber for over 600 years, since they were first domesticated by the Incas. The fineness of the alpaca fiber is what makes it so soft and comfortable to the skin. Alpaca fiber and yarn is named by the thickness of the fibers that make up that yarn. Baby alpaca yarn is a great example, because it can be made from the fiber of any alpaca with fiber under 23 microns, no matter what their age is. The list below is a guideline for classifying the fibers, and how it relates to the yarn we make.

Classification of Fiber in Microns

Grade 1: Royal Baby Alpaca Yarn: <20
Grade 2: Baby Alpaca Yarn: 20-22.9
Grade 3: Superfine Alpaca Yarn: 23 – 25.9
Grade 4: Fine Alpaca Yarn: 26 – 28.9
Grade 5: Medium Alpaca Yarn: 29-31.9
Grade 6: Strong Alpaca Yarn: 32-35

Sorting fiber from Temeraire's blanket (the baskets in the background hold the different grades of fiber as I sort)

You can see that there is very little difference between each of the grades, and proper sorting keeps the fiber that makes up a yarn more consistent. This means that all the yarns have a lovely feel. Grade 6 alpaca yarns and yarns made from our alpaca’s leg and belly fibers are best used for rugs, baskets or other items that are not worn close to the skin. The finer the grade of fiber and yarn, the softer it will feel, with the royal baby and baby alpaca yarns having the most luxurious feel. We invite you to come by the farm to get your hands on the variety of the yarns as well as our beautiful alpaca rovings.

After the fiber is sorted and I decide how we would like each to be processed, I send the raw and sorted fiber to the mill. We work with two US fiber mills who process the fiber into either alpaca rovings for spinning and felting or alpaca yarns for knitting, crochet and weaving. You can see our alpaca yarns at our online store or at the farm. I must say that they are our best yarns ever. The majority of the yarns have been done in a 3 ply worsted weight and they all have an incredible feel. Have fun knitting, crocheting and weaving.

(Our 2011 alpaca rovings have not yet arrived. Check back with us for those. We expect them within a month.)

Alpaca Crias Playing

pheart — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:04:07 +0000

Alpaca crias love to play and we love to watch them. There is nothing more fun than looking out the window to see alpaca crias pronking through the pasture or wrestling.

We have observed that the girls tend to be runners, and love to get everyone pronking and then will take off running as fast as they can, leaving the boys behind. It is great exercise for them and they even occasionally get their moms running around the pasture with them. I keep trying to get a good video or pictures of the crias pronking, but so far the best I’ve done is the recent video I placed on Facebook.

Our boy alpaca crias will happily run and pronk with the girls, but they love to wrestle. The other day, I caught our fall crias having a great time wrestling. Obsydyan (born Oct 28) and Timbuctoo (born Oct 18) are to the left, and Lightening Bolt (born Sept 14) and Sunspot (born Sept 26) are to the right.

Alpaca crias will wrestle and nip at each others’ feet until one of them pins the other down. Then they usually jump right up and start all over again.

Thank You

pheart — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:37:13 +0000

Thank you to everyone for your kind words about the loss of Tequila and Obsydyan’s adoption by Ima Joy. We have been touched by the facebook posts, emails, and cards expressing your sympathy and telling about your interactions with Tequila. She was very special to us. It has been special to learn how others were touched by her too.

Alpaca Vests on Sale

pheart — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:26:13 +0000

We have some great, lined, alpaca vests on sale 20% off. We have just 4 vests left in stock, in sizes from Extra Small to Large. These vests are made from an incredibly soft, 100% baby alpaca fabric. Each vest is lined, with pockets and a zipper. Subtle western style stitching on front and back adds to the appeal. The vest looks great on men or women, but it is sized for men, so keep that in mind when ordering. Women should order a size smaller than they normally wear. You can see the vests online or at the farm store.

We will no longer be carrying the lined vests so we can expand our selection of reversible vests and coats.