When I became vegetarian 15 years ago, I dreamed of starting a business that contributed to animal welfare. With O-Wool Local I feel like I'm doing my 17-year-old self proud. I have yet to meet an alpaca farmer who didn't want to give me a tour of their farm and tell me each one of their animals names. I've seen fancy farms, backyard farms, and a farm at a high school for troubled youth. While they all appear to be different, they have one thing in common - those animals are loved and well taken care of. Many live better than me - as they should.

I started this batch of Local on August 31, and, 5.5 months later, it's ready. The fiber was gathered, scoured, spun, skeined, and dyed. The beauty of a yarn like this is that each batch is different. This is small-time production, and the yarn reflects the beauty of the animals it's made from. This time, I purchased fiber from farmers with a wider variety of colored alpacas, including some grey and black. In turn, the new batch has a cooler hue and is overall a bit of a darker heather.

I don't believe that the best way to do business is to get the most for the least. I think it's to get the best for a fair price, to support and encourage admirable producers. This time around I was able to offer the alpaca farmers a higher price for their fiber. I was happy to pay a fair price to support this local fiber industry. I hope you will be, too. The price on the new batch of Local has increased to $15.25 for Fringetree (undyed) and $17.25 for dyed colors. Skeins from the previous run will remain at the lower price until they run out.

Now, some photos!