My love affair with knitting started years ago when I adopted my sheep, Maggie Belle and Yorick
I was a graduate student at East Carolina University in fiber arts, with a specialty in spinning and natural dyeing. I had lots of wonderful hand-spun yarn, but I never learned how to knit until friend Jody taught me a few months ago.
My first knit hat had lots of holes in it and another friend Mary suggested I sew on buttons to cover the holes. My mother saved everything – including buttons – so I have jars of buttons. Some of them still have pieces of fabric on them. The hat is adorable!
Lately I have been spinning wonderful Alpaca that was a gift from my friend Pepper. She has a herd of alpacas, along with many other critters. I know the alpacas who gave the fleeces, including one special guy named Oreo.
I made this hat on a 36-peg round loom using my hand-spun yarn. The hat is still “in the grease” or unwashed, making it water repellent. That would be good if I still lived on a sailboat. The dark red hat was knit with needles and those buttons are covering all the dropped stitches!
A big thank you to Pepper and her crew of Alpacas for the wonderful fleeces!
![Alpacas getting ready for shearing, their fleece will be used by Innkeeper Chloe Tuttle | https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/spinning-and-knitting-alpaca-fleece](https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Pepper-and-her-Alpacas-sig-600x463.jpg)
Pepper Etheridge with her alpacas
![Alpaca is not sure he wants to participate in this shearing | https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/spinning-and-knitting-alpaca-fleece](https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/White-Alpaca-sig-600x401.jpg)
“I am not sure I want to participate.”
![Nervous alpaca ready to be sherared | Alpaca is not sure he wants to participate in this shearing | https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/spinning-and-knitting-alpaca-fleece](https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/alpaca-face-surprised-sig-600x401.jpg)
“This is making me very nervous.”
![Innkeeper Chloe Tuttle's Hand Spun Yarn from alpacas | https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/spinning-and-knitting-alpaca-fleece](https://chloesblog.bigmill.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Innkeeper-Chloes-Hand-Spun--600x900.jpg)
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Note: Sadly we lost our sweet Pepper to Breast Cancer.
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