A local Alpaca Farmer, Beth Brown, host Alpaca Farm Days this weekend, September 27 and 28, and talks about how her knits are farmed, harvested, spun into yarn and knitted by hand.

Her alpaca are raised on Odelia Farms at 8349 Old Lebanon Troy Road in Troy, Ill. (located about 45 minutes from downtown St. Louis) and she has a small flock of less than a dozen alpaca, but she has an ambitious operation. Brown and her husband, Rodney, harvest the hair of her Suri alpaca. The Suri (SUR-ee) are rare among American alpaca and are known for having soft, silky locks. Alpaca come in a range of 22 natural colors from white to true black. One of her most recent births was spawned from a coupling of one true black and one fair-haired alpaca. Brown hoped for a silvery hue, but instead was delighted with a little chocolate brown off-spring (you can see her in the video above with her mom).

After cleaning the hair, Brown spins the hair into yarn by hand while watching television. Then she sells some yarn to a local shop and uses the rest for her own creative interests. She has tall socks that sell for $40 and lush sweaters for men and women that range from $200 to $500. And as a bonus, if you come to the farm, Brown can show you exactly which alpaca your sweater was crafted from. She keeps close track and even labels the yarn sold in retail location with a photo of the alpaca that grew the hair.

Video by Debra D. Bass with major editing help from Gary Hairlson