Get-Away with Friends, Alpacas and a Fiber Mill

The past few days were spent in a cooler weather clime of  Hot Sulphur Springs, a small Colorado mountain town.  A trip over the Continental Divide and to the top of Trail Ridge Road outside Estes Park provided us with outstanding scenery.  This is a picture of a glacier field at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park, at an altitude of over 12,000 feet above sea level, where it was cool and rainy:

Outside Granby, Colorado, friends Dotty and Natalie found a fiber outlet alpaca farm, mill, and store called The Lonesome Stone.  Owners Marv and Linda Dewey of Lonesome StoneNatural  Fiber Mill and store have over 70 alpaca on their ranch.

Here are some young alpaca catching a few sun rays between rain showers in the high country:

Linda Dewey, one of the working owners of Lonesome Stone, was kind enough to show us around the mill, explaining the carding process of the wools all the way to the hand painting of the finished yarn.  This is Linda with one of her two Great Pyrenees who work with her in the mill:

More photos of the inside of the mill:

(this is a picture of the bottles of concentrated  dyes used in the hand painting of the yarns, a few of which are shown below, along with a shot of some yarns available for sale in the front of the mill:)

Yes, we spent a few dollars on some luscious yarns. But more of THAT later!

Thank you, Linda, of Lonesome Stone, and Dotty and Natalie for a great trip!