Prize Patrol: Vote for your favorite New Color Name!!!

It's Spring!!! Nothing makes us happier then seeing the alpacas playing in the fields, being able to wear a cute shawl instead of a big bulky parka and sitting and knitting in the sunshine.

To celebrate the warming of the weather we want to enlist your help to name our new colorways of Paca-Paints. Yes, surprise! Our rock star dyer, Tasha, has been madly swirling the dyepots and she has created six new shades of our favorite DK yarn.
All you need to do is look at the photo and choose your favorite of the two names listed. Everyone who posts a comment on the blog is eligible to win a skein of that specific colorway. Be sure to give us your blog link, email or ravelry ID so we can get in contact with you when you win!



We are going to kick off the festivities with Angela's favorite new blend, which up until now has been named the ever-so-glamorous "color #407".
Your choices are:

1) Springtime in Paris
2) Wisteria Way

Leave us a comment and we will tally up the votes. Please only comment once. All comments are eligible for our randomly drawn prize. Thanks for your input!!!

WINNER: March Contest

Wow! What great responses to our March contest question, "What do you do & Where do you do it?"

Our favorite answer came from Sylvia. Her response can be seen below...


I'm old - like 90+ old. I've knit and crocheted forever, but mostly knit. I taught my daughters and granddaughters to also (no sons or grandsons or they would have learned too - I believe in equal-opportunity knitting!)

I have to say that the only place I've ever knit was in my own home. I marvel that my daughter takes her knitting everywhere and knits in public places. Somehow it seems ... unseemly to me, but then I used to wear gloves when I dressed up :-)

I knit socks before they were fashionable, and shawls when they were and then later not, and then fashionable again (oh how fashion cycles). I've knit every accessory you can imagine and during the Great Depression I would knit things and rip it out and reknit it since I could not afford more yarn, but loved to knit.

My favorite thing to knit is definitely sweaters still. I do it much more slowly than I used to, and my daughter sews them together for me since that is harder for me now. But it is what gives me most pleasure.

I am constantly amazed by the new varieties of yarns. I grew up knitting with solid color wool that was not necessarily soft. It came in 3 weights - fingering, sport and worsted.

I would love to win a kit to try out your yarn. My daughter has some of your beautiful paca peds. I just looked at all of the different yarns you have and each one I've looked at is more beautiful than the last. A very tough decision for the winner.

I will be 95 in early April. Winning would be a great present! And a gentle hint to my daughter and granddaughter - if I don't win, you'll have time to order some for me anyway :-)

And I'm now on Ravelry. Aren't I with it!

Love, love, LOVE that answer! How could we not select that one? I frog and reknit constantly too, but not out of frugality. That is indeed some knitting dedication. We are working with Sylvia to pick out her prize package. We will let you know what she decides.

Our April Contest will be another fan favorite, "Name that Yarn" contest, but this time it will have a twist! Be sure to check in tomorrow for details... yes, I am a tease! See you tomorrow!

You know you would if you could...

Tasha. Covered in Paca-Peds.  'Nuff said.

Wearing O' the Green

To spread a little St. Patrick's Day cheer we thought we would dazzle you with a display of our favorite green yumminess.  Enjoy!

All of these & lots more available on our website or at a retailer near you.

  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Knit & Crochet 'n Style

How exciting to open up the April 2010 issue of Knit 'n Style magazine and see not one but TWO patterns featuring Classic Alpaca. Our friend Melissa Leapman has outdone herself with the 'Everyday Cardigan' pattern, a cute and springy pattern featuring a bit of openwork in the skirt. I love the crochet version, personally. It's always nice to see designers incorporating both styles into similar designs. Let us know if you cast on -- we would love to see your version!

Knitting Daily TV

I have DirecTV and generally, I adore all things about it, most specifically my DVR. One of the only sad things is that I can't watch Knitting Daily TV. So when the fine folks over at KDTV offered up the opportunity to download ALL of the patterns they have featured I squealed a little, opened up a fresh pack of paper for the laser printer and I was off to the races.

When I got to Season 3 I saw a familiar name. Lo and behold, our very own superstar, Beth and her fantastic Felted Mitt pattern was hot off the presses of my printer! A little digging and I was able to find this photo from Episode 304, All About Alpaca!

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to check out Beth's Felted Alpaca Mitts made from our Classic Alpaca and all the other free patterns available at the Knitting Daily TV site.

FREE: Downloads of our newest patterns

We are thrilled to announce for a very limited time you can get FREE downloads of some of our newest patterns!

As a way to introduce you to our new downloadable .pdfs for patterns, for the next few weeks we will be offering a select few patterns absolutely free! As our pattern catalog continues to expand we will be making new patterns available either in the traditional paper format we have always offered or via instant gratification method. Try it out today!

Here are a few samples to whet your appetite:

When Cowls Fly

Bobble Beret

Winterberry Lace Cowl & Infinity Scarf

Patterns are free through March 31, 2010. You can also find lots more patterns on our Ravelry page or on our website. Enjoy!