Sandollar Farms | Alpacas & Great Pyrenees

Putting "Warm Fuzzies" in Your Life!

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Sandollar Farm's Addi Story

The Sandollar Alpacas "Addi" Story

We have been raising alpacas since 2003.  For the first few years after we got our first alpacas, the fleece produced by our herd languished in our barn in the plastic bags used for shearing (sound familiar??).  And one of the biggest questions our alpaca customers always asked us is "so what do you do with all that fleece"?  As the economy changed, this question and the need to find an answer became more and more compelling.

While Collins is a well-respected leather and fiber artisan, Nikki was not at all crafty or talented in that area but was yearning to do something with the alpaca fiber being produced from the animals she loved so much.  Nikki also has arthritis and cannot knit or crochet for very long before her hands begin hurting.

Then she came across the Addi Express Circular Knitting Loom!  It is manufactured in Germany by Addi, which is a very well-known company in knitting circles for a variety of other high quality items.  Once Nikki began experimenting with the Addi she immediately became in her words, an "Addi"ct.  She made her first hat from Sandollar Alpaca's yarns the very day she opened the box, and to date has made over 350 hats.  The hats are the most popular item in our farm store and she can make a hat on the Addi from start to finish in under an hour.

Nikki was so impressed with the quality of the machine and the product it produced that she became an Addi Dealer in order to get the word out to the alpaca community!  The first machines went into our farm store's inventory and on sudden impulse, we decided to make a 3-part video about making her hat and take them to several shows that year.  Each of the videos is reproduced on the page in our store where we sell the Addi (see link at the end of this article).

We were absolutely stunned by the interest from the alpaca community in the Addi Knitting Loom at the shows!  Nikki was busy both days demonstrating the machine to other breeders and she quickly sold out of both the machine and the video DVD; the rest of the weekend she was taking orders for the machine.  We came home from the show and immediately placed an order for more machines.  They have become very popular, not just in the United States, but worldwide. 

 The Addi Does Other Things Besides Hats.  We see wonderful possibilities for the future of the Addi, because the Addi is very versatile...it does more than circular knitting; it does flat panel knitting...you can make panels in any size quickly and easily and then just assemble them into a variety of products.  AND the Addi comes in two sizes, a small and a larger version, each particularly well suited to different items.  We have both, and Nikki is experimenting with fingerless gloves on the smaller machine. 

 One of Nikki’s favorite Facebook groups is the Addi King Loomers and Knits.  There are over 7,500 group members worldwide posting everyday about new things they have tried or are making.  There is a huge video library to teach how to do a variety of things as well as an extensive pattern library.

We hope after reading this, that you will want to turn your alpaca fiber or alpaca yarn into something beautiful and marketable as well...or that  you are interested in learning more about the Addi.  If so, call Nikki at 509.378.6909 to get answers to questions or to order a machine.  You just might become an "Addi"ct, too! 

 You can also order the Addi directly from our website...just click on the link below.  I have also included all three parts of the video that we made introducing the Addi.  All three videos are also available on Youtube and in the Facebook Group mentioned above.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story; hoping you enjoy your Addi as much as I have!

 To Order Your Addi Circular Knitting Loom, Click Here!

 For those who would like to see the Addi in action, here are the three parts of Nikki's videos that were made to demonstrate how it works.  Have Fun!

 

Saturday, November 12, 2022