About St. Florian Fiber Farm
Our sweaters and accessories are carefully hand-knitted or crocheted using wool from alpacas that are raised on a farm in the Tennessee Valley region of north Alabama, near a tiny town called St. Florian. Artist and farmer Erika Rosenberg spins yarn from white, brown, black, gray and fawn alpacas on her farm, and occasionally mixes it with fibers from the fur of her German angora rabbits.

The 55-acre farm is tended by Erika, and she oversees the shearing, animal care, pasture maintenance and spinning. The knitting pool is composed of local women who have honed their craft to bring the world the finest handmade garments available. The process of shearing, spinning and knitting takes hundreds of hours, and because each piece is crafted by hand, no two works are exactly the same.

About Alpacas
Alpacas have been bred for their fiber, which is the finest and softest in the world. Alpacas are usually shorn once a year, and each animal yields an average of five to eight pounds of fiber.

Alpaca fiber is uniform, warm and very soft, and has a natural, rich luster. Its natural colors in shades of white, black, brown, fawn and gray can be blended to produce an infinite variety of colors. Alpaca fiber is unusually strong and resilient, and its strength does not diminish as the fiber gets finer.

Alpaca fiber’s thermal capacity is greater than almost any other animal fiber, and it is naturally waterproof. It does not contain grease or lanolin, which makes it easy to clean, and it has less of an “itch” factor than many fibers, which means that people tend not to be as allergic to it. Although it can be dyed easily, it still retains its natural luster.

The ancient Incas knew that garments made from alpaca fiber were special, and reserved them for royalty. The fiber can be processed into either worsted or woolen products, and are quite luxurious. It can be spun, woven, knitted and felted.