100% British Alpaca Throws and Scarves...Beck Brow Alpacas self promotion (apologies!)

Enjoying some refound freedom now that all the alpaca births are over for the year, Claire and I had a trip out in the Scottish Borders yesterday. Claire treat herself to a some cashmere gloves, but I was very well behaved on the shopping front. We did however manage to fit in a rather nice lunch at the Damascus Drum...rather a surprise to find a Turkish cafe in the middle of Hawick...before calling in at our weavers to collect the latest Beck Brow Alpaca range.

I took the camera along to the mill to try to get a few shots for the on line store (I really must get on with providing the content for the web designers...but and it isn't often I have been able to say this this year...the weather is far too nice for indoor jobs). The traditional old looms really are a sight to admire and provided a great photo opportunity. With much of the equipment used having been in the family run business for generations, there is a real pride in the work done within the mill, and it is always a pleasure to visit...hence not bothering with a courier. I also wanted to visit to discuss our next orders of wraps and cushions...the problem is it seems I need more yarn...and that means more fleece sorting...I will whip myself into action next week...I promise Paul!

The traditional looms

Carrying on the photography theme I have also been trying to get some product shots for the shop. As a live model was not available a mannequin was assigned to the job...not much personality...but the rates are good! First off scarves...now I really wanted to demonstrate their generous size (180 x 30 cms) but as it was rather windy I ended up having to tie them in knots! The other glaring error was taking them straight out of the box and not even bothering to smooth out any wrinkles, but here are some of my attempts:

Although our first batch of throws were fantastic in both quality and style, we did decide to make some modifications for our second order. The very generous size of 230cms x 185 cms (plus fringes) made the blanket size throws very luxurious but also very heavy at 1.2 kgs. This weight of yarn obviously adds considerably to the cost and consequently the retail price. So our second batch of throws measure a still generous 145 x 180 cms (plus fringes) and weigh in at 750 gs...again still a very good weight of yarn...but means that we offer different options and prices. We opted for 3 colour ways in the latest collection; grey, brown and fawn herringbone all on a white warp. The wooden looms give the throws a fabulous finish along the edges (hopefully shown in the photos) that a large scale production just does not have. all things that add to the uniqueness of the product we hope.

100% British...brown/white and fawn/white herringbone alpaca throws

100% British Alpaca Throws...grey/white