Each morning when I wake up, I ask myself what I am grateful for and what I am happy about. This morning, I wanted to let you know I love living in Hayden!

We had such a great time being part of the Hayden days parade this past weekend. Our team at Alpaca Direct wanted to have a float in the parade this year so we decorated one with streamers and brightly colored flowers and drove down Government Way with many women and children from our knitting and spinning group. There was a great turnout and our team enjoyed passing out candy to the kids and inviting folks from our community to join us at our open knitting groups held on Tuesday evenings from 6-8 p.m. and on Thursday from 1-3 p.m. This is special time to share our love of knitting and our beautifully hand-knit projects with each other. Whether you are a seasoned knitter or a complete beginner, this is a time to get help with your projects at no charge to you from experienced knitters who want you to be the best that you can be. We will help you get back on track and explain what happened and how to correct mistakes. We encourage you to learn how to fix your own knitting mistakes so that when you are knitting at home late at night you can get yourself back on track quickly and easily. There's no dumb questions at our shop so come on down and have some fun with us.

Now back to what I was saying about why I loved being a part of Hayden Days. All the kids were waving and there is a real sense of community. One of the floats was passing out ice cream missile pops and all the kids had them along with big smiles on their faces. Families were out together with their loved ones and their pets and you could feel the loving bond of a healthy family-centered community. A community focused on giving and caring instead of the ever-so-common "I - me" mentality which exists in many communities today. I also want to encourage you to go to the community concerts in Hayden park on Government Way on Thursday evenings. My husband and I love going there to see couples dancing and the small ones spinning in circles with great big smiles on their faces. I can tell you for certain, that there is no where on earth I'd rather be. I love Hayden and am proud to call it my home.

We had a special sales event this weekend in our store to celebrate Christmas in July. It was a great time to meet people from our community and help them get started on handmade gifts for the holiday season. We also brought a few of our alpacas to the store for the kids to see up close and learn about their special fiber and unique personalities.

In case you have not heard about us, Alpaca Direct is a direct merchant of high-quality yarn, apparel, gifts and socks. We carry a full line of fiber art accessories, including hundreds of needles and thousands of yarns. Our unique selection of products also includes Peruvian alpaca sweaters, hand-loomed lace scarves, performance alpaca socks, cuddly alpaca teddy bears and unique international jewelry.

Our building is handicap accessible, with ample parking and is easy to find. We are located on Hayden Avenue, just two blocks west of Highway 95 at 1016 W. Hayden Ave. in Hayden.

Our Alpaca fiber experts are on call 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Visit us at 1016 W. Hayden Avenue or online at www.AlpacaDirect.com - your local destination for luxury yarn, apparel and gifts. "Like" us on Facebook and Yelp for exclusive coupons, product spotlights and news!

Kelley Hobart is the owner of Alpaca Direct.