I visited the Shady Lane Alpaca Farm outside Lexington, Ohio and owner Jean McClintock gave me a tour of the farm, which you can read about here, and then inside her gift shop. .
This beautiful mosaic pendant is made from emu shell and gourd shell.
These sweaters are alpaca fiber and are designed to be worn two ways, "topsy-turvy".
Jean carries many alpaca children's garments.
She has alpaca art yarn spun by a local spinner.
Notice the South American (Peruvian?) motifs in some of the sweaters.
Many handcrafted items. This art yarn was spun locally.
Of special local interest are the gourd crafts. Mt. Gilead is the next community southwest of Lexington, and they have an annual gourd festival. Jean is originally from Mt. Gilead.
Jean carries some drop spindles and a lazy kate, as well as local maple syrup.
Quite a few items of jewelry.
When they moved to Lexington, Jean and her son renovated an old hayloft into the store, adding this window to bring in some light. Oops! It was a load-bearing wall, and they had to shore it up quickly with another beam.
Beautiful ponchos and pelts.
Many hand-crafted jewelry items.
These alpaca sweaters are sold, under a different label, at high-end department stores. The cowl converts to a hood. The natural colors are breathtakingly beautiful.
I appreciate Jean showing me her store, even though it was off-hours for her to accommodate the schedule of my bike ride. Since, like me, she is a member of Malabar Farms Fiber Arts Guild and invites them to the farm for several events, I am sure we will meet again soon. We definitely share a connection since we both like fibers, farming, and gardening. I'll share a couple of pictures of her raised-bed garden on my Bright Meadow Farms blog.
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