Longwoods Alpaca Farm, LLC

08/30/2026

Final batches drying: “Sumac”, “Miss Rumphius” (more blue, less purple than the “Dolly Parton”), “Atlantic Puffin”, “Salt Marsh”, “Muscongus Morning” and “Mussels”.

All together that’s 22 lbs of yarn dyed in 15 batches over 5 days headed for Pemaquid Craft Co-op here in New Harbor and Harbor Artisans in Southwest Harbor.

08/29/2026

Today it’s bulky and fi*****ng yarns drying. “LaVerna” and “Kelp”, along with this gorgeous unnamed purply pink. Can you help me come up with a Maine-related name for it?

08/26/2026

More worsted-weight and fi*****ng yarns drying on the back deck, headed to the Pemaquid Craft Co-op on Friday. Colorways are “LaVerna”, “Sumac”, “Pemaquid Borealis”, and “Rockweed”.

07/29/2026

I'm excited to announce that I have been accepted as a mid-season consignor at Harbor Artisans in Southwest Harbor. My hand-knit items and hand-dyed yarns will be available for sale beginning August 1st. A few of my hand knit infant/toddler garments are headed to the Northeast Harbor shop to test that market. They are both open through mid-October. If all goes well, I'll apply for full membership in 2027.

Harbor Artisans is an Artisan Cooperative, owned and operated by member artisans, located on Mount Desert Island in Maine. We have been on the Island for over 35 years, and now have 2 locations. All of the items in our shops are handmade in Maine by local artisans. When you buy from our cooperative....

06/12/2026

A few “Bristol” hats will be headed to the in a few days. They’ll be washed and dried first, to remove any spinning oil or residual dye.
I map out the letters and designs on graph paper to accommodate the number of stitches needed to cast on for worsted, Aran, or bulky yarns. Each hat is a little different.

06/01/2026

Another “Pemaquid” hat off the needles using the Yellowhead fi*****ng “Sweet Fern” yarn, tripled into worsted weight (see previous post). Washed, blocked, and headed to the Pemaquid Craft Co-op.

05/31/2026

“What IS this?”
This is a gauge swatch & sampler which showcases two ways to use fi*****ng-weight yarns. Why? Because unless I’m knitting a lacey shawl on large needles, I don’t much care for knitting fi*****ng weight yarns on tiny needles. However, if you go to my website, you’ll see I sell lots of different fi*****ng yarns as 3-ply worsted yarns when I knit hats. Whaaaat?

The top part of the swatch is one strand of Yellowhead fi*****ng yarn, knitted on a US 3 needle. The lower portion is the same yarn, but tripled into a worsted weight yarn using a US 7 needle. Rather than take strands from 3 skeins, I use one ball at a time and Navajo (aka chain) ply the yarn. You can google videos (how to turn 1 strand into 3 from the same ball of yarn).

You may also use this technique to create bulky yarns from sport and chunky yarns from DK.

Have fun!

05/27/2026

Two new colorways: Newcastle Sport “Sea Lavender” and Damariscotta Bulky “Making Waves” headed to Pemaquid Craft Co-op and online at www.longwoodsalpacas.com.

05/26/2026

It's not too late to clean your favorite woolens with Soak Wash before storing them for the summer. You may have thought you cleaned off that minor spill on your sweater, but clothes moths are attracted to soiled wool. Visit www.longwoodsalpacas.com to purchase your Soak today!

Handwashing doesn’t have to be hard. Soak is the quick, easy way to clean and refresh the "woolies" you love. Use the gentle, no-rinse formulation to hand- or machine-wash your softest sweaters, handmade treasures – or any washables worthy of tender laundry care. If you love, Soak it.

"No-rinse" means you just Soak and squeeze. There’s no need to rinse – really! Soak is a low-suds liquid, so the dirt and detergent come out in the water. When you squeeze out the water, all that’s left behind is a hint of fragrance (or not, if you choose Scentless) that dissipates over time.

Scentless -- smells like: nothing at all -- Full size 12 oz., 75+ washes/bottle

Wild Mint -- bright, clean scent of mint, spicy geranium and citrus -- travel size 3 oz., 18+ washes/bottle

Yuzu -- tart citrus and crushed eucalyptus. It's fresh, sweet, and delicious -- travel size 3 oz., 18+ washes/bottle

05/20/2026

Longwoods Alpaca’s hand-dyed yarns, hand-knits and hand-wovens are set up at the Pemaquid Craft Cooperative in New Harbor. The Co-op opens for the season on Friday, May 22nd — every day from 10 AM to 6 PM.