Tag Archives: Llamas

How to Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. 

How to Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Food coloring can dye protein-based fibers like alpaca and llama wool. Dying bare yarn is a great way to customize your yarn for knitting and crafting projects. Food coloring is a relatively inexpensive and non-toxic way to color your yarn.

More about Llamas and Alpacas

Llamas and alpacas serve a myriad of purposes for South American families. These domesticated animals are suited for conditions in the Andes and provide a sustainable source of income for their owners. Their wool, prized for its thickness and warmth, is woven into an array of handicrafts, such as scarves, ropes, hats, bags and blankets.These hardy creatures work as pack animals, carrying up to 30 percent of their body weight. Their feet, which have thickly padded undersides like a dog’s foot, don’t damage the delicate high-altitude topsoil and vegetation of the Andes, and their droppings enrich the soil.

Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Photo courtesy of Knitpicks.com

Materials:

  • Bare yarn
  • A large pot
  • Water
  • Vinegar
  • Food coloring
  • Stove top
  • Rubber gloves
  • Large spoon to stir

Begin by creating a water-vinegar dye bath by adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to the mix for every quart of water. Soak the yarn in the mixture for half an hour.

Remove the yarn from the mixture and place in a plastic bowl. Next, heat the water-vinegar mixture until it begins to boil. Pour in dye. You will use more than you think you need because it will be dispersed through the water.

Add the yarn to pot again. Let it simmer until the yarn has absorbed the color in the dye bath. When this happens, turn off the heat and let the water return to room temperature. After the bath has cooled, remove the yarn. Wring out the extra water and rinse the yarn with cool water, letting the extra dye run off.

Hang your yarn to dry. A sweater or a clothesline works great, just make sure the yarn isn’t bunched up.

Heifer Peru is improving lives by working on a biodiversity project with alpacas. Heifer’s Alpaca Biodiversity in High Andean Communities project participants are working to improve and reestablish the value and breeding of colored alpacas. Read how the biodiversity project is helping Lucio’s family in Peru. For more project details, see this World Ark article.

For more details about dying yarn, read this article.

Give the gift of a llama and provide a Peruvian family with a sustainable income.

Llamas: Funny Looking, Seriously Improving Lives

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Sure, llamas and alpacas are fun to look at. Those big eyes, buck teeth, lanky necks make for quite a sight. I’ve always had a thing for their goofy faces, thick coats of fur and quirky personalities.

llamas

Photo by Jake Lyell, courtesy of Heifer International

Not only are they fun to look at, they are very important to the people living in the Andes Mountains of South America. Like their distant cousin the camel, they are pack animals and can travel far with little water. They eat many different types of vegetation and are durable and dependable even in the sparse mountainous terrain of the rural highlands.

Photo by Jake Lyell, courtesy of Heifer International

In addition to doing hard labor as beasts of burden, llamas and alpacas make a huge impact on many aspects of life in the Andes. Their wool is used to make coats, scarves and clothes to keep families warm. The wool is grease-free, warm and luxurious, so it is very marketable, and families can earn a steady income by selling it to others.

Photos by Christian DeVries, courtesy of Heifer International

Llamas have a relatively low protein requirement and an efficient digestive system (similar to a cow), they are easier to feed than other animals that size. Their calm nature also makes them easier to handle. They are sure-footed and make good pack animals. You may be surprised to learn that their two-toed foot and soft pad gives them a low environmental impact, especially for their size. How about that? Environmentally friendly feet. A perfect animal for Heifer coincides with our mission to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth.

Llama and Woman

Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International

Because of harsh conditions in the rural highlands, many people are living here in poverty. Heifer International has targeted this population and their livelihoods by helping increase the genetic diversity of their alpacas and llamas, improving fodder crops and distributing new livestock. Along with the gifts of llamas, participants receive trainings to better care for their animals themselves and to improve all aspects of their lives.

Give the gift of a llama now.

You’ll be providing a struggling family with a lifetime of opportunities.

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

Llamas and Alpacas: Your Black Friday Alternative

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Dario Mayta, the son of Jose Mayta, with one of the
alpacas that his father received from Heifer.

Llamas and their cousin the alpaca have been invaluable for the people of South America since the Incas domesticated them around 4,000 B.C. While llamas are best known for their wool, they also have keen eyesight and can act as guards, protecting other herds from potential predators.

Jose Mayta and his wife Utilia Chura-Laura.

In the isolated village of Pallallani, Bolivia, Jose Mayta and Utilia Chura-Laura took the gift of two alpacas and made a thriving farm. The couple now has 60 adult alpacas. Each is sheared once a year and provides about four pounds of wool. Though the market is a seven-hour walk, Jose knows the money he  makes there will go toward the children’s education. In god years, alpaca wool sells between $5 and $7 per pound, so he can earn a total of $1,300 to $1,700 from his alpaca herd.


Clothing and Blankets
The wool that llamas and alpacas provide is prized when woven into blankets, ponchos, carpet and rope. And with each animal providing between four and eight pounds of wool a year, weaving can become a lucrative business.

Protected Ecosystems
Pasture land in the Andean Mountains is scarce, and vegetation at high altitudes is fragile. But with their padded, two-towed feet, llamas leave little impact on the mountain ecosystems. Their droppings can also help fertilize the scarce topsoil.

Transportation
Families high in the Andean mountains use llamas as pack animals to move goods to markets. Depending on the terrain, llamas can carry up to 30 percent of their body weight, making them better pack animals than horses.

This holiday season, give the gift of a llama in honor of Cousin Frank, who always won the spitting contests when you were kids. Read more about Heifer’s work with llamas and alpacas to see why they’re a winning pick for many families in South America.

Photos by Christian DeVries.

Heifer’s Heart: Farley the Llama at Heifer Ranch

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Name: Farley 

Title:  Campus Llama

Location: Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas

How long have you worked for Heifer? About six years.

What attracted you to work for Heifer? My former owner in Scranton, Arkansas, thought I’d have a better quality of life if I lived at Heifer Ranch.

What has been the most memorable experience you have had while working for Heifer? I really enjoy the visitors who come to the Ranch. For some of them, I am the first llama they have ever seen. Some even think I am a donkey, until they get to know me.

My hobbies include: Snacking on hay and dazzling Heifer staff and visitors with my dashing smile.
 
My family consists of: Various farm animals. My new neighbors include several baby goats that were born at the  Ranch in mid-March.

Something about me that you might not know: I am used as a pack animal in Global Village 1 and carry feed up and down the steps and across the bridges to all the other animals.

What is the best thing about working at Heifer Ranch? Helping educate visitors about the benefits llamas can bring to Heifer families in Latin America. We eat the scrub vegetation that other domesticated animals won’t eat. Our droppings help fertilize topsoil — improving crops and reducing erosion. In addition, we provide invaluable sources of transportation, income and wool, which is prized for making blankets, ponchos, carpet and rope.

Llama Love

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by Sandi Watson 

Have you ever seen a llama or alpaca up close? They are beautiful animals, with their big eyes, flirty eyelashes, long legs, and soft fleece.

alpacas in Pacchanta, Peru April 2010

For the Heifer project families who raise them, llamas and alpacas are also tremendously useful. After turning the fleece into yarn, families can create blankets, hats, ponchos, and other items. During our volunteers study tour in Peru, we learned that these beautiful weavings are also part of a rich cultural heritage. Special symbols such as condors, alpacas, mountains, and rivers honor Mother Earth.

Sometimes white fibers are dyed, using inks made from local plants. Other times, the weavers use only the naturally occurring colors – rich browns, pale taupes, creamy whites.

All these hand-crafted pieces are an important source of income for the families.

Llamas thrive at high altitudes, as we saw when we visited Pacchanta (over 13,000 feet above sea level). They are nimble and strong, able to carry loads to market. And because they are related to camels, they don’t need much water.

The next time you need a fun gift for a loved one, consider giving a llama in your beloved’s name. The person you honor will be thrilled and you’ll make a tremendous difference in the lives of the people who receive your gift!

This post originally appeared on the Heifer in Boston volunteer blog.

Well Worth the Drive

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Monique Wherry is part of a contingent visiting Heifer projects in Peru this week. She sends this great photo and the report below from the field where Heifer is working with local partners to improve alpaca farming, market access and food security in vegetables and corn. 

She says that — en route to a small village in the mountainous region of Puna– one of  the group’s cars broke down. Nonetheless, they eventually made it to a warm welcome in the company of many villagers and llamas.

“The villagers greet us with smiles, handshakes and the women are all in beautiful shades clothed in yellow, greens, gold, black and red. We also see lots of beautiful llamas in shades of brown.”