When I was a child, I grew up with two amazingly spontaneous parents, who always encouraged and inspired me to be creative, and also resourceful with what the earth has given us.

It always amazes me that in the United States we go through clothing at such a rapid rate that we actually have to SHIP a huge portion of our donated clothes overseas, and much is used as insulation in buildings instead of clothing in its second life. We are oftentimes a fickle population that spends too much on things we don't take care of- so the idea of slowly taking my time to make a beautiful piece of clothing that will be treasured and taken care of was a huge influence on me to choose the product that I make, but I digress...

When I was in high school, my government class had to each pick a different country to write about. I, very smugly, choose New Zealand (more for their LACK of government). As I was writing my paper, I sent away for an "alpaca farmer" DVD to write about trades in the country.

The start-up alpaca farmer dvd became a HUGE joke in my family. My parents told everyone that my dream in life was to become one...

until one day we did.

The more we watched the ridiculous infomercial, the more we LOVED alpacas- and the fact that you can make YARN to KNIT with. And one day, we drove up to Pennsylvania and impulsively purchased our first 3 alpacas. Now, my parents have well over 20 and my mom is a full time farmer. It's a wonderfully Romantic story- kind of like "We Bought a Zoo" and "Little Miss Sunshine" combined. :-) My mom makes her own yarn- and, although I don't use her yarn in my shop (but she does if you visit the shop CHESHIREFARM), I, of course, learned how to knit, and fell in love with it.

Crafting is such a deep thing to share with family, and as a middle school youth leader, I constantly see the need to keep handiness and creativity alive. I just adore passing down the love and appreciation for hand made things to the next generation, especially one riddled with the push for cheap and easy materialism.

Thank you for reading my story!!