Alpaca SOS!

I don't know about you, but I'm rather fond of knitting with alpaca yarn. It gives the finished knits a wonderful halo and it's so warm. The animals themselves are seriously cute too, aren't they? So I was very shocked to read recently about what's been happening in Peru. There have been terrible snow storms following an already very harsh winter. Three feet of snow fell in a short space of time, destroying houses, cutting off farmers and starving and freezing to death thousands of alpacas. There are reports that up to a quarter of a million alpacas have died. Not only that, but many thousands of people are homeless, or unable to heat their homes, since their fuel is alpaca dung. Obviously this is an absolute disaster for the local people, who rely on earning a living through their flock of alpacas. You can read a lot more about the situation here. Loveknitting are working with a charity called Practical Action to try and help the alpaca farmers and communities that have been devastated by this disaster. I'm going to get my thinking hat on too and see if I can come up with a way to help. Watch this space!! xxx