Falcon Quest Owners Barbara and Darrell Bahr Peruvian Suris Alpaca Yarn Products

why machine knit

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:47:32 -0500

An earflap cap and scarf made with a knitting machine

Why knit with a machine?

We know that almost any yarn can be used when you knit by hand or weave. We also know that when you do these correctly the end product can usually be useable. So why use a machine?

If your objective is to put your alpaca fleece to a profitable use, the only way you can make enough products and use enough good yarn, is machine knitting. In the time that you use an ounce or two of yarn by hand knitting, you can use a pound of yarn by machine knitting. The end product of machine knitting is very consistent and looks very professional. People buy it.

As you sell more of the products from your animals, more people become aware of what you make and many will request more. They also become aware of the value of the animals where this amazing product originated.

Alpaca breeders would greatly benefit from seeing how a knitting machine works and the type of saleable products that are produced. This could be done by having a demonstration area at alpaca shows. What better way of showing “Made in the USA” products right on your farm. We have found that many of our customers ask us where our products were made and become buyers after we confirm that Barb made them.

Profit from alpaca fleece

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:28 -0500

Why not profit from your fleece?

The desire of most alpaca breeders is to profit financially from their animals. One way to do that is to show customers that the fleece of these animals can be converted into very desirable and saleable product in sufficient quantities to help pay for their upkeep.

There are many mills that produce yarn from alpaca. The problem with some of the yarn is inconsistency. A hand knitter can use yarn that has all sorts of variations in thickness but a machine knitter cannot. Inconsistent yarn results in a product that is not professional in appearance. Too much variation and the machine will stop working.

This is the reason alpaca breeders need to work with their mills and show the operators exactly what quality of yarn they need to supply to machine knitters so they can get top quality products for their store.

Alpaca should yield a very soft warm product. You need to be sure that the yarn doesn’t have too many twists per inch. Some years back I received some yarn from a newer mini-mill. It was twisted so tight that it wouldn’t work in the machine. I tried hand knitting with it because after all “it was from my animals”. The result was a very harsh product that I threw away. It would have been a very poor advertisement for alpaca products. I gave the rest back to the mill to use for “learning purposes”.

Machine Knitting can become an obsession

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:34:39 -0500

When does the machine knitting hobby become a passion or an obsession?

When I started knitting with a machine I assumed it would just be a fun hobby. It was fun. After a few rough looking items, friends asked if I would consider making some things for them. Since the items were made with alpaca yarn, they found the mittens and caps were far warmer and softer than anything they had in the past.

It turned out, not surprisingly, that these friends had other friends and the word went out about alpaca products that I made.

Someone suggested that it might be interesting to take some mittens, scarves and caps to a local craft show to see if anyone there would be interested. The first few shows were slow because most people never heard of alpaca and were very hesitant to spend that much money when “I can buy mittens for less than that in town.” A few did buy and sales increased each year.

Then a friend suggested selling alpaca products at a Farmers Market in summer. I doubted that people would be interested in warm clothing in the summer at a market where most vendors sell food. I was very wrong. People were already buying for Christmas.

After a few years some alpaca breeders asked if they could look over my shoulder and learn how to use the machine they had at home. Some others asked if I would make products for them from their yarn. Many of them are not retired and do not have enough time to make products for sale.

As you can see, this hobby slowly went from a very relaxing hobby to a fun business to an exciting obsession.

Valentines Day Special!!

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:39:53 -0500

Valentines Day Special from Falcon Quest Fashions

Treat your valentine (or yourself) to an alpaca cap. We are offering 10% off all of our alpaca caps from now until February 14, 2012.

Enjoy!!

machine knitting

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:39:31 -0500

Machine Knitting 101

Knitting machines are easily available from many sources. I have heard from several customers that they have machines in their homes but do not know how to use them. Some of these people inherited them, some found them at estate sales, some found them on Ebay.

Most of my experience is on the Brother machines. These are also called Knitking. There are other brands out there but my experience on them is limited. There are good companies that sell and service most brands.

Knitting machines start with the very manual machines and go up to the quite computerized versions. I started with an electronic machine which has many designs programmed in and allows me to program designs myself.

The common comment I hear is “ How do you use it?” I’ve watched demonstrations on YouTube and could not follow the steps even though I use the machine daily. I understand the frustration. The best way to learn is with a mentor. I have what I consider the best mentor around. She helps me out even after making alpaca products for years. There is always something to learn.

Some of people that I help learn catch up with me when I do seminars and show me what they have done and we talk about problems they ran into and we figure it out. Quite often they teach me new tricks. Who says you can’t teach an old …….?

I will be demonstrating machine knitting in Madison, Wisconsin on April 28 and 29. I will be at the Alliant Center during the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival. If you are interested, it’s a good time to see machine knitting as well as spinning and weaving