I have always loved to knit, and discovered alpaca yarn about 20 years ago. My husband always wanted to move from the suburbs to the country. In 1998 we found a way to address both of our passions, and bought a small ranch in the beautiful Oregon wine country. Within months we bought our first alpacas and began our breeding program. Alan was able to become a full time alpaca rancher a couple of years later. I kept working as a manager in high tech, but became more and more interested in the whole process of getting fiber from the backs of my wonderful animals to the luxurious yarn I love to knit with. I bought a spinning wheel, a drum carder, and some English combs, but had no time to use them.

Then, after retiring a few years ago, I used my new free time to learn to spin. I love it! From ads on Ravelry, I discovered that Etsy was a place I could buy great spinning fiber. I met some other spinners and started going to group spinning events and fiber fairs. One of my new friends was making hand painted rovings - mostly merino - and had a successful Etsy shop. I loved her beautiful fiber, but she didn't dye alpaca. She offered to give me a lesson on her process for my birthday, and I took her up on the offer! I brought some baby alpaca combed top to dye, and it turned out beautifully.

On the way home from this "dye day" I purchased some dyes and a steamer, because I wanted to dye more alpaca for myself. When I showed my results to my friends, they encouraged me open my own Etsy shop. Since there is so little overhead to do so, I thought I'd give it a try. I was delighted when my fiber started to sell right away! A year later I added hand painted alpaca yarns. I recently acquired a large electric carder and am now making batts for sale, as well. I anticipate adding a few more products in the near future.

My operation is small. I dye fiber and yarn in my garage. I make batts and store fiber in bins in my living room. So no pictures of my operation.....

You can see photos of our lovely alpacas on our ranch site:
www.upstreamalpacas.com