I just thought I would share with you a few photos taken on my recent visit to the wonderful Purl Alpaca ladies at Burwash Manor. I treated myself to a workshop day there and had such a fabulous time I have been on a little alapca-induced high for the rest of the week.

I loved that there was the opportunity to try on such a range of garments, designed by the very talented Kari-Helen and of course, there was the full range of alpaca yarn to browse too. We each chose a different kit and it was great to see what the others chose to work on.

We were a small group of six knitters, plus of course Kari-Helen and Tracey and it was lovely to just sit and knit amongst like-minded souls. Tracey is very knowledgable about her animals and clearly very passionate about her work. We learnt all about the processing of the fleece as well as about the animals themselves and we got the opportunity to get up close to them too. It turns out that alpaca love apples so we all enjoyed ourselves immensely, spending a little time with the 'ladies' of the herd. They are such gentle and captivating creatures, I think we were all a little in love with them by the end of the visit.

The workshop offered a rare chance to take time out from my normally busy day, to sit and knit and make a start on what I'm sure is going to become my favourite winter garment - the Isis Tailcoat. We chatted so much that before I knew where I was I was joining my second ball of yarn and since coming home, I have had to force myself to put down that delicious alpaca and work on other more time-pressing projects.

Fab yarn, great company and delicious food (Kari-Helen is an amazing cook as well as a talented designer) made for a wonderfully relaxing day.

If ever you get a chance to attend one of their workshop days I can highly recommend it.