Whidbey Island FiberQuest With a Twist 1

Hello,

Yesterday, Skeinherder and I drove up to Whidbey Island, WA for their Whidbey Island FiberQuest with a Twist.  This fiber crawl involved 4 alpaca farms, 1 yarn shop, and the twist:  2 wineries/vineyards, 1 deli, and 1 chocolate shop. 

It was an amazing day.  Of course, Skeinherder and I both fell in love with the animals, and had to repeat to each other, "We are not bringing home an alpaca."  We did bring home alpaca FIBER, yarn, information, and... chocolates.  I am going to break up the day, because there are a lot of photos of alpacas, and I love them all.  Also, today is the KnitFit! Convention at the Ballard Community Center in Seattle, so I will have posts in the next few days about my experiences there.  Lots of newsy posts ahead.  Anyway, this post will be about our first stop on the FiberQuest.


View Larger Map

Island Bliss Alpacas
2839 Taylor Road, Oak Harbor, WA

We left Bellevue a little bit before 8 am and drove north to Anacortes where we then turned south and crossed over the Deception Pass Bridge onto Whidbey Island (which is the largest island in the contiguous United States).  It was a wonderful day.  The sun peeked out through cloud dotted skies, and the temperature stayed in the mid 50's.  Crisp air, no rain (until we were on the freeway headed home).  Whidbey Island is heavily wooded in many places, and it felt like we were in a movie as we drove down some of the side lanes, but not Twilight, definitely not Twilight.

We arrived at the first stop, Island Bliss Alpacas, a bit before 10, but decided to get out of the car and take photos because there were ALPACAS.

Even though we were early, the owner of this delightful farm and shop, Tracy Quinten, came right out to greet us.

This was the perfect first stop for us.  Not only because we wanted to go North to South, and not only because Tracy was welcoming and very friendly, but because she was a fount of information about alpacas and alpaca farming.  She told us about the two breeds of alpacas, Suri (pronounced Sur-ree) and Huacaya (pronounced wah-KI-yah).  She raises huacayas. Alpacas come in 22 to 24 natural colors from pure white to black.  In the eastern United States, the farms have more spotted or Apaloosa Alpacas, the western breeders seem to prefer solid colors.  Huacaya fiber is the type that keeps you warm in winter.  It is naturally water repellant, and because it doesn't have lanolin like wool, is naturally hypo-allergenic.  It is also very light, which makes it a perfect fiber for yarn.  Less is needed to keep you warm.

She has a delightful shop with yarn and fiber from her herd for sale.

There is no mill on Whidbey Island, but a new fiber mill, Crimping River Fiber Mill and Farm, has started on a near-by island, Camano Island, where she is now getting her fiber processed.  This is truly local fiber.

Only portable toilets here.


Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with new alpaca fiber to spin.