One of the dilemmas of raising alpacas and being a spinner is that time spent on the husbandry side of the business takes away from the fiber side -- and vice versa. I felt so sorry for our alpacas in their muddy pasture without any grass -- those big e… more »

Pinero's fiber is spinning up really well. It wants to spin slightly finer than I anticipated and I'm going with this lighter weight. This is yarn in search of a project, so weight isn't a major issue. I'm usually happier with the yarn if I go with what… more »

Gray in alpacas is a pattern rather than a color. The color is caused by roaning -- mixing unpigmented fibers with pigmented fibers -- on a colored background. Silver-gray alpacas are roaning against a black background. Rose-gray alpacas are roaning agai… more »

My big project today was to card some fiber so I have something to spin. All my carded roving is neatly packaged for sales. Rather than undo a package to have something to spin, I decided to start carding because I've got too much fiber in the house, any… more »

Hello, and welcome. My name is Kim Upper, but don't let my given name fool you. I'm a guy. Always have been. Always will be. Now, if I only had a nickel for every piece of junk mail addressed to Ms. Kim Upper ... As if my name weren't enough to confuse e… more »