Cozy Cove Farm = Llama Heaven

What could be cuter than a young suri Llama? He is surely something special. His hair is soft as human baby hair.

On Labor Day a road trip was made by Sara, Heidi, and me - the women from Why Knot Fiber Collective. Someone had given me some gorgeous llama fiber from Cozette at Cozy Cove Farms in north Alabama, outside of Huntsville. I spun up some of the delicate white fibers so I called Cozette and asked if she would mind if I brought the yarn to her. She invited me to tour her farm where I could actually meet some of the llamas. Having never ever met any llamas before, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go up there. It was just so much more fun to have Heidi and Sara to go with up there. We left about 8a and got there just as planned around 11a. Cozette was trying to stable the animals in advance of Hurricane Gustav. It was pretty funny to watch us city slickers try to help in this endeavor but in the end we were successful. I got lots of great pics of the llamas along the way.

Like look at this beautiful girl!! She's got her ears back showing me that she is not at all happy with the human intrusion. But, she is really interested in learning more about me with those huge brown eyes. And surprisingly there were some llamas there with big blue eyes. Cozette said that the blue eyes come from llamas inter-breeding with alpacas. She also told us that the suri llamas come from mixing genetic lines with alpacas. It wasn't long after this picture was made that I got to run my fingers through the thick white coat of this beautiful animal. Pure luxury. They all have names. All 65 of them. Along with their names, they have unique personalities with specific likes and dislikes. We were told charming true stories of the mother-daughter bond being so strong that they recognize one another after years to decades of being separated. Llama mothers don't wean their young daughters. Daughters are allowed to nurse the mother until the daughter becomes a mother herself. Sons, however, become independent much earlier.

The chocolate brown llama in the image to the right is a stallion or stud llama. I have looked and cannot find the correct term for a male llama so I'm using a bit of horse terminology calling him a stallion. Here's a link to the Wikipedia information on llamas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama and it does contain some interesting information, such as llamas have no eyelashes unlike alpacas who do have eyelashes.

We came home with a trunk full of llama fibers, Cozette was so generous. We came home also with a new business partner. The Tuscaloosa gals are going to develop some sales opportunities for these fabulous fibers. I posted on Ravelry as soon as we got home and have already sold 2 pounds of brown llama fibers for our collective. Just another benefit of the internet!




Meet the women of Why Knot Fiber Collective. That's me in the bright pink. The woman in all the pics is our newest member, Cozette. There's Heidi toting one of her handmade books and wearing the headband knitted from her own pattern. And always smiling as usual, Sara is wearing the black shirt. What do we have in common? We love animal fiber and the animals that create these wonderful fibers. It is a great honor for me to get to do fiber arts with these passionate, committed, socially conscious women. We are going to do some pretty special work together. That I will save for another post. For now, I will conclude with a few more Alabama Llama pics.



It was a great day - our visit to Llama Heaven. The link to Cozette's webpage is posted on my list of blogs and websites. Any blog readers who are interested in ordering some llama fibers, just let me know. You won't regret it - that is for sure!