According to Wikipedia:

“The Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in superficial appearance.

Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3500 to 5000 meters above sea-level, throughout the year. ^{[citation needed]} Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike them are not used as beasts of burden but are valued only for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, much as sheep’s wool is. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 22 as classified in America. ^{[citation needed]} Alpacas and llamas differ in that alpacas have straight ears and llamas have banana shaped ears. Aside from these differences, llamas are on average 1-2 feet taller and proportionally bigger than alpacas.

In the textile industry, “alpaca” primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian alpaca, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca hair but now often made from similar fibers, such as mohair, Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality English wool. ^{[citation needed]} In trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohair and luster.”

Now, I really want to post a picture of an Alpaca, because they are adorable, but I think that doing so could involve stepping some copyright toes, although I’m pretty sure an Alpaca link wouldn’t hurt anyone… that particular alpaca looks a lot like Billy Murray to me (sorry Bill, I love you, but it does).

Anyway. Alpacas. They’re cute, they’re fuzzy, their wool makes amazing knit pajamas. The Alpaca Wool and Pima Cotton PJ set by Skin Lingerie, for instance, is amazing to touch (as well as amazing to look at). I, personally, would never think to make intimate wear out of wool. It just seems itchy. But forget what you think about itchy wool. Alpacas must graze on Calamine Lotion because these woolen panties are anything but itchy. I just love the high waisted bottoms too. They go perfectly with my high waisted jeans from Le Train Bleu. I’m pretty excited that a girl can once again wear pants that don’t give them the ever dreaded muffin top. Yay for fashion backlash! Oh, and yay for Alpacas.