Alpaca Direct News and Perspectives

Come see us this week at Stitches West in Booth 815 & 817. We have a double booth again filled with tons of luxury Alpaca and Merino yarns plus we're giving away eco-friendly knitting bags with orders over $35! Sept 25th - 28th - Santa Clara Convention Center!

Winter Knitting Classes at Alpaca Direct

Current Knitting Classes - Instructor Led

Classes are held Thursday Eves - 7-9pm 

Knit 101
Skill level: Novice
Fee: $35, supplies additional
Dates: Jan 14th & Jan 21st

This two-session class is for new and beginning knitters. New knitters will learn to knit, purl, cast on and bind off. Beginning knitters will learn how knit and purl stitches work together to create interesting patterns. Your instructor will provide instructions and pattern to create a Jute Rope Scarf for your first project. No experience required.
This class is just the basics. Supplies: size 10 needles and 2 skeins of chunky weight yarn.
Registered students will receive 10% off class materials.


Crochet 101
Skill Level: Novice
Fee: $35, supplies additional
Jan 28th & Feb 4th

Crochet is fast and fun. During this two-session class students learn all the basic stitches of crochet (single, half-double, double and treble crochet), joining new yarn, increasing and decreasing. In this class you will learn how to Chain, single, double and triple crochet.
Registered students will receive 10% off class materials.

Knit 102
Skill level: Beginner
Fee: $35, supplies additional
Dates: Feb 11th & 18th

This two-session class is for knitters who know the basics (cast on, knit, purl, cast off) and who are ready for their first project. In this class, you learn increases, decreases, fixing twisted and dropped stitches, reading a pattern and start a project of your choice. This is the recommended next class after Knit 101. Bring light colored yarn and appropriate needles. If you want to use the yarn and needles you purchased for Knit 101, Alpaca Direct staff can help you find an appropriate pattern and yarn.
Registered students will receive 10% off class materials.



Crochet 102
Skill Level: Beginner
Fee: $35, supplies additional
Mar 4th & Mar 11th

This class if for those who know the crochet basics (chain, single, half-double, double and treble crochet). In this class, you learn increases, decreases and how to read a pattern. You will start a project of your choice. Alpaca Direct staff can help you find an appropriate pattern and yarn for your project.
Registered students will receive 10% off class materials.


Moebius Cowl
Skill Level: Intermediate
Fee: $30, supplies additional
March 18th

This is a fun and quick project where you'll learn how to do simple lace and the moebius cast-on. Knitting a moebius scarf is like magic. You need only to know how to knit, purl and cast-off. Shop sample: Seafoam moebius made with Catalina Baby Alpaca (#213). Supplies Needed: Size 10 (6mm) circular needle that is 40-47” in length.

How to sign up?  

Email us at info@alpacadirect.com   

Call our Shop - 10am - 5pm Mon-Sat. 925-237-2575 x6 ask for Patricia

Disclaimer:

Enroll early as class size is limited. Although we anticipate full registration for all classes, we reserve the right to cancel a class. In this circumstance your fee will be refunded in full. If you are not able to make your class, we will need 24 hours notice for a full refund. Fewer than 24 hours notice or No Show = no refund. Fees listed are for the complete class, including all sessions and unless noted do not include materials or patterns. Missed classes may be made up at a later session. Please bring basic accessories to all classes: scissors, stitch markers, yarn needles, etc.

If you need to purchase supplies you may purchase them at our shop the day of the class for a 10% discount. 

Local News Coverage On Our Store

The Brentwood Press came by last week and wrote up a nice article about our store.  It's been great growing our online business to over 35,000 customers.  Now we're able to really service the local community and we're thrilled that people are coming from "Over the Hill" in Concord, Walnut Creek, Alamo, etc to shop with us. Thanks to everyone for all the great local support!

CBS - Channel 5 Is Coming To Our Shop on Oct 24th!

Please come and join us to welcome CBS Channel 5 as they highlight local businesses and will be at Alpaca Direct from 10am - 12pm on Saturday, October 24th.   We'll have a few of our baby alpacas in front of the store so bring the kids and have fun petting the Alpacas and telling the News Crew at CBS 5 why you like shopping Local at Alpaca Direct!  

Sign up for Fall Classes at Alpaca Direct

We're offering a nice array of knitting, crochet, spinning and felting classes this fall.  All classes will be taught on Thursday evenings from 7-9pm.   

Alpaca Direct Class Schedule

Classes are Thursday evenings 7-9pm  

Felting with Artfelt -  $25 - Thursday Oct 8th  (Sign up for this class)

Class will include a kit containing all the supplies you'll need to create a felted scarf project.

Learn to spin fiber with a drop spindle $25 - Oct 15th  (Sign up for this class)

Learn the basics of the drop spindle and now to spin your own yarn.

Materials needed: Drop spindle, 1 or more oz of fiber

Learn to knit $30 - Oct 22nd  (Sign up for this class)

Learn step by step how to cast on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, bind off. Create the beginning of your own knitted scarf.

Materials needed:  1 Skein of chunky weight yarn,  #10 knitting needles

Learn to crochet $30 - Oct 29th (Sign up for this class)

Take your crochet skills up a notch as you learn 4 versatile pattern stitches that will bring pizzazz to your afghans, fashions, and other projects. Learn the chain stitch, single, double and treble stitches.

Materials needed: 1 skein of worsted weight yarn, One large G or H crochet hook

Knit a Scarf $30 - Nov 5th  (Sign up for this class)

Learn to knit a cool patterned scarf 

Materials needed: 2 skeins of yarn, 1 set #10 needles

Knit a  Hat $30 - Nov 12th (Sign up for this class)

Here's a fun project to knit a fun winter hat or tam to match the scarf from the prior lesson.  

Materials needed: 1 Skein of chunky weight yarn,  #10 knitting needles

Knit Socks on Circular Needles $30  - Nov 19th (Sign up for this class)

Learn how to knit socks on a set of circular needles. This class is designed for knitters who are familiar with circular needles, increases and decreases. We will cover the heel and gusset.

Materials needed:  1 Skein of worsted weight yarn,  1 set of #10 circular knitting needles 

Class Location:

Our Store is located at 144 Continente Ave, Suite 170, Brentwood, CA 94513  PH:925-237-2575

Supplies are available at our store.  10% discount on items purchased the day of the class! 

We're featured this Month in Fortune Small Business!

Check out the article this month in Fortune Small Business / CNN-Money Magazine featuring us as one of the top "Innovative" retailers for our use of customer reviews and letting our customers share their experience with each other.  We value each customer's feedback and use reviews to improve our products and our service.  We just sent out a separate customer satisfaction survey yesterday and 95.62% of you would refer us to a friend for online shopping.  Thanks and we'll keep trying hard to deliver value and earn your business! 

Jim and Kelley

Virtual Tour Of Our Expanded Retail Store

Here's some pictures of our expanded retail store.  We have plenty of parking out front and we're open Mon-Sat 10-5pm.  Come by and see us!  

Over 2,000 yarns to choose from including specialty ranch yarn from our local ranches!  

Here's a selection of over 100 alpaca scarves and our Super Soft Peruvian Pima Cotton PJ's 

Here's a nice work area for classes and projects.  We can also play our knitting videos for you on the big screen TV.  

Try on some Alpaca Slippers, a luxurious Alpaca Sweater or our large selection of Dahlgren Alpaca Socks

T

Our Expanded Retail Store opens on Sept 1st!

We've doubled our space in Brentwood and leased the adjacent suite (170) so...that's good news for our local customers.  Our expanded retail store will be opening on Sept 1st with a wide array of products available to see and purchase including over 2,000 different yarns! .  We've added a classroom training area and are lining up a full schedule of classes on Knitting, Spinning, Crochet and Felting.  Stay tuned for a download of the finalized schedule!  

We've Named Our Little Black Alpaca

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the contest to name our alpaca. With over 200 names suggested we had quite a variety to make our final choice.  So... we have just finished a family gathering and unamimously decided... so now he has a name and it is Dante.  Thanks to Chase B. who posted the suggestion on June 22nd at 5:09 pm.  You've won a $25 Gift certificate to our online store Alpaca Direct   Thanks to everyone else for all the creativity and fun in helping our cute little alpaca have a nice name.  Next year you'll see if first year fleece be available as a buttery black alpaca yarn direct from our ranch! 

Help Name Our Alpaca - Contest Ends June 30th!

We'd like help in naming our newest addition to our alpaca ranch. Here's some characteristics about this little boy who was born a couple of weeks ago. He is coal black with soft, silky fiber that we'll eventually shear and sell as yarn on our website. He's really fast running around the pasture, likes to pronk, is very curious, is very proud in his stance like his father (Snowmass Conquistador). He is very independant but still likes to stay by his mom (Daphne) in the evenings. There's more pictures on our ranch website photo gallery  So here's the deal,  suggest a name in the comments section of this blog along with reason.  The winner will get a $25 gift card from Alpaca Direct.  Winner (and name) to be announced on July 1st, 2009.