How it all started…
So, just how did I get where I am today, living with a herd of delightfully dewy-eyed alpaca, handling and hoarding heaps of their fibre…? Now also dreaming of even more types of fibre from ancient sheep-breeds grazing along the grassy moors of far-off misty shores…?
OK, I’ll tell you how it all started… I decided it’s time to document this epic journey, and share it with other would-be fiberholics! And since I’m a bit of a hermit, avoiding the hustle and bustle of crowds, doing this the usual way was out of the question, so it had to be another way, the e-way…
But that would require blogging, which I happen to like, I am after all a translator, so words are, in a way, also one of my passions, but it also needed a website – and that’s a different story! It’s definitely not my forte – yet!
After years of finding good reasons why I couldn’t develop a new website again, that’s after I gave up on the previous website during the big ‘C’ debacle (and that website wasn’t really perfect either), and running a business where the biggest ‘harvest’, the fabulous fibre of Verlore Vallei’s herd of alpaca wasn’t really utilized to its fullest, I eventually shifted into gear, and decided it’s time.
You see, I am one of those people who either do something well, or not at all. So, while I was finding good enough reasons why I couldn’t make a perfect website yet, and therefore had a plausible reason to wait, I also came to the conclusion that I wasn’t really running my business the best way I could, and heck, I wasn’t going to accept that natural conclusion, which would logically say – then don’t run it at all…
I decided to do a bit of ‘stock-taking’ again, and after deliberating with our Infinite Creator, the Source of our own creativity, I started seeing the light again. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut… Putting things off for another day. And sometimes you need to look at life through different glasses… I have found a good dose of meditating and mulling over the right question, usually bring the perfect answer. But then you also need to be in the right frame of mind to actually accept and act on that answer!
I have always been mad about fibre and all kinds of handcraft. That really is my life, in a nutshell…
I am also a great believer that, for the sake of our sanity, and unless you want to be a corporate slave all your life, you should make your hobby your source of income too. And yes, you NEED a hobby to make sense of this world! I truly believe people were born to CREATE! People just don’t realise how modern tech and cell phones are stealing their time, their creativity!
I recently listened to a delightful old lady of 102 years young, and when she was asked what kept her young, she said “You need to find your juice!” Then she explained “juice” to be whatever happens to be your passion! Do you know your “juice”, your “passion”…?
For as long as I can remember, I have always had bags of yarn or fabric hoarded around me. And I loved to MAKE things, to knit, sew, crochet, weave, cook, bake, and in time, I even taught myself how to make lace, to water bath can, and even pressure can food. That wonderful feeling of accomplishment when you create something out of nothing, it’s just so utterly indescribable!
Spinning was always a dream, but I wasn’t quite sure how I would be able to master it, as spinning wheels in my side of the world are pretty scarce, and people who could spin, even scarcer… But nevertheless, it was on the bucket list… Right up there with learning to fly!
It can all be blamed on a lace shawl…
For years, I have wanted to knit a typical Shetland lace shawl, or an Orenburg shawl – either version would do, they are all lovely lacey creations in ooohy yummy featherlight fluffy fleece… And preferably one of each… But as it also calls for a LOT of work, and should be treasured as an heirloom for years to come, it also had to be made in the perfect yarn.
So somewhere in 2015, just before winter, I was browsing the internet for just the right yarn to make my shawl(s). To cut a long story short, I stumbled on the delights of alpaca on Etsy, and the Geni was proverbially let out of the bottle… I had to get my hands on alpaca, locally.
And that proved to be VERY difficult…
Logically, that helped me reaching a very sensible conclusion…
I needed to get my own alpaca, and I needed to learn to spin, so I had to get a spinning wheel too. I was already living on a farm, raising milk goats, sad about the fact that they don’t have the lovely fleeces Orenburg shawls are made of, and my dorper sheep were losing their fleece in big old wads all over on the thorny veld, which at that stage I considered unspinnable, because I honestly had no clue how to process fleece off the back of a sheep. A fact I have since remedied ofcourse… Learn how to here… How to wash raw wool the right way…
Believe me, I had some dorper wool in a bag, wondering what to do about it, but I didn’t have the right ‘push’ to take that particular idea further… Besides, that wool certainly wasn’t the stuff dreams were made of…
So back to alpaca. I did find some locally spun alpaca, ordered it all the way from the Cape, but I was quite let down, it was way too thick for what I had in mind. Don’t get me wrong, it was lovely yarn, just not lace-weight! After all, a true Orenburg or Shetland shawl could be pulled through a wedding ring, and I’m not talking about Shreck’s ring!
So a few weeks later, I discovered Verena, the lady I bought the alpaca yarn from, also sells alpacas! I enquired, and pretty soon, I lined up my first two alpaca ladies! Fortuna and Silver Wave!
I then also acquired a young male, and soon, another small herd, and yet another female from the Cape, Selma. I found my passion!
Driving down to the Cape on 5 December 2015 to fetch my first three Cape alpacas, proved to be disastrous, and we had an accident just outside Beaufort West. I ended up with a crushed spine, but the other passengers, my son and daughter and two of my grandchildren were fine. David had hurt his neck, but nothing serious, thankfully. I, on the other hand, ended up on my back in hospital for two weeks, and eventually returned home with a very dark prognosis, and a very slim chance of ever walking again…
But my passion was calling, and I couldn’t enjoy spending time among my alpacas while stuck on my back, I could no longer make lace, I couldn’t spin, I couldn’t walk… I couldn’t even go out to see when my new alpacas arrived on the farm – they had to be brought up by horse transport. That idea didn’t sit well with me, and after I lost Selma shortly after her arrival, because the staff didn’t recognise soon enough that she was ill, I decided I’m not going to live like that, and I pushed myself up and out…
I can still see myself shuffling out there at a snail’s pace, with my square walker to stop me from falling, and my back brace to keep my spine alligned and supported, telling myself the pain will go over soon… And then I also remember how I was lying there in the hospital, all on my own and in excruciating pain, utterly desolate, my children had to return to Gauteng, and me thinking what life would be like with me spending the rest of my life flat on my back like that, the tears streaming down my face… And realising with every step, every shuffle, the pain did get better than those first few days when I praid to rather die, and I bit down on my lip, focussing on how it will be even better the next week…
We really are able to move mountains if the WILL TO DO IT is there, you know…
By May 2016, I slid in behind the wheel myself, and I drove down to the Cape to go and collect another batch of alpacas. My PASSION saved me, I firmly believe that IF I DIDN’T HAVE SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR, I would surely have had something to die for – because being stuck to a wheelchair, never walking again, was just not an option acceptable to me…
I had big dreams, and I registered the alpacas as a business, they were registered with Studbook too, and all I still had lined up for somewhere in the future, is a mini mill. For this, I would have to import the mill equipment from Canada. That is still on the bucket list, because we have been in a global war that most people haven’t recognised as such, and I will have to patiently wait for corporatism to be conquered…
But that’s my ‘carrot juice’, serving as inspiration for the future!
And like life itself, this will once again become a loop, because this leads directly on to the next ‘How it all started…’ The Mini Mill…
To be continued…!
Want to know more about me?
For more information on what else we have in store for you, refer to our pages for more information, https://verlorevallei.com/all-about-alpaca/ or contact me https://verlorevallei.com/contact/!
Follow me on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Fibrewitch to stay up to date with our latest art yarns, fibre specials, bats and rolag packs! Many of which never make it to the website! What’s more, you will get a heads-up when new Majacraft stocks are about to arrive in South Africa, so you can have first dibs! New stock seldom makes it on to the website! I am also working on ‘How-to videos’ on numerous fibre related subjects and life on the farm, which will be posted on Facebook first, unless you follow me on YouTube already, in which case you will be notified. http://www.youtube.com/@VVAFibrecrafts
You can also join my Whatsapp group, where special fibre blend drops or VVA You Tube videos will be announced from time to time – https://chat.whatsapp.com/FWE0y6MTj0uEekmFSm3g6t
I usually also have the following natural alpaca fibre colours in stock, as we have animals in all these colours: Natural White, Light Fawn, Medium Fawn, Dark Fawn, Light Brown, Medium Brown, Dark Brown, Black, light Silver Grey, Medium Silver Grey, Dark Silver Grey, Light Rose Grey, Medium Rose Grey, Dark Rose Grey.
A section for dyed fibres will also be added. You are sure to find something to your liking! I am always open to suggestions, and happy to help with custom orders. I also stock fibre of other sheep breeds that are sourced from the UK from time to time.
Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
