Alpaca Granny - The everyday life of a retired teacher turned alpaca farmer and fiber addict.

End of Blog

2009-11-30T11:28:00.007-05:00

I do believe that it's time to end my blogging phase. I haven't wanted to write for a few months now, and it looms in the back of my mind - thinking that I should. This has been an incredibly theraputic outlet for me, especially last year after Smitty died.

But....I'm putting some closure on that part of my life and leaving a few of my favorite pictures behind.

Cold Rainy October

2009-10-23T11:02:00.010-04:00

Poor Ivan! When I went to the barn this a.m., his door had blown shut, and he was stuck out in the rain for I don't know how long.
The barn was pretty messy. The boy alpacas didn't want to go out into the rain, so left their pooh all over my new cement floor. I need to figure out some type of box to encourage them to to put it in one place. They do want to be tidy. I just need to help. I've been trying to figure something out because during the winter, they do sometimes get shut in.
Today is definitely a stay in by the fireplace and spin day - with my trusty girl, Cassie, of course.

I just finished this skein of slubby yarn and put into my Etsy store. I really like it and wouldn't mind if it didn't sell because I am imagining a skinny, lacey scarf. The fiber is a blend of three of my brown alpacas - Sonata, Orion, and JR. That's Sonata over there →

Fall Harvest in midMichigan

2009-10-19T12:33:00.003-04:00

The soy beans that were in this field to the west of my farm were harvested yesterday. Today Matt is plowing the field. I'm always amazed at the way the sea gulls find and follow the plow looking for food. How do they know? And where do they come from? We don't even have big lakes here in the middle of the mitt.

I like this picture of my big ole Ivan taken from my deck yesterday. Horses don't lay down a lot because they can lock their legs and stand up to sleep.

'Paca Porno

2009-10-10T22:01:00.003-04:00

Yep, here you can see a breeding between light fawn Oppie (Gold In Opportunity) and silver gray Mr. T (Tribute to Money). Oppie is a maiden and this was her first breeding. T was a gentleman and did a suitable amount of courting. There is a very good chance of a gray cria with this breeding because Oppie's black dad had a gray dad and her medium fawn mom had a gray grandpa.
Beth and I also did a behaviour test (spit test) between black Chinella and T. She ran and kicked at him which we hope indicates that she is pregnant. EEEHAW! Lots of gray and black between these two also. Wouldn't it be too incredible to have a black or gray girl cria?
After the breeding event we gave Dectomax injections (for the Menegeal Worm) and trimmed toes on the seven boys. Another day in the barn.....
Oh, and Belita ↓ is eating and doing well.

Lady Belita is Sick and Down

2009-10-06T09:29:00.006-04:00

Last night when I went out to do my evening feed, Belita was laying out flat on her side. Usually when the alpacas rest, they cush like the picture on the right. She didn't get up to eat her grain which is usually a little bit of a fiasco with everyone joyfully hurrying to get her share. I finished feeding and watched her. She would get up if I got real close, but then would lay right back down. I called for a vet. I was happy that Russ was on call and he was here within half an hour. We watched, listened, tempted, and decided she was colicky (tummy ache) because she had very little stomach sounds. Russ drew some blood and took a stool sample.
We gave her a shot of Banamine, tubed her (run oil through a tube down her throat to her first stomach), and called it a night. Russ was going to be in the area and said that he would check in in the a.m.
So this morning, the dear girl was cushed again throughout feeding. She wasn't stretched out but obviously, didn't feel up to parr and didn't want to eat. About the time that I finished feeding and picking up poop, Russ drove in. We gave her another shot of Banamine, she did have some stomach sounds, which is good. We debated about tubing her again but I really, really hate to stress alpacas, and my gutts said to just take her for a walk.
Her walk helped because when I left to come into the house, she was nibbling grass. Hopefully, she's going to be ok.....

This is Lady Belita with our first born girl on the farm, Celeste. See how Belita's ears are back. That's the way she always looks, which makes her look mean. She's not mean, but would rather be left alone.

My Horse, the Clown

2009-10-05T08:58:00.004-04:00

You know how when something happens once, it seems coincidental, but then when it happens again, you know it's not? Ivan, my big ole gray Percheron/Thoroughbred, thinks he's the funniest guy on earth. Twice now when I've been picking up poop in his paddock, I turn my back on him and he dumps the wheelbarrow. I can't catch him in the act because he knows when I'm watching out of the corner of my eye. Then, to top it off, he goes trotting off to his pasture - laughing all the way.
(BTW We were repairing his pasture fence in this picture)

This is Ivan and 30 year old Abbie, my oldest daughter's 4-H horse.

Golden Opportunity's Blue Ribbon

2009-10-02T09:04:00.005-04:00

EEEHAW! Oppie's fleece sample got a blue in the Spin Off last weekend at the MIAF. A SpinOff contest is when the breeder submits 2 ounces of fiber, the alpaca's registration, and usually a picture to the Show. A judge evaluates the fleece, evaluates how it spins, and then evaluates the yarn. I believe this is the true test of an alpaca's fiber.
Frankly, I'm not fond of spinning the really crimpy fleece that the judges so like, and I don't enjoy spinning fiber over 4 inches long. The finer, the better, for me though.

Now a little about "dear" Oppie. She is not a sweet alpaca. She's obstinate, has a mind of her own, and is probably the smartest alpaca in the barn. When Beth was training her to halter lead, she was a horrid alpaca. At first she would just cush down and not move - even if we dragged her. Beth rigged up a towel sling so that everytime Oppie would try to cush, Beth would lift her up. After giving in to actually standing, moving forward was the challenge. Oppie would get so mad that she would leap forward and bang into Beth. It took about 2 months to get her to actually lead, and Beth did take her through the show ring at the spring show (she took a second). Cudos to Beth and her incredible patience.
You can go here if you want to see what I said about her a year ago.

Riley and Chinney's Red Ribbon

2009-10-01T09:23:00.006-04:00

Aren't cats the most amazing critters? I never know where I will find Riley curled up. Usually he's in my chair that I sit in to spin and I have to move him. But this box is a new place and I just had to photo it. It's sort of artsy, don't you think? The light, the shapes, the texture?

Friend Nancy took our fleece to the MIAF show last weekend for me. Thanks, Nancy. Chinney belongs to both Beth and me and we are very thrilled that the fleece took a second. Remember last spring Chinney won her color championship. I love this picture of her and Beth's son, John, at our 4-H fair last summer.

This really is a very black fleece but the way the light hit it, it looks gray....

Damn Muskrats

2009-09-27T22:09:00.005-04:00

This is the pond/lagoon that I fenced in to make more pasture for the alpacas. Look what the muskrats have done! Can you see all those tunnels? I really thought that the muskrats and I could live together in a peaceful, respectful coexistence BUT the tunnels are caving in and making holes up on top where my 'pacas graze.
I have this horrible mental picture of one of the alpacas stepping into a hole and breaking a leg.
Today I was going to try to fill all the cave ins with dirt, but when I got out there, it made more sense to just shovel and smoosh down the tunnels. (The boys are checking out my shovel)
I don't think this is a permanent fix so I may have to give in and let Josh trap them like he suggested. Geese, I really hate to do that......

Dyeing Frenzy

2009-09-23T10:47:00.005-04:00

This is Celeste in full fleece. Can you see how lovely her light fawn fiber is? Last spring she sheared over 7 pounds of 4 inch long fleece.

Celeste was the first alpaca born on our farm four years ago so she's pretty special, a little goofy and I didn't think she would really grow up. She had a lovely cria in the spring of 2008 and is pregnant again by my own herd sire, Polaris. I worried about her being a good mom 'cause she is so silly but she has taken excellent care of her little girl, Lyra.
Her fiber is awesome! At the alpaca shows, we have what is called a SPIN OFF where breeders send in 2 ounces of fiber to be spun by a judge. Celeste won, not only the best in her class, but also best over all at the show. It's long and not overly crimpy which makes it lovely to spin.

So this is what I have been doing↑ Dyeing like a mad woman! The teal and pink/blue are from Celeste's seconds. There is probably about 5 pounds of fiber here.
I think I know why I'm being rather compulsive about this. I can control it and am getting amazing results. The other part of my life has been chaotic.
Some of you may not know that my 89 year old mom came to live with me at the end of August. She was here a week and fell and has been in Rehab at the Alma hospital since. I have been really frightened about taking care of her because she was scheduled to come home today. Well, yesterday, with the help of the social worker at Rehab, we got her a room in a nursing home in St. Louis. I think Medicare will only cover her stay for 20 days, but I'm incredibly relieved that she is going to have a safe place with better skilled care than I can provide.

Baby Alpaca - To Dye For

2009-09-22T11:10:00.012-04:00

JR with his momma, sweet Sonata, right after his birth last year, September 19, 2008.

I came across the seconds from JR's first shear. If you are interested, seconds are the less desirable fiber from the alpaca. In JR's case, from his neck, chest, and belly. The fiber is usually different lengths and probably has second cuts. JR's fleece will probably never be as soft and fine as this first shear.

I have never tried to dye over a color as dark as this brown so this is another experiment - that went well.
*I washed the fiber in Dawn and the hottest tap water I could get. After letting it soak about 1/2 hour, I drained it, ran another sink full of warm water to rinse and added a big glug of vinegar.
* While I was washing and draining, I heated up about 8 or 10 cups of water in my crock pot and added another big glug of vinegar just before adding the wet fleece.
* I put into the water about 1/2 teaspoon of red Jacquard dye on the left and the same amount of Burnt Orange on the right. Then lowered the wet fleece in. I did a few pokes to settle it down but didn't stir because I wanted the colors to stay separate. They did....

This is about 6 ounces of fleece. I love the colors!

JR's Blue Ribbon Yarn

2009-09-16T09:50:00.010-04:00

It's such a thrill to hear about my 'pacas' fiber from all around the world. I just received this picture ↓ from Barb in California. This is what she had to say *** Just a quick note to let you know that Kendra won a blue ribbon for JR's yarn at the Los Angeles County Fair. You sent that as a sample to us on (we think) our first order from you. We took a picture for you***

JR's fans will remember this little guy who was born last September and struggled to survive. He has remained very small for his age but is the most delightful, friendly little feller on the farm. I'm so pleased that his fiber has brought joy to Barb and Kendra.

Spun in the Fog

2009-09-11T11:14:00.003-04:00

What a breathtaking sight this morning at the beginning of my walk.

I ran back into the house and grabbed my camera because I had to record this work of art by a fellow spinner. Sharon, I thought of you because you are the only one I know that could possibly reproduce this beautiful design.
Local schools were on delay and then cancelled this morning because of the fog. We were a little anxious on our two mile morning walk and listened carefully for approaching vehicles.

That's my barn walking from the east.

Alpaca Scarf - Start to Finish

2009-09-06T08:38:00.008-04:00

My goal for this scarf project was to see if I would be happy spinning and knitting with a single ply yarn. My thoughts have always been that a single would slant and perhaps even fall apart.
I started with a couple year's growth of white alpaca fleece from the handsome Target who lives with Chris and Jenn in St. Louis, Michigan.

To Target's fleece I added a few pounds of white merino that I purchased from the McMurrays' who have the shop Genopalette on Etsy. They always provide me with the most awesome, clean sheep fleece imaginable.
So below is little Max with this huge bag of top beautifully processed at Zeilingers' in Frankenmuch, Michigan.

I dyed up a few pounds of the top in my crock pot and have some still listed in my shop (This isn't the same dye lot as my scarf)

I spun 2.6 ounces of the dyed top rather tight for me. I was really afraid it would fall apart, but I didn't need to worry. I washed the yarn in hot water and agitated it a little so that it would felt some. It did just that, stayed together, but retained its lovely softness.

....and here, TA,DAHHHHHH, is my scarf.

It is for sale in my shop here if you want to look more.
In conclusion - YES! I will continue to knit with a single ply yarn, but I will probably always worry about the possibility of a slant - probably never doing a vest or sweater, anything large....

Garden Harvest

2009-08-29T10:07:00.003-04:00

Yep, that's it, friends..... Have I mentioned that I don't like digging in the dirt?
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

My "Golden" Couch

2009-08-28T15:05:00.003-04:00

Two Golden Retrievers - bliss.... That's Terre's Izzy on the left and my dear Cassie on the right.
Terre has flown to Daytona Beach today and will bring my Mom back tomorrow to live here with me and my 4 leggeds.

Kendra's Yarn

2009-08-28T10:48:00.005-04:00

Target is the handsome donor of the yarn pictured below. He lives with and is loved by Jen and Chris at Diversified Alpacas just down the road in St. Louis, Michigan

I love getting pictures of my fiber after it has been spun. This lovely yarn below was spun by 24 year old Kendra. Kendra has been spinning for two years after learning on a drop spindle at her County Fair. This year she won the honor of Best Handspun Finished Article. You go, Kendra!
This is a link to Kendra's spinning progress: Here
Kendra's mom Barbara Klause who lives in California is the perfect mom 'cause she ordered this fiber for Kendra. In fact, she just ordered 6 more ounces of it (opps, hope that's not a surprise)

'Paca Play

2009-08-24T20:31:00.006-04:00

My mom in Florida is moving in with me so Nik and the grandgirls came over to help me do some furniture rearranging and cleaning. Thanks, Meredith, for doing the bathroom. Of course, we had to go out and play with alpacas for a while.

JR and Elizabeth ↑

Meredith and JR - they both look like they are wondering just what they are supposed to do with that mint. ↑

...and here Elizabeth and I are trying to get a nose rub from Snickers.

Rainbow Remembrance

2009-08-21T09:53:00.004-04:00

I think this rainbow into the bean field from yesterday evening was a gift to help ease me through today. It was a year ago that Smitty died.

I find myself doing so much reflecting and remembering.....but it's good. I don't think so much of the last horrid, yucky month, but more of the good times. Sort of like the symbolic rainbow after the storm.
Smitty's energy and spirit is very strong and surrounds the kids and me every day (although they may not accept it). I didn't really understand before when the churchy folks would say things like "his spirit lives on", but I get it now. In fact, he has made his presence known to me by doing things like turning on and off the tv and electric fireplace. Not a bit spooky, but sort of amusing and comforting. He was always in control of the remotes ☺
The only times now that I have my heart hiccups is when I think of the kids and grandgirls missing him. That usually brings the tears on.

A Single Ply Experiment

2009-08-18T13:05:00.008-04:00

This is the handsome Target who lives with Chris and Jen at Diversified Alpacas in St Louis, MI. His lovely fiber is what I used for this project.

I am determined to find a way to spin and use a single ply for knitting. My nonknitting friends may not know that normally we spin 2 singles and then ply/spin them together going in the opposite direction. Supposedly if we knit with a one ply the project will take on a slant in the direction the single was spun. You can imagine a sweater leaning/slanting off to the right.
My idea is to knit a lengthwise scarf (you know, cast on a couple hundred stitches and knit 10 or 12 rows). I don't think the slant would matter.
So, what I did was spin a single from some roving that is alpaca/merino that I hand dyed in my crockpot. I spun it tighter than I normally spin, then I wound it on my winder, tied it off, washed it, and stretched it back on my winder to dry. The picture below is of it drying right now on my deck (Yep, that's Cord in the background)
When it's dry, I'll cast on and start my experimental scarf. I'll let you know how it looks when I'm done.

Smitty memories - I thought this week was going to be more difficult that it's turning out to be. Am staying busy. Friday marks one year from his death. Daughter Terre and I are going to do something together and then Nik, my other daughter, and the grand girls will be around for the weekend.

More to Eat, Less to Mow

2009-08-13T10:05:00.006-04:00

I have been on a committment to cut down on mowing grass. This is my latest idea. Put temporary gates on the end of the drive to the shop/garage/tractor shed. This was always a real booger to mow but, you can see, the alpacas are doing a super job trimming it all up.

Today is another anniversary. A year ago Son Rob and I, with the help of Hospice, brought Smitty home from the hospital. I'm thinking a lot of that day. So glad that Rob was home from Scranton to help. Smitty called about 6 and asked if after chores, could I bring him home. He had had enough. Of course, said I. I called his doctor and by the time we got there, Gregg had taken care of all the necessary discharge stuff and hospice was waiting to help us.
Smitty had a good sized garden and because I don't really enjoy digging in the dirt, I planted wild flowers and grass where it was. Billie (across the street neighbor) has helped me try to stay ahead of the weeds. I did save some of the strawberry patch. Below is a shot from this morning of how it's coming along. Hopefully, some day it will take care of itself and be a little memorial to Smitty.

Help in the Pasture

2009-08-10T14:30:00.006-04:00

I've been waiting for some rain to soften up the ground so that I can pop out some more burrs in the little boys' pasture. We have had 5 1/2 inches in the last couple of days. My ground is mostly clay so you can imagine how hard it is without moisture. Today seemed the perfect day to finish up. It always surprises me how little time my chores take once I get at them. Finished the entire pasture in less than two hours.
I'm glad that I had my camera in my pocket so that I can share the pictures of my helpers. On the left ↓ is little JR with his best friend, Snickers.

Slammie (Orion) was there to help also ↓

I think that I have become quite the pro at thistle removal. If they are little I can just slide my shovel under, loosen the roots, and pull them out by the roots. Of course, I wear my thickest leather gloves 'cause those babies are sharp. If they have grown tall, I push the top down and hold it with my foot, then take my "sharp" shovel and whack it at ground level.
Here's the hat that I just finished knitting and put in my Etsy Store.

Chinella & John at the Fair

2009-08-08T08:22:00.004-04:00

Here's John and Chinella after their costume class at the Alma Fair last Monday.

Posting here has been difficult for the last month and I'm not totally sure why. It is somehow related to Smitty's death (8/21/08), but I just don't understand how the upcoming anniversary is keeping me from blogging.
I am doing sort of a weird thing but it feels necessary..... Everyday I check my calendar from a year ago to see what was going on. A year ago Thursday we checked him back into the hospital for his last stay there and this coming Wednesday was when he came home - with Hospice's help.
All these little anniversarys are helpful to remind me of all that has changed and how grateful I am to my family, friends, and dear 4-leggeds.

My Cassie

2009-07-30T08:17:00.007-04:00

Mac, Mary, Kathy, Berta, I'm fine. Have been crazy busy and know that I haven't blogged for two weeks. I do have lots of pictures from the two weeks and will try to get some up later.
Today Beth and I are taking a Birthday Road Trip to the Pontiac area to visit her new, won't be home for a few weeks, Golden Retriever puppy.
Oh, and go here to see what really cheered me up yesterday - well, actually it made me cry, but they were good tears.
The comments are what did me in.

Alpaca Obstacle Training

2009-07-15T05:47:00.008-04:00

Beth and John came out yesterday to work on alpaca training. These alpacas are white Snickers and brown JR, both born last September, making them 10 months old. They will probably both be neutered this fall to become fiber boys. Although I don't know, Snickers looks pretty proud in that picture above.
Next month Snickers will go to the Alma Fair as Amelia's 4-H project, and John will take his black girl, Chin.

This is John teaching JR to walk across a bridge. All of JR's fans should be cheering to see that he appears healthy. He runs and plays and Snickers is his best friend. I think he is going to remain a small guy - definitely 4-H material because he's so people friendly.

Backing between poles

John is teaching JR to go over a jump and you can see Beth and Snickers behind them going over the tippy bridge

The final picture is Beth teaching Snickers to give his foot. Alpacas don't like to be unbalanced so this is quite the trick - and valuable when it comes time for us to have to lift each leg and snip those toenails.

Celeste is Pregnant

2009-07-15T05:28:00.010-04:00

EEEHAW! Yesterday Russ Vet was here to ultrasound 3 of the girls who we hoped were pregnant. Celeste ↑ is at 35 days!
And this is the handsome stud,
Polaris. We are especially pleased
because both of these alpacas were
born here....and Polaris's first
confirmed pregnancy. What a stud!!

Now the long, long 11 month wait and hope that the pregnancy holds.

The other two girls didn't look pregnant with the ultrasound so Russ drew blood and will do a Progesterone check.

Good morning, World

2009-07-10T05:54:00.005-04:00

...My reward for getting up at 5:30 to clean up Cassie's doggy barf ☺
I'm really frustrated about the way little pop ups appear on some words in my post below and I don't know how to get rid of them....

Thank you, Kelly

2009-07-09T07:00:00.007-04:00

Probably one of the hardest jobs in the lives of all of us animal lovers is to have to put down our dear friends. Our responsibility to them is to not let them suffer. Yesterday, Russ, our dear vet came out to help us say good by to Kelly.

These top two pictures were taken on Monday and if you look closely, you can see that she was blind and was losing weight. Her arthritis was very bad and sometimes if she laid down, I had to help her get up. This last week, she sometimes would get disoriented, especially when the wind was blowing. My guts and conferring with Beth told me it was time.
Beth (critter lover who comments here occasionally) owned Kelly before me and her nearly grown up kids learned to ride on her so Beth had lots of love invested in our dear little pony mare, and came to help say good bye.
Once again I am so grateful to friends and family who gather around in stressful times and offer their support. I'm so thankful to Matt who took time from his crazy, busy farm work to bring his back hoe over and bury Kelly in the woods, and to Russ, our dear vet, who gives supportive hugs.
I would like to tell you what a loving, kind pony Kelly was. She was gentle and even after going blind, trusted humans to help her out. Like this spring, when she was down and got caught under the bottom rail of her fence. Even though she was terrified at being trapped, she stayed still while I talked to her and knocked the boards out so that I could help her up.
She patiently helped many youngsters learn how to ride back in my riding instructor days. She even made it to a few horse shows. Below is a picture of my now 10 year old grand daughter taking first place in a lead line class at a local show.
So, Thank You, Kelly, for the lessons in patience, kindness, trust, and love that you have given to so many of us.

With love, there is also great loss and suffering....

Yarn, Thistles, and Candles

2009-07-04T13:17:00.010-04:00

Happy Fourth of July, to my American friends!!!...and a good old Happy Day to the rest of you folks. Hope you are having the kind of day that you enjoy most.

I've been doing some dyeing ↑ of that 65 skeins of white alpaca/merino. Six are finished and I have six more soaking while I decide what colors to use.
I spent a couple hours this morning digging up thistles in the girls' pasture. The plants are starting to produce their seeds, those really nasty round burrs that stick to everything. This has become a twice a year job for me. Can you imagine what the burrs would do to alpaca fiber? A few years back, we got some hay that had a few in and ended up having to shave everyone's top notch off. Bald looking alpacas.

Daughter Terre has started an Etsy shop with her candles. They are really, really nice soy candles. Terre brought me one a couple days ago and it seems like it is going to burn forever......and so yummy. While the kids were growing up, I wore YouthDew perfume, and that's what T scented the candle with.

I hope that you have time to go look at her shop http://terreizzy.etsy.com/ While you are there, click on items and give her a ♥ if you have an Etsy account.

BirdBath

2009-07-01T12:47:00.004-04:00

These pictures totally disappeared from my post below and I wanted to be sure that you could see what I was talking about. Danette → had a mound of sand (she's making a bird bath), covered with a layer of plastic, then the leaf is veins up, and she is patting wet cement over the top.
When dry, the cement is lifted, turned over, and behold - a birdbath.
Danette is the daughter of my friend, Billie, who lives across the street. The other lovely is my daughter, Terre, who lives in Ithaca.

Spinning, Bird Baths, and Stepping Stones

2009-07-01T11:55:00.009-04:00

What a wonderful weekend! full of friends and creative "stuff". On Saturday several of us met for a day of fibery fun at Cary's lovely place, SerenityFarm. Donna ← taught a spindle class in the morning. She wrote about it on her blog Here and this is her Etsy Store.
Pam, looking over her shoulder below, blogs also and has an Etsy store.
It's so inspiring and heart warming to hang out with good women.

On Sunday five of us got together to play in cement. We made either birdbaths or stepping stones. A brief description of what we did. First of all, we cut several rhubarb and burdock leaves and built a mound of damp sand the shape of our chosen leaf. A sheet of plastic covered the mold and then the leaf was placed on top with the heavy vein side up.
We mixed a bag of cement in a wheel barrow and working from there, scooped wet cement to cover our leaves about an inch thick.
This ↓isn't finished, but it's one of my stepping stones. I stained it with reddish paint and sealed it.

Preparing Doggy Hair for Spinning

2009-06-30T20:01:00.008-04:00

My Ravelry friend Teresa sent me a couple ounces of washed dog hair ↓

We wanted to see what kind of yarn it would make. I was a little worried at first because it was so "hairy", and thought that it would probably be too prickly. I've only spun the undercoat brushed from my Golden, Cassie. This was cut, not brushed out, and had lots of short hairs, like the second cuts from alpaca shearing. I threw away lots of those shorties.
This picture of my drum carder shows me adding the dog hair on the metal tray. The turning/crank handle is on the right.
I added a layer of the dog hair and then a layer of a white alpaca/merino roving that I pulled, separated, and fluffed up. I continued layering until I filled up the drum, removed the batt and set it aside. The batts are pretty much a 50/50 blend.
After I carded all the doggy hair, I split the batts and ran them through again. This may have been a mistake because I created some little merino noils (lumpies). I probably won't run it through the second time if I do this again.

I think these batts look gorgeous and have them all packaged and ready to send off to Teresa in Atlanta, Georgia. There's 4.2 ounces here. I wanted to spin up a little to see what it would spin like but all my bobbins are full. I will just wait for word back from Teresa.

Featured on Lime and Violet

2009-06-26T11:03:00.003-04:00

Oh, my gosh, my store is featured on Lime and Violet. Thanks so much, RC, for telling me.
Go look:
http://www.limenviolet.com/blog/?p=6675

NutriSystem Food

2009-06-25T09:09:00.008-04:00

Summer has finally arrived in midMichigan. That's my thermometer from yesterday. 117 degrees in the sun!!! the inside temp is only 65 because the unit sits right above my register in the kitchen. It was actually 75 inside.
Except for barn chores, I wasn't outside much but did a lot of spinning and knitting. I cut back my morning walk to a mile and my evening bike ride to a mile.
☼ ☼ ☼
My second NutriSystem Box arrived yesterday by UPS. I thought some of you might be interested in it, so took pictures before I put it away.
☼ ☼ ☼
Because this was my second month, I got to make some choices before they shipped it.
First of all are the breakfasts. You can see there are several packages of cererals and a couple oatmeals, plus some scones and muffins. At the very bottom are breakfast bars. Last month I had some scrambled eggs that came to life with water and the microwave. I really don't like milk, but will get it into me on cereral. I usually have an Activia when I come in from chores.
If you want a bigger picture of what is here, just left click on the picture:

On to the lunches....the little tubs have a metal top that comes off, replace the plastic top and microwave. I think these are quite good. The larger containers on the left get boiling water added and then set for about 5 minutes.....and, of course, more bars.

Moving right along here to the dinners. These boxes just go into the microwave so are quick and easy. No veggies here so I have to supplement. Last month the Schwann's man brought me a big box of NutriSystem's frozen dinners with veggies in them, some sandwiches, and ice cream. I'm thinking I will probably get that again.

And the yummies.... Last month I got quite a few cookies so I changed that to more salty stuff like pretzels and soy chips. Oh, and the monthly supply of vitamins on the left. So, my friends, you can see that there is way more food than I need for a month. The best part is that I can just open my cupboard and choose something. No planning ahead and no prep, well except for having some fresh fruit and vegetables on hand.

As for taste - it's ok. I'm not a big connoisseur and don't especially like to eat, so it works for me.

You probably want to know the cost - $299 a month.

I will have to make a decision each month if I want to continue. I have lost 13 pounds, and want to lose about 10 more.

Phat Fiber Contribution

2009-06-24T21:35:00.007-04:00

The July PhatFiber Sample box will go out in the middle of July so I got my contribution in the mail today. This has been a fun activity to be involved in and, frankly, an inexpensive advertising.

Every month has a theme that we all vote on. July is nonwool. Even though in my mind alpaca fiber is considered wool, the rest of the Phatties don't and many of them are contributing alpaca to the box. I decided that I would send 20 of my sachets ↑ that I include with all purchases. The ingredients are: lavendar buds, patchouli leaf, cedar leaf, orange peel, and pennyroyal. I love the way these herbs smell and really hope that moths hate it and stay away from the fiber.
I also sent along 10 coupons for 20% off all yarn in my Etsy store......and 2 skeins of this yarn that I just got back from Stonehedge.

This yarn turned out beautiful! It's 70% alpaca from Ariana plus the seconds from my crias, and 30% merino from Genopalette. I have 65 skeins!!! Can you imagine how much yarn that is? I'm planning on using some for my dyeing adventures. This picture ↑ is just to show you how it looks from the mill. I'm washing all the skeins, 4 or 5 at a time. The fiber fluffs up and becomes a bright white like the picture with the flowers.

Morning Fence Construction

2009-06-23T11:05:00.004-04:00

I've been wanting to fence in my whole back yard for Cord ↑, but have had all kinds of hold ups. There was a sinky hole back there that I thought I could just fill in with dirt, but when son, Rob. was home, he stuck his hand down it (oh, yucky, yuck). He discovered the pipe from the house to the septic tank was broken.
Last week I had the local plumbing place come and patch the pipe. The young man asked me when the septic tank was last pumped. Well, ah, never..... Yesterday Jason came and pumped out the tank. I could only take one quick glance down there. Oh, my, double yucky, yuck. I appreciate folks who can do nasty jobs like that.
Soooo, this a.m., I finished chores at 8 and fenced in the back for Cord. He's a happy feller. It's 90 degrees out already, but the trees keep this area very comfortable. And, surprisingly enough, I didn't see one mosquito the whole time that I was out there. Happy Horsey!
Cord belongs to Beth who I mention frequently here. He's a retired, senior citizen although he looks like a young whipper snapper in that picture, doesn't he?
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you - I took this picture looking down from my bedroom window.

Strawberry Breakfast and Wildflowers (maybe)

2009-06-20T09:07:00.006-04:00

After chores I stopped at the strawberry patch and picked the first strawberries of this year. I just had to show you how big they are. That's ↓ a regular sized plum with them. Three strawberries filled me up.
BTW - I've lost 10 pounds since I started the NutriSystem 4 weeks ago, and still eating frequently. I will for sure stay on it another month.

I have never really enjoyed gardening. I want the garden spotless - no weeds - but don't have the stick-to-itive-ness to do the weeding so have always left the garden work to Smitty. He didn't seem to mind the weeds. Last fall after harvest, I had folks take his berry bushes, most of the strawberry plants, and bulbs, and then tilled it up. I thought I would just seed it to grass. But then this spring I got to thinking how awesome it would be if it were wild flowers. It would be beautiful and sort of a memorial/tribute to Smitty. I've sown lots of seeds but am afraid the weeds may take over. Is hard to tell the difference. Now I'm thinking maybe I should buy some plants to put out there. At least I could tell them from the weeds.

Having a Hay Day - no, A Hay Night

2009-06-19T10:20:00.005-04:00

When I open the barn door in the morning, I'm always very cautious because I've been surprised with finding horses, sheep, and alpacas standing in the aisle. Below is what I'm hoping for - everyone cushed down and waiting for their breakfast. Yesterday there were no surprises when I slid the door over but lots of suspicious looking alpaca foot prints on the cement aisle. I quickly closed the door behind me and went in to the indoor arena. Yep, there were the girls wandering around. They must have been out all night because they made a real mess of the stacked hay bales, and had enough time to establish a new poop pile. They shooed right in through the OPEN door very easily. Damn! I must have not latched that door. I remember being in a hurry. Usually I check all doors before I come in.
No harm was done except my extra cleaning time, but can't you just imagine what chaos 10 loose horses would have created?
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Yes, I do love these gentle critters ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

BabyDoll SouthDown Sheep

2009-06-18T12:38:00.004-04:00

A year ago we were raising BabyDoll SouthDown Sheep. I say we, but really there were Smitty's project. He would sit for hours and watch the lambs play. Even before we realized he was sick, he had decided that he would sell them. It's rather strange that the last of them left about two hours before he died last August. A piece of me thinks he was waiting until he knew that they would be loved and taken care of.

This was one of the sheep pens in front of the barn. Boards were along the bottom to keep the little ones in......and this is where I'm removing those bottom boards. Kelly, my blind pony, lives out there now and she will do a good job trimming along the bottom, saving me more mowing/trimming work.

Weighing, Worming, and Knitting

2009-06-16T12:30:00.005-04:00

This morning Beth, John (Beth's son), and I finished weighing and worming the alpacas. They are rather stoic critters and sometimes the only way that you can find health problems is noticing a weight loss.....or if some management is needed. Like these two girls below, brown Sonata and black Chinella are in need of weight stabilization. Chinny will no longer have access to the baby pen for constant access to hay. This picture is proof that these two DO enjoy eating. If you look behind us, everyone else is running to the fence because they spotted a fox crossing the bean field. Not these two....

After we finished our weighing and worming, we came up to the house to prepare Chin's fleece for the show in September. We spread it out and removed lots of VM (vegetable matter) and anything that wasn't consistent with her blanket. Every little fleck of "stuff" shows up on the black and we finally just quit after an hour. Beth was actually using tweezers. We did leave some junk behind. The fleece of huacaya alpacas is folded so that the cut side is on the outside and then put into a plastic bag until the show.

I want to show you this cute hat that I just finished. (That's Beth's horse, Cord, in the background) The pattern was free from SmokyMountainFibers on Etsy. AnnMarie and I are sort of old friends over there.....and we have been following each others blog for it seems like forever. You can get the pattern on her blog for yourself. Her blog is: Here

Blog Neglect Recovery

2009-06-14T19:58:00.007-04:00

I have certainly had a bad case of blog neglect for the last week or so. Thanks, Mac, and the rest of you who contacted me to be sure that I was ok. Have been really busy inside and out. Here's some yarn that I just had to spin up from the roving that I dyed. Actually, I dyed up about a pound of that yummy white alpaca/merino top that I picked up a few weeks ago. ▼ That's what it looks like before spinning.

Lucky me, Son Rob was here from Pennsylvania (he teaches at Scranton U). I tried not to have him work the whole time. We did get a permanent fence around the lagoon and some new gates in place. He's out mowing the yard right now.

My two daughters and the two grandgirls came over to spend the day with us on Friday. I love that now we are all friends and can laugh and drink beer and eat pizza together.

Here's a JR update to all his fans who have sent good energy his way as he was struggling to make it in this world. He's the little brown guy in the middle, white Snickers (two days older) is on the left, and gray, herd sire Tribute is on the right. To answer a question from Meg in the comments - no, the vets never figured out why he was so small and grew so slowly. Except for some early lack of immunities, his blood work was normal. I think he is just going to be a little guy but do believe now that he is going to live.

Rob suggested we should use him for breeding when he is older and try to produce a line of miniture alpacas. ☺ Wouldn't that be cute? They would be very easy to potty train, of course, you would have to have two.

NutriSystem update - I've lost 8 pounds now - in 2 1/2 weeks - eating all the time.

Light Brown Alpaca Roving

2009-06-02T10:35:00.009-04:00

I want to show you the other bag of fiber that I brought home from Zeilingers on Sunday.

This fiber is from Nick who lives in St. Louis at Diversified Alpacas. I bought his gorgeous fiber in February and had Z put it into 100% alpaca roving. It's a beautiful light golden brown, extremely clean and fine. Cassie → quite insisted on showing you the bag of 5 pounds because yesterday Max got to be poster doggie.
I will be putting it in my Etsy shop when I get done here.

NutriSystem update - Oh, my, another 1/2 pound gone according to the morning scale. I can hardly get all the food into me. Seems like everytime I turn around, I'm sticking something into my mouth. We'll see what happens without my daily exercise. Had a major leg cramp during the night and barn chores didn't really work the soreness out so I'm taking a break from the 2 mile morning walk.

Alpaca - Merino Top from the Mill

2009-06-01T13:05:00.011-04:00

Yesterday I ran over to Frankenmuth, MI, to Zeilingers to pick up some fiber that I left in March. I love going over there because they are always so helpful and treat me so well....They make me feel special even though I'm only bringing them a hundred or so pounds of fiber each year - compare that to the thousands of pounds of buffalo that they do.
Anyway, I'm so pleased!!!! I will just tell you about the white. The alpaca comes from Target who lives in St. Louis, MI, with Chris and Jenn at Diversified Alpacas. He's a very handsome herd sire with lovely fleece who we are hoping to breed to my Ariana.

I had left Zeilingers a little over 10 pounds of 75% Target and 25% white merino from Genopalette's lambs. Gary suggested that I have it made into topp instead of roving like I have always done in the past. This picture → is the pound of noils left over that might be considered trash. I can imagine it in an awesome bed for Max or Cassie.

Speaking of Max, here he is posing for you so that you can see what 8 pounds of top looks like. I had a treat in my hand to get him to stay.

I love the way the fiber is coiled around. Looking down into the bag → is like looking into a tornado. I'm really anxious to spin some of this because it's so soft and smooth. When I pull it apart it is about 4 inches long which makes me think it's going to practically spin itself.

I took the picture above to list this in my Etsy store. The picture on the right shows how I use my weaving warping frame to wrap the top and then band it with information like - weight, my stuff, and a picture of the alpaca who donated the fiber.

Note on the warping frame, I've used it only once to measure yarn for weaving. What a waste, but it works to put up roving and top.

NutriSystem update: I thought that I had all my food but the Schwann's truck dropped off a bunch of frozen stuff today. I had a veggie pizza and an ice cream bar for lunch. They were yummy.

I started the program last Monday and have lost 3 pounds. This is amazing because I'm eating constantly.

I was just looking up how to spell top or topp, and came across the neatest little FAQ - How to tell if the fiber is roving or top? Pull the fiber apart. Top pulls apart in a straight line; roving leaves a rough, triangular-shaped edge.

NutriSystem for Weight Loss??????

2009-05-30T06:31:00.005-04:00

Asparagus from my little patch - drizzled with a touch of olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and a generous amount of pepper, and briefly broiled. Yummy! one of the best parts of spring. I won't eat asparagus canned or frozen or anyone elses because nothing can compare to snapping it off and eating it 20 minutes later.

I'll be talking about food on here for a while 'cause I have ordered the NutriSystem. I've been walking 2 miles every morning and biking a couple every evening and haven't lost weight. Discussing this with DD Terre and she tells me I'm just not eating enough. I hate to take the time to prepare food so the NutriSystem sounds like a good plan for me.

The 30 pound box arrived yesterday from UPS filled with 28 days of food. It's all color coded and labeled Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Desserts, which is now arranged in my cupboard as such. By the way this cost $299.95, including shipping. The food is all in a dry form. For example: last night I had a chicken thing that I just had to zap in the microwave, this a.m. I added water to scrambled eggs and zapped it. So far the food has been tasty.

A little record book came with the meals but I like keeping track at their online site. I record what I eat, weight, measurements, and exercise. They have a community with forums but I've only lurked there a little. So, my friends, you will occasionally be hearing about the program and my progress.

June PhatBox Contribution

2009-05-26T12:53:00.012-04:00

This blog entry is a tribute and thank you to the purchasers of the Phat Fiber Sample Box each month. I thought it might be fun for you to see what goes into those tiny little samples that you receive from all of us Phatties.
I'll skip over feeding, vetting, shearing, and caring for our dear 4 leggeds and jump right to that big, clear, plastic bag of freshly shorn alpaca fleece.
That's white Pollux (Luxie) above. After washing his fleece, I dyed three batches in my crock pot. Our Phat theme this month is Oceanic so I thought blues for water, yellow for sun, white for foam, and brown for sand.
I didn't have to dye any brown and just used Polaris's ↓ golden brown fleece just like it is, well, I did wash it...

After all this is dry, it's off to the carder. This picture → shows you peeling the fiber off the carder. If you want more info about my carding go here. I made these batts in layers - example - white, brown, blue, white, or whatever my gutts said to add next. As I was carding, I tossed in some crystal, shiney angelina, and some dyed silk that's been laying around forever. You can be a little creative when carding but after a while, I think it's a little boring. I priced a motor to speed things up a little, but they are about $1,000.

I ended up making 5 batts and stripping each batt to 4 strips which I then drafted a little to make it spin more like roving. (Drafting-pulling the fibers out so they line up next to each other in a thinner little roving)

Then I wrapped each strip around my hand, tucked the end in, to form these little nests.

........and tied each nest with some handspun alpaca yarn. I created little cards on my computer with pictures of Lars and Luxie. They deserve the credit for producing such lovely fiber for me, right? And the buyers need to know what they are getting and who it is from.

The final step is going on line to purchase my postage and stuffing the nests into the bag. Oh, and tossing in a few lavendar sachets. Jessie, our PhatLady who does all the promoting, coorinating, and mailing, gets a bigger sample of what I send to say thanks.

JR in with the Big Boys

2009-05-23T16:51:00.005-04:00

It's time that JR leave his mommy and go live with the boys. He's 8 months old and weighs 60 pounds now. He seems very healthy. I put him in with Tribute ↑ and Snickers →. Trib is a herd sire, but slight in frame and Snickers is just 3 days older than JR. They seem to be getting along fairly well. Last night Trib was chasing the little guy more than I like so Trib got separated for the night. When I went to the barn this a.m., JR was snuckled right up beside Snickers ☺ JR does spend quite a bit of his time looking for mom Sonata, but he's not pacing the fence or crying, and he seems to be eating well.

....and here's a picture of sweet Cassie protecting her duck.

Farm Improvements

2009-05-22T09:19:00.005-04:00

Earlier in the week I blogged about adding some cement to the alpaca areas. This is the step that I had made for the girls. I've always wanted one here 'cause it's a little scarey for newborn crias. Can you see that I had the contractors put a rough finish on it? I'm hoping that walking in and out daily, will wear down the girls' toes somewhat so that I have less trimming to do.
And this shot below is where the boys hang out. Whenever we had rain, it would flood quite a bit. No more, I hope, 'cause they raised it about 3 inches.

And here we are inside with the girls. I made them a feed trough from gutter evetroughing. Kinda cool, isn't it? I did manage to have the drill slip and I have a very black spot on my thumb nail.

They were all hesitant about eating from it, but are doing fine now. Well, except Ariana, she doesn't seem to trust that it's ok. I may have to give her a separate over the rail pan if she doesn't catch on soon.

And below is my yesterday project. There has been a rather large area of grass between the girls' pasture, on the left, and the outdoor arena, on the right. I didn't like mowing it so fenced it in. There were gates that will open so that I can let the alpacas in through here to the outdoor arena for more pasture.

I built it with 6 old metal gates that have been around for a long time. I pounded in the T posts and wired the gates to them. Hope it holds. ☺ The really good thing is that the alpacas don't challenge fencing at all.

If it sounds like I'm bragging about my projects, well, I guess I am. I am really pleased that when I get an idea, I don't have to run out and find help. I'm slow and maybe a little dangerous with the power tools but I can get stuff done. About the power tools, I really am afraid of them. The louder the noise, the bigger the fear factor from me.

Busy Day on the Farm

2009-05-19T13:41:00.006-04:00

I am going to receive a couple thousand dollars in June and really need to spend it. ☺Help the economy, you know ☺ I wanted either hard wood floors in the house or cement work in the barn. Guess you know what I decided on......

Yesterday about one, the cement guys showed up. We had to rip out the mats that were in the stalls. Remember that I used to board horses. The right amount of dirt was underneath so they didn't have to add or take away any.

This is the skid loader that they used to get the cement down the aisle to the spot. I also had them build a little ramp outside the girls' door which I had them really rough up. I'm thinking less toe nail clipping. They finished about 6 and all the 'pacas had to spend the night outside. Glad the weather has improved.

....and across the road Matt was planting corn. Isn't it amazing! I think he's planting 24 rows at a time. Holy Sha mo lee!

Almost Nine Months

2009-05-13T19:46:00.008-04:00

You know, I haven't mentioned lately how I've been doing..... For newcomers to my blog, my husband was diagnosed with colon/liver cancer last July and died in August. I'm 67 and live alone now, well, except for my dear 4 leggeds. Family and my incredibly awesome friends have helped so much to make this transistion to single woman easier.

My 2 dogs, 3 cats, 4 horses, and 16 alpacas are an excellent reason to get out of bed in the morning. I've never thought of being too depressed to get moving and frankly, before Smitty's death, there were a couple of mornings when it felt like too much effort and I had no good reason to face the world. I know that these animal friends are sending me good energy all the time - the cat and dogs in the house, - cats, horses, and alpacas in the barn.

Because of them I am quite physically active. Keeping the pooh picked up from these critters keeps me moving. Billie (my across the road neighbor) and I walk 2 miles every morning and ride our bikes a couple every evening - weather permitting.

Sometimes I do a reflection and think about what it was like a year ago when we didn't even know that Smitty was sick. Sometimes I get out his journals and take a look at what was "normal" for us.

Strangely enough, the only time now that I feel the overwhelming, oh, my gawd, he's gone feeling is when I'm alone in the car. Don't really know what that's about.....maybe it's a safe place to be sad.

This is Smitty with our first granddaughter and his Haflinger pony, Thor. He loved them both.

I regret that the kids and I never had a "so you're leaving" discussion with him.....

What has brought up these thoughts is that yesterday I spun for classes at a nearby elementary school and at lunch a woman said - Isn't it interesting that when a couple isn't close, the survivor does real well, but with really close couples, the survivor has a hard time because the two of them had become one. This really pissed me off at the time - and it still does. How absurd to make a comment like that...

Cold Michigan Mornings = Shivering Alpacas

2009-05-13T17:28:00.006-04:00

We sheared last Thursday and then had a couple of below freezing nights and a few cold alpacas. I coated the ones who seemed the coldest. Above is Tribute (showing off behind him is little Snickers and on the other side of the fence is our other herd sire, Polaris). And on the right is JR who is still in with the girls. I know, I know, they probably would have been just fine, but it made me feel better that I could do something for them. I have to admit though, we had quite the battles getting the coats on and off.

For some reason I wanted to show you the pallets with what's left of my hay. I had 700 bales, stacked up above the windows, and this is it until Phil, my super hayman, cuts more. Fortunately, I'm not feeding much now because we have quite a bit of pasture. This picture was taken in my indoor riding arena which has now become alpaca pens and hay storage. My horse friends will recognize the dressage letters on the wall. I like to keep them up as a reminder of another era in my life.

......and this picture is for my son, Rob, who teaches at Scranton U in Pennsylvania. He asked me on the phone about JR because he couldn't tell from my blog pictures just how much he is growing. Here he's standing in front of Chinella who is a year and a half. Looks great, doesn't he? He runs and plays now and wants nothing to do with any supplement that I offer him. He does love his pellets though. I'm thinking that he should be weaned soon and go over and live with his buddy, Snickers.

Drum Carding My Alpaca

2009-05-12T12:24:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I talked about washing this lovely fiber from Mira (white) and Lyra (dark fawn) and today I will show you how I prepare it for spinning.

This is my Strauch carder which I love. I've tried others but my alpaca fiber and I like this best (although I would dearly love to put a motor on it). On the left above I've fluffed up and spread out some of the fawn fiber. Turning the red handle will pull the fiber in to the picky/pokey licker-in while the big drum with the little curved wires rotates and straightens the fiber out. I planned this batt to be in layers.

After carding the first layer of fawn in, I add a layer of white as you can see in this looking down on the carder shot. Then I layered up another fawn and another white. As the wheel is turning, the brush on top lightly presses the fleece down, but after each layer, I use an old cheap bristle brush to further compact the batt.

There is a small strip with no wires on it so that you can slide a big knitting needle or special tool like the one above to loosen and pull the fiber up.

Then using your hands and slowly turning the drum, you pull the fiber off. This came off very smoothly, probably because the staple lengths are 5 to 6 inches long.

I like to run my fleece through just once to avoid any broken pieces (noils), but if I wanted to I could divide this up and run it through again for a more blended look. I want the white and fawn separated because I think it will spin up beautifully.

Roll those little beauties up and you have gorgeous batts ready to be spun. I have enough washed up to card some more for me to spin, so I think I'll put these in my Etsy shop when I get some time. One weighs 1.6 ounces and the other is 1.8 ounces for a total of 3.4 ounces

Washing Alpaca Fleece

2009-05-11T11:22:00.008-04:00

I get so excited with all this freshly shorn fleece around that I just don't know what to do next. It's all weighed, staple length measured, recorded, and compared to last year's shear, so I can play. I don't know if there is a correct way to clean it, I'll just tell you what I do.
I work with about 4 or 5 ounces at a time. Running the hottest tap water that I can, I add a couple squirts of Dawn dishwashing soap, then gently sink the fiber in. I let this soak for about 20 minutes, every once in a while giving it a few pokes. I lift the fiber into a colander and drain out the dirty water. You will be amazed how filthy this is compared to the fairly clean look to the fleece. I repeat this wash, usually 2 washes are enough. Two rinses should finish it up.
I have never had my fleece felt but I think that it's important to know that you can go from cool to hot, but NEVER hot to cold......and as little handling and agitation as possible.

Above is some of Lyra (dark fawn) and Mira's (white) fleece washed up.

After washing and rinsing the fleece, I put it into mesh bags, and using the last spin cycle on my top loading washing machine, I spin it out. This cycle adds no water so my fiber is safe.

It will come out of the bags rather clumpy, so I pull it apart and sort of line up the fibers, and spread it on my counter to dry. By now most of the vegetation has disappeared and I pick out any remaining, along with second cuts that might have been missed.

Mira and Lyra's fleece is drying. Tomorrow I will show you how I'm going to card these two colors together.

Aimee, I would think that you could do the entire fleece in the bathtub, or even your washing machine, if you didn't agitate. I just don't like lugging around that much wet fleece.

Shear Day Visitors & JR Update

2009-05-09T09:14:00.005-04:00

I tried to add this picture ↑ yesterday but it totally disappeared. I frequently have picture troubles here on blogger. Anyway, these are some of our shear day visitors who happen to be from the Lansing area. Heather, who isn't in the picture, has become an online friend. Visit her Etsy shop here → WineMakersSister Yep, the family does produce wine, and it's delicious. Heather brought me a couple bottles on her last visit. Don't you wish that you had that kind of friends?

......and here's JR before his first shear. He hardly stressed at all although his leading isn't the greatest. Had to pretty much drag him to the shearing aisle. His shear weight was 2 pounds, 12 ounces of incredibly fine, gorgeous fiber. Good job, JR.

I think the daily feedings are pretty much over. I have to catch him now and plunge a little in his mouth. He used to come running up to slurp down 3 tubes of his special gruel. I'm happy that he must be doing well and I don't have the chore anymore (after 8 months), but a little piece of me is saddened that he no longer has to depend on me. Sort of like sending the kid off to kindergarten.

Alpaca Shear Day

2009-05-08T08:58:00.009-04:00

I'm going to sort of talk you through our shear day which was yesterday. The first thing we do is lay the alpaca down which takes a coordinated strength. The two guys (one in front & one in back) reach under the alpaca, grasp his legs, and in a lifting, pulling motion lay the 'paca down as gently as possible. Then both front and hind legs are hobbled and stretched out along a metal pole. You can see Celeste's legs above. After one side is sheared, the animal is gently rolled over.
Dave Binkowski and his daughter Katie both shear at the same time so that the entire shear takes less than 10 minutes and the animal isn't stressed too much.
Neighbor Dean. at Celeste's head, has removed her halter to trim the top notch and to have her teeth checked. Instead of teeth on top, alpacas have a hard palette so it's important that the bite is correct. Alpaca Barber Dave will use his Dremel tool to correct any imperfections and whack off fighting teeth if necessary.

While they are down is the excellent time to trim toe nails. Alpacas have two hard nails that sometimes grow screwy so Beth is shown here snipping away. I also give them injections while they are down. Yesterday they got Dectomax to prevent Menengeal Worm which in the deer world is called Brain Worm.

So while all this is going on, the shears are helping us sort the fleece as they remove it into Prime, Seconds, and Thirds (which becomes mulch for my flower garden). Persons (Billie and Gwen) are handy with plastic bags to collect this precious stuff as it comes off the animal. You can imagine how busy this all appears with 8 of us working around the animal.
The pictures on the right are before and after of 10 month old Mira. If you click on them, they get bigger. This was her first shear and the prime of her 6 inch long fleece weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces. Her seconds weighed 2 pounds.
In spite of being extremely tired last night, I was wound and couldn't sleep so was still up at 3 a.m. weighing, measuring, and languishing in freshly shorn alpaca fleece.
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

I am extremely fortunate to have such great friends who come and help me out. It is physically hard with all the ups and downs that we do, and. yes, dusty and dirty also.
So thanks, folks, for being my friends and making me the luckiest woman in the world.

Grand Champions Chinella and Beth

2009-05-04T12:06:00.004-04:00

I've had a little blog neglect going on here. Last week was spent getting ready for our alpaca show in Davisburg, Michigan. Both Chinella ↑ and Oppie ↓ loaded and traveled well in my van. The woman at McDonald's window did a double take at what was with us. Buddy Beth (critter lover in my comments) took both girls through the ring.
Chinella was our star! She won her class of black yearling girls on Saturday, and Beth took her back to win the ♫ Grand Champion ♫ of all the black girls at the show. You can only imagine how excited we were. We are a small farm and have never even won a blue before.
As soon as folks arrive at a show, a team of "checker inners" reads the alpaca's microchip, examines the health papers, and does a color check in the bright light before they are allowed to be stalled. Oppie's color has changed from light fawn to beige and she competed in a class called Light Colored Yearlings.
I'm very pleased that she took a second. For the folks who have followed my blog, Oppie (Golden Opportunity) is the really athletic little girl who has a mind of her own, so just getting her through the class was a super big achievement. Many thanks, Beth.
We spent time on the way home trying to decide on our breedings. Both these girls will be 2 next fall and we think that Tribute might be a good match.

This is the first that I have been away overnight in over a year and was able to do it because daughter Terre and her Golden Izzie came and stayed to do chores and care for the barn critters.....and can you believe, she even vacuumed the house. Thanks, Terre.

Good morning, girls & Cord's new pasture

2009-04-24T09:23:00.006-04:00

This is what greets me after my morning commute of 100 steps to the barn. The Girls! Actually, there are 10, not the 8 that you see here. They are always cushed down like this waiting for their morning pellets. The little door that you see on the top right is for the young'uns. The big girls can't get in there so I can keep hay and pellets For Babies Only.
And just below the door, you can see their poop place. Alpacas are so easy to clean up after because they use a communal bathroom. Tidy little darlings, aren't they?

....and here is the yard/pasture that my neighbor woman and I completed yesterday. This is part of my Cut Back on Mowing project. That lovely grass should be eaten, not mowed, right? We cut apart part of Cord's fencing and put a gate in and then wired a large area for him to graze on. I'm so proud to say that I pounded in metal t-posts on the corners and then stepped in these plastic posts. A hot wire runs across the top and then a tape with electricity runs under it. The most time consuming thing was getting the electricity to work. As it turned out the deer knocked out the big pasture again - in three places and after splicing those, we had power.

The horse that you see here is my Ivan on his way out to his own pasture. He's a big guy (Percheron/Thoroughbred) but pretty good at dressage and jumping.

Renee Spins Alpaca/Dog Yarn

2009-04-21T10:19:00.008-04:00

A couple of months ago Renee came over to spend the day with me. We played in fiber. I had a few bags of Cassie ↓ hair that my groomer had saved for me. Renee blended it with light fawn (Oppie, I think), ran it through the drum carder a couple of times, and took it home.

........and mailed it to me this week. Two beautifully spun, 2 plied balls of alpaca/golden retriever yarn. Can you see the halo on this yarn? It's really yummy and I'm going to knit something just for myself, probably a hat because I wear one all the time in the barn.

Little Max → wishes for some.....

☼

The really interesting thing about Renee is that she raises camels. Really! She does have an Etsy store for you to visit called HarryCamel Through her store you can commission some of your dog hair spun up. I would definitely suggest adding something like alpaca to it though. ☺from NorthStar, of course☺

Thursday - To answer the guard hair question in comments. This is from Cassie's undercoat, the fine hair that was brushed out.

Just Some Alpacas

2009-04-20T09:58:00.015-04:00

I felt that I needed some pictures of the alpacas in full fleece because we will be shearing in less than a month and they look incredibly goofy after that. You will see....
Below on the left is Golden Opportuniy (1 1/2 years) and on the right, NSS Mira (10 months). Mira hasn't been shorn before so her fleece will be true "baby alpaca". It is about 5 or 6 inches long. Oppy's is denser with lots of crimp, about 4 inches long, and will probably be easier to spin. This will be her second shear.

And here is our 7 month old Astra (Snickers) → He's the recently weaned 4-H project. I'm making no predictions on his fleece other than it's long, fine, and crimpy. He's not pure white, more a light fawn with some darker fawn spots. He's a dirt magnet and I'm not looking forward to picking the VM (vegetable matter) out of his fleece before processing it.

On the left below is NSS Lyra, born last June with her mom, Celeste who is 4 years old. Celeste was our first "born on the farm" female so although she is a little goofy, she's very special. She loves wintergreen LifeSaver mints. When she hears the paper rustle, she comes running. Her fleece won Grand Champion OverAll in the MIAF Spin Off Contest two years ago.
An Alpaca Spin Off competition is when you submit 2 ounces of an alpaca's fiber to be judged. The fleece is first evaluated by several categories, then evaluated again as it is spun, and finally, the yarn itself is evaluated. I have been a Spin Off judge for a couple of shows in Louisiana and here in Michigan. Although it is challenging, it's a great learning experience to handle and spin almost 100 different samples of fleece.

Then, of course, here's JR ↓ He weighed in last Friday at 51 pounds, a gain of 3 pounds that week. I had cut out his noon feeding and if he gains well this week, will cut back to just an evening feeding. WhoooHooo, has been a long 7 months. I took his turtle neck off and his fleece was a mess this morning. He was out in the rain at some time and must have rolled in hay chaff, so now he looks like the rest of the babies.....a fleece cleaning nightmare.

I will try to get some more "full fleece" pictures up before shear day, Thursday afternoon, May 7th.

Meet the Alpaca Day

2009-04-19T11:17:00.008-04:00

Yesterday our local alpaca 4-H club (the Alpaca Amigos) sponsored a Meet the Alpaca Day at the fairgrounds in Alma, Michigan. Amelia took Snickers (Astra), the white boy above, and John took Chinella, the black girl below. About ten farms showed up to display our critters. I think we had a pretty good turn out of visitors. I will be glad to hear exactly how many. Each farm brought a door prize to be mailed out and the 4-H club had a kids' table for little ones to make things about alpacas.

I'm super pleased that both Snickers and Chinny were so nice to our guests. They allowed everyone to pet and feel their delightful fiber. You know, alpacas aren't normally the cuddly critters that we portray. They are curious but usually aloof and just as soon not be touched.
I took along my spinning wheel to show folks what we do with our fiber. Was an easy day for me because moms, Beth and Gwen, did all the hard work like setting up the pens, tearing down, and transporting the alpacas. Kinda liking this.

Alpaca Poodle

2009-04-15T12:32:00.007-04:00

Last week Pamela Hughes from Raleigh, North Carolina bought some white alpaca roving (Andy ► & Polaris) to use for needle felting. This morning she sent me this picture ▲of the poodle that she created. Isn't it amazing? She says that she is just getting in to needle felting but she certainly looks like a pro to me.
When someone makes a purchase, I like to visit their shop. Hers, The Cosmic Pepperini (← just click here to visit her shop) had delightful soaps for feet with loofah imbedded in them. I couldn't resist and bought two bars. I thought it was neat that I was her first customer.

Well, look what came in the mail....all for happy feet. Can you see what all is here? Starting on the left is a foot shaped brush, behind that is a pumice stone on a rope, at the center top is one of the soaps that I bought, a peace sign with a loofah, then top right is the other foot shaped soap with loofah that I bought. You can see the darling rubber duckies in front and a container with "Pure Almond Butter Foot Softener" in the center. WOW! Thanks so much, Pam.

The other day when Ben hauled my manure, he also destoned my yard. This is his cute little tractor with the brush on the front. The balls in my driveway are walnut shells from my messy black walnut tree.

Bye Bye Poop

2009-04-13T10:00:00.008-04:00

I just went out on the deck to take pictures of Hedda and the hat that I just finished ↓ and look who's here with their tractor. That's Ben and his dad, Dave, here to haul off my winter's worth of alpaca and horse manure. ♪♫♪ EEE HAW ♫♪♫ I'll bet they just went home to get their skid loader. See, I'm telling all of you that life is good and those worrisome things will get taken care of. Aren't I so fortunate to have friends to help me out? I'm reasonably sure that he won't ever see this post, but Thank You, Ben - again and again - for all the things that you quietly do to make my life so complete.

And here's Hedda on a post of my deck posing for an addition to my Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23614025. I do enjoy knitting hats and they sell well around Christmas. The fall that I quit smoking, let's see, 3 years ago, I think, every time that I wanted to pick up a cigarette, I would pick up my knitting needles instead. I think I made about 30 hats in September and October.

PhatFiber Blog

2009-04-10T07:38:00.003-04:00

Oh, my, everyone. Look what I found this morning http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/2009/04/north-star-alpacas-and-giveaway.html What a lovely write up. Thank you, Jessica.

Getting Ready for Summer

2009-04-09T10:13:00.004-04:00

My latest accomplishment! I am on 5 acres of land and, granted, a lot of it is already pasture, but a lot (way too much) is lawn, so I've vowed to cut down on what I have to mow this summer. If you recall, last fall I taught myself to drive the riding mower (with instruction manual in hand), but I was always terrified of mowing around the lagoon ↑. I found some plastic posts that I could just step into the ground and added 2 strands of white webbing and 3 strands of red and gray cable which you can hardly see in the picture. It's being mowed as we speak by the boy alpacas.
My other accomplishment, which probably doesn't seem like much to you, is that I put the screen door on the tack room. I am woman, hear me roar.
I am ecking away on the winter's worth of manure left for me outside by horses and alpacas. I need to get it out of here before the flys arrive. I really, really dislike flys around my 4 legged friends.

Love Me, Love My Dog

2009-04-08T09:21:00.004-04:00

The granddaughters stayed with me for a few days of their spring break. I considered not posting these pictures for fear their folks wouldn't let them come back to this unsanitary home, then realized they're critter lovers also.

JR update: He weighed in at 44.7 pounds last Friday at 7 months old. A loss of .1 pound in a week. I had decided that if he gained substantially, I was going to cut out his noon feeding. Not happening.....

Tribute to Tribute

2009-04-01T20:26:00.005-04:00

Look who came to live at our farm today. Beth is unloading Tribute to Money, a light silver gray Huacaya herd sire, born 3/10/03. He is 1/2 Chilean and 1/2 Peruvian and what a gentleman! We picked him up in Belding at Irish Valley Farm owned by Leslie and Bob Gosnell. We are hoping to get some outside breedings for him. There aren't many gray herd sires in our area. I will advertise him as a drive by breeding, meaning I can take him to the female's farm. He's such a nice guy that I can easily load, unload, and handle him by myself. Tribute has several cria on the ground so he is considered a "proven" stud.

That's the girls' pen behind and Tribute has just arrived. Is that lust in their eyes? The youngest girls, maidens, were the most interested in him. The older girls just came up for a look and went on with their business of cushing and chewing.

It's such a joy to have this handsome guy in the barn. All the way home, Beth, John, and I were talking about which of our girls would be the best matches. We also have medium fawn Polaris here, our own home grown herd sire. He hasn't proven himself as a breeder yet, so we are trying to figure out the best match for him.

Alpacas are induced ovulators which means that they ovulate after they are bred, sort of like rabbits. This means we should be able to time the breeding for when we want a cria. Gestation is roughly 11 months. So, if we do a breeding in June, we should have a May cria, or an October breeding should produce a September cria.

....and look at this totally awesome fleece that he's wearing.....

Walking and Dyeing

2009-03-31T15:52:00.008-04:00

For a couple months now my neighbor, Billie and I have been walking two miles each day down our country road. We try to do it in half an hour. Max and Cassie ↑ go along on leashes if it's not too sloppy. Then they sack out for the rest of the day. I'm told that some folks don't allow their critters on their furniture ☺
☼
I don't have a lot to say today except that I seem to have gotten the dyeing bug. Here's a few of my yesterday creations from white alpaca, merino, and mohair roving. I feel ok about using it up because I have 10 more pounds right now at Zeilinger's mill.
Four more ounces are cooking away in my crock pot, while four ounces are soaking in vinegar water.

Snickers and Slammie Go on Vacation

2009-03-25T09:22:00.003-04:00

Nine year old Amelia is going to show Snickers (Astra), white guy ↑ at the 4-H Fair in Alma this summer so we thought it would be fun for him to be at her house to work with him. Of course, you all know that alpacas are herd animals and won't do well alone so Slammie is vacationing with him. This is great for me because Snickers needs to be weaned and moved away from the girl pen. I've been told that, yes, at 6 1/2 months he could breed - now, I don't really believe that, but am not taking any chances. The only boy left with the girls is JR and I'm surely not

concerned about him connecting.

The picture above is the two of them in the back of my van on their way to Amelias. They both loaded very nicely and were well behaved on the way. Because I have heard horror stories of alpacas leaping into the front seat, I installed the wire barrier. You can see they have plenty of room and eventually cushed down for the ride. .....and here we are at the new vacation home meeting the goats. They are separated now but, hopefully, will get acquainted and be able to hang out together. This picture is a great example of how curious alpacas are. Their curiosity usually overcomes their fear - which, of course, could be dangerous if these were cougars.

I couldn't resist putting up this pretty yarn that I spun up yesterday. It's only 100 yards so not enough to do much by itself. I dyed it from some white alpaca roving that Sharon had given me last fall. I need to wash it and put in my Etsy store.

School Day for JR

2009-03-23T09:38:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was pretty cold but Amelia and mom, Gwen, came out to work with the alpacas. Amelia is going to take white Snickers (Astra) to the 4-H Fair this summer. That's Amelia ↑ and Beth giving JR a leading lesson. Now that he's over 40 pounds, he's pretty heavy for me to carry to the scales. Beth is leading Sonata, our barn Diva & JR's mom, and Amelia is handling JR. JR has had a halter on 4 times now and is doing very well.
Yesterday two geese came in to the pond to spend the night. Actually, it's not a pond. It's a lagoon system. When we put the house in, the clay soil that we have wouldn't perk, so this was our solution. It sounds yucky that it is part of our sewer system and I had visions of turds floating around, but the health department checks it regularly and it's as safe as a swimming lake. Definitely no turds!

Merino Arrives

2009-03-22T09:52:00.006-04:00

I'm not really a "sheepy" person, but, oh, my, I get so excited when a big box (13 pounds) of this beautiful merino arrives from Desiree and Andy. Isn't it gorgeous? It will live on my kitchen counter for a while so that I can walk by and bury my hand in it, then take a little huff. I must have been a shepherdess in one of my past lives 'cause I love the smell.
☼
I'm always amazed at how clean the McMurrys can keep their fleeces without covering them. Remember, Smitty and I had BabyDoll Sheep for a year and they were covered all right, with poop, straw, and all kinds of VM. Yuck!

My original plan was to have an 80% alpaca/20% merino yarn spun at the mill. Now I'm not sure because I'm getting low on white roving. I carded up some of the merino yesterday to see what it will be like. My carder was happy to have a little lanolin, I was happy because it came out lovely. Now I'll spin a sample, wash it up, and knit a little swatch to get the true picture.

A Day to Mourn

2009-03-21T08:55:00.005-04:00

It's been 7 months now since Smitty died and for some reason I'm having a tough day.
The fact that we didn't really have any final words or good byes hangs over my head. The six weeks that we knew about the cancer flew by quickly with doctor and hospital visits and HOPE. The final week that he was home is a blur with Hospice, family, and friends helping out. I wonder now if I should have forced us to talk about the end but he wasn't really himself. I don't know, but it makes me sad.
I went to see Sylvia Browne talk last week. You all know that she's a well known psychic. Anyway, I'm wondering if I need to connect with my psychic who has moved to Florida. She is very good, in fact, suggested a year ago that I insist that Smitty have a physical. I blew her off which I now regret, although I don't think we could have prolonged his life.
I really don't mind being alone and I think I am taking care of the farm quite well. I miss having someone to run decisions by - is it time to put the pony down? how am I going to get the winter's worth of manure moved? should I have cement poured in the barn? how much should I enlarge the pastures? should I get that herd sire? Actually, this is a little funny because even though I would talk to him about the decisions, I always knew we would do what ever I wanted. I'm a total brat about getting my way.
Sometimes when I think about him being gone, I get this funny little, achy hiccup in my belly. It' hard to describe but it goes away quickly.
I haven't worried about money since the kids were in college, but living on Social Security and Teachers' Retirement makes me think twice about where to spend money. I'm very fortunate that the farm is paid for.
Being able to run things by the kids has helped but they are incredibly busy with their own lives so I don't like to bother them with the little stuff that happens. Nope, my friends get that laid out to them. Thanks Beth and Billie, Sharon and Kathy, Cary and Mary, and dear Marianne and Heather and Kathy. I so cherish my women friends. I really am the luckiest person in the world!
Well, I hope I haven't dragged you down. This has been very cathartic for me and I feel ready to get on with my day....
Oh, the picture - That's Smitty holding Celeste who has had a cria of her own, and Nikki, my oldest daughter holding my granddaughter.

JR's Morning Feed

2009-03-19T09:34:00.007-04:00

I've had a couple requests for a JR update. Last Friday, at 6 months, he weighed 41.6 pounds with a gain of 3 pounds that week. This was a biggy because the most that he has ever gained has been 1 1/2 pounds in a week.
For you folks who are just stopping by or don't follow my blog, JR was full term in September, but weighed only 13 pounds (normal weight here on the farm is 20). He nursed fine but Sonata mom had minimal milk. He's had blood work, been to Michigan State, and we can't find anything wrong except at the beginning he had an immunity deficiency.
Three times a day he gets his gruel. Go here for the recipe.
He's a happy little guy and runs right up to me to be fed. My concern right now is his ears. Can you see in the pictures that he has hair missing? I'm not sure if it is a deficiency in his diet (zinc maybe) or if his friends have nibbled on his ears. Because he is so little, everyone eats their hay above him and they drop it on top of him. I frequently see other alpacas "grazing" on him ☺ Anyway, I'm treating him with some Tree Tea oil that has Vitamin A & D in it.

I sort of liked this picture that I took this morning of the sun pouring into the barn on JR and his mom, Sonata. The shadows are neat......
Yep, he still has a turtle neck on - not for warmth though. I just hate to see him get covered with hay when we are getting so close to shearing.

PhatFiber Samples

2009-03-17T06:14:00.002-04:00

These are the 23 yarn samples that I have been preparing to be included in the April PhatFiber Sample Box. (The big skein is for Jessica)
What's a PhatFiber Sample Box? you say...... A couple of months ago a young couple named Marcus and Jessica came up with this idea that sellers mail samples of what they sell to PhatFiber and they, in turn, will create monthly sample boxes to be sold to all of you at $33 through Etsy.
This has been awesomely popular. The boxes went on sale Sunday and sold out in 2 minutes. I think that it's rather humorous that some potential buyers were quite irate that they didn't get a box, most just smiled and said "Maybe next time" I sent 20 samples of brown, Sonata, alpaca/merino roving so will be anxiously awaiting any feedback. I think the boxes were mailed yesterday (Monday).
Because the theme for April is Green, either the color or the environment, I dyed some of my gray alpaca/merino yarn from Tribute, pictured below ↓ (Did I tell you Tribute is going to come and live here?) I wanted to send 20 to 25 yards of yarn but I mini skeined up too little green when I started so I included some of the gray, undyed to bring up my yardage. They look cute together. I sort of wish I had done this will all of them.
There is also a Phatfiber Ravelry group if you are interested. Go here

Wave Scarf and Handspun Yarn

2009-03-13T12:40:00.005-04:00

My Monday night Knitting/Spinning group is making a version of this scarf this month. I didn't want to use any of my "good" yarn so used some of KnitPick's Elegance which is an alpaca/silk blend. It was great fun to knit. I thought about making it when the pattern was featured in the SpinOff magazine. Here's where you can get your free pattern: http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/a6-pattern.shtm I listed it in my shop here.
I added a few very hard to see beads on each end.

If the above yarn doesn't sell right away, I will probably use it to make another Wave Scarf. On my carder, I blended white alpaca with light fawn alpaca and added some green icicle that I got from the Etsy shop Yarn2Spin
This is a 4.8 oz./135 gram skein of 236 feet.

☼

This is white Lady Belita (bad hairdo) and her light fawn cria, Celeste, whose fiber I used to spin the yarn.

Alpacas on Pasture

2009-03-06T17:00:00.006-05:00

It's so nice to see the alpacas out in their pasture and not holed up in the barn. The grass isn't green yet, but it will soon be. I love that they are soaking up sunshine. In South America (Peru, Bolivia, Chile) they are at a higher elevation and nearer the sun. I always worry they aren't getting enough Vitamin D here.
☼ I shot this picture off my deck with the zoom. They are three acres away.

....and here we have little JR in his spring turtleneck. I think that if the weather continues to be so nice, he can go coatless. Although I dread thinking what his fleece is going to be like. He's so little that all the others eat over top of him and all the VM falls down on his neck and back.

Yesterday I had to drive to Jackson to pick up alpaca feed. This is Kathy and Lew Kukla, our alpaca mentors, who own Luka's Alpaca Ranch. They have become the very bestest friends imaginable. They order several tons of our feed twice a year for several of us alpaca breeders, then we go pick it up, get to visit, and catch up.

☼ Hey, that's the van that I traded the truck and Trailblazer for. I can haul alpacas and feed in it fine. Lots easier that the big clunky horse trailer. I did worry a little on our hour and a half drive home. It drove differently loaded with 1080 pounds of feed. Lew checked the air in my tires before we left and sort of assured us (neighbor Billie and me) that we would be ok.

Here are the 27 forty pound bags of feed in my arena. It's always so much easier to unload. Billie helped me and it was a piece of cake. Now it all gets dumped in to garbage bins so that it stays clean and rodents can't nibble into it.

The feed is called Pac-A-Nutrition that we order through Knoblocks in Kansas. We all believe that this is the very best nutrition that we can provide our alpacas - besides, it's pretty much choke free (which is a nasty problem with alpacas).

Felters Using Alpaca

2009-03-04T09:22:00.004-05:00

I'm really sorry that this picture came through so small. Nope, you can't click on it to make it larger. Really. It's a needle felted bear that Kathleen from New Jersey, made with some of my alpaca fiber. Go here to visit her Etsy shop McGregor Dolls
You will be amazed at what she can do with a pokey needle and a pile of fluff.
....and this morning I sent a package to Canada full of gray fiber from Reggie. Jennifer has used it in the past for her incredible elephants. Look at her creations on Etsy at Totally Timmy Studio.
These needle felters are amazing!!!! I would never have the talent nor patience to do this - let alone enough band aids to soak up the bloody pokes that I would give myself.

Reggie

Girls' Day + Dogs

2009-03-01T10:14:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was another one of those "Oh, my gawd, I'm so happy/lucky to be alive" days. Maryann and Judy came up from down by Nashville, MI, Heather from Kalamazoo area, Beth from Alma, and neighbors - Billie and Karen filled my house with love - and dogs as you can see above. Widge, we can hardly see you back there. Five more were left home. They all got along great except once when my Sheltie Max didn't want little beagle Penny near his friend human Billie. (Or maybe, because he was the only male in the house & had to assert himself ☺)
♥♥♥♥♥
It was pretty neat because 4 of us do get messages from animals and I have been worried about Max because he has been so clingy to me since Smitty died. They helped me come to the conclusion that, yes, he is a little insecure, but will be fine, and that I need to include him on my daily walks.

Growing Cria

2009-02-27T13:48:00.007-05:00

When I went to the barn at noon to feed JR, I took my camera so that you could see how big the babies are. We had 5 2008 cria. First born last spring in May was Spot - remember the bottle baby http://northstaralpacas.blogspot.com/2008/07/spot-bottle-alpaca-minor-miracle.html. He was sold in December. Then Celeste had Lyra ↑ in June, a 19.7 pound cria who now weighs 93 pounds. Look at her fiber!!! I can't wait to get my hands into it.
In July, Lady Belita delivered Mira ↓ the white cria below. That's her mom behind her. Mira weighed 24.2 pounds and is at 100 pounds now.

And, of course, here, getting lunch, is JR (Libra) who weighed 13.6 pounds at birth in September, and now weighs 35 pounds.

Our last cria ↓ is Snickers (Astra) who was born 2 days before JR at 17 pounds and weighs in at 82 pounds. He is our barn clown, right in your face, following you around. He's very brave and is the first to investigate anything new.

I went to my accountant's office this a.m. to have him finish up my income taxes. Just for the record, kids, I'm smiling.......

Added a New Feature to Blog - Maybe

2009-02-26T13:22:00.003-05:00

I think that I just added the little feature over to the right below pictures from my Etsy store. If it works, and you are a Googler, you should be able to leave your avatar and I can link to your profile. So, if you wish, please do it.
Well, if it works...... I'm not really a techie granny.

Yea! It's working!!!! Thanks friends.....

Another Scary Happening

2009-02-25T22:09:00.004-05:00

That's Sonata ↑ who is JR's mom.

Do you remember my "snow slide off the roof" story? http://northstaralpacas.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-near-death-experience-0r-avalanche.html

Damn! It almost happened again. Same scenario - 45 degrees, rainy, I'm digging little trenches to drain the water away from the barn, and rumble, rumble, down comes the snow off the roof. There wasn't nearly the snow pile this time, but it's really strange that this could happen twice while I'm out there. What are the odds?????

Family news!!!! I just got off the phone with son Rob who teaches at Scranton U in Pennsylvania. He just got tenure! Congratulations, Dr. Smith.

Wooden Vase

2009-02-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

This is the tiny (2 inch) bowl/vase/container that Greg sent me with my order. The original picture disappeared in my post below. How can he hollow out that tiny thing? I am going to visit his studio this summer.
I love his stuff. I think it reminds me of my wheel throwing pottery days.......

♪♫♪ Happy Birthday, Nicole ♫♪♫

2009-02-24T15:06:00.008-05:00

No one could have nicer, kinder kids than I do. Well, they aren't really kids - youngish adults. Today is Nikki's 40th birthday! She is a teacher, coach, wife, mother, chauffeur...... All those hats that a young mom wears. She wears them well and I'm incredibly proud of her.

The bowl above should be in her mail box right now. I bought it from Greg Gallegos who has his workshop, Natural Selection Studio, in Haslett, Michigan. Click here to go visit his Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6541634

His wood crafting is incredible and his packaging makes me smile. The lovely wooden bowls arrive in these soft felt bags that his wife makes. I had a picture of the free sample bowl that he turned and sent me, but I seem to have lots of trouble with my blogspot pictures. Sometimes they just disappear. I will add it to another page later.
I forgot to mention the bowl is from a Maple burl. I think that means a knot in a Maple tree or branch. Appropriate for Maple's daughter, don't you think?

Saturday Storm - Much Ado about Nothing

2009-02-21T18:55:00.013-05:00

We were supposed to have 5 to 7 inches of snow today. The 7 a.m. picture above shows a nice quiet morning before I went to do chores. It was nice enough that I was able to shoo the horses out with a little hay while I mucked their stalls. I checked the weather map when I came in at 9. The storm is about an hour away in this map. I am in Ithaca - the very middle of the mitt.

Here we are at 3 in the afternoon. Not nearly as nasty as predicted, but I'm glad the 'pacas and horses are snug in the barn.

This is what the weather map looked like at 3. Way worse on paper than out the window. The storm was coming from the south and swirling around so that the wind was from the north east.

And here is the barn at 5, just before I went out to do evening chores. We got only about 3 inches but I will have to shovel out those doors in the morning to get the horses into their paddocks.

....and here she is.....dear, sweet Cassie, who is actually a ham about having her picture taken.

Storm Alert

2009-02-21T14:06:00.010-05:00

I spent most of yesterday getting ready for the storm that is pounding midMichigan right now. The bay mare above is Abbey who is 30. She and the nearly blind pony, Kelly, get Phenylbutazone (Bute) powder on their grain twice a day to help them move around better. I liken it to the Ibuprofen that I take daily to keep me moving. They were just about out so I drove down to St. Johns to the vet to restock. Would hate to be snowbound and not be able to medicate them.

Here's little JR from yesterday morning. He's up to 33 pounds (should be 60 to 70) and I wonder what would happen if I weren't supplementing him 3 times a day with his gruel. I had to run to town for strained carrots, yogurt, and Glucerna just in case I use what I have mixed up.

While I was down at St. Johns, I went to Tractor Supply because as you can see from this picture, I am just about out of shavings for the horses' stalls. Usually I have the shavings delivered from a sawmill and dumped in the indoor arena. I haven't called Jim because either the snow has been too deep or it would have been too muddy for him to get in.

I don't really like to buy the baled shavings because it's so expensive, but didn't mind yesterday. Middle daughter gave me a very generous gift card to TSC for my birthday. She knows that I buy most of my clothes there ☺ and I'm sure that she won't mind that I bought bedding for the horses.

I'm taking interval pictures of the storm to post later.

Proud Birthday Granny

2009-02-15T18:49:00.011-05:00

Thank you for the birthday flowers, Beth....and all the rest of you who remembered my birthday with cards and gifts. My age doesn't seem to stick in my head. I always have to say to myself - Let's see, born in '42, it's 2009, 2 from 9, ah ha - 67. Oh, my, that's closer to 70 than 60.

Meredith made some potholders to put in my Etsy store. You can see some on the desk above or in my shop - http://northstaralpacas.etsy.com/. The reason that I'm blogging about this is because it blows me away that a 9 year old can be so proficient. She does a lovely job weaving them on her loom, each one has a different pattern. She used my new Canon PowerShot to take the pictures in my little light box. She didn't like the color that she was getting so turned off the flash. I have no idea how to do that, then she showed me how to take movie clips. It's not fair, she's only 9!

This is totally her deal. After she downloads the pictures into the computer, I log in to my Etsy store and leave. She puts the pictures up, writes her descriptions-and-can "copy and paste"!!!!! I just recently figured this out. She calls me when she is done so that I can do a quick proof read and we hit Finish.

She took the cute picture of my sweet Max ▲. He does sleep a lot now that is is older.

☼

My two daughters and two granddaughters took me out to dinner, and the grand girls stayed overnight with me. That's always lots of fun.

Elizabeth, below is six, and keeps us laughing. Can't you just tell?

Family, Friends, Fiber

2009-02-09T09:16:00.011-05:00

It recently occurred to me that I spend a great deal of time blogging about the crisis's, death, and the mishaps in my life. I live a wonderful, blessed, "oh, my gawd, I'm so lucky to be alive" existence. Saturday night I spent the evening with my two grown daughters, (wish that you were with us, Rob) drinking wine, laughing, and yes, crying together. Isn't it amazing that your kids can become your bestest friends? See, I'm blessed...

.....and then Sunday was spent with nonfamily friends who feel like family. Mary and Cary came over for a full day of fiber fun. The picture above is of Mary putting some delicious wool through my carder. Cary and I were watching - and, of course, making suggestions. And this picture over here → is Cary showing us how to draft the fiber off the corner of the batt instead of splitting it like we usually do.

Needless to say, we had marvelous food around since both of these women are awesome cooks (not me). But we had the good sense to keep it upstairs so we weren't snacking all day. Mary's delightful grown daughter, Anna, came over for a while. She made some wonderful banana (I think) bread that was spiced up to taste wonderful.

In the afternoon Billie, my across the street neighbor, came over and Beth with her son John stopped in. Beth and John had been in the barn and get this - weighed alpacas, which John recorded for me. They also trimmed some toes which I have been putting off for waaaay too long. And, now see what a great life I have..... Beth left a big container of white, chicken chili in the frig for me - with toppings - cheese, sour cream, and tortios. (I can't spell that & neither can my spell check)

☼☼☼ And the sun shone all day ☼ ☼ ☼ Ain't life Grand?!?!

For those of you who have inquired about Ivan and his colic - thanks for your concern and good energy. He's fine! Eating, pooping, banging his stall door - back to normal.

And little Jr (Libra) - he weighed 31.3 pounds last Friday. I'm encouraged that now the snow has disappeared, he will be getting green grass into his system. I'll continue to do the 10 ounces of gruel 3 times a day though. His buddy, born the same week, now weighs 81 pounds.

New Alpaca/Merino Yarn Arrives

2009-02-07T06:12:00.005-05:00

Look what came in the mail Thursday. 37 skeins of gorgeous, beautiful, wanna hug yarn. Back on January 13th, 2009, I mailed 6 pounds of gray Alpaca from Tribute who lives with Leslie and Bob at Irish Valley Farms, and 4 pounds, 15 ounces of colored Merino that I bought from the McMurrys at Genopalette. After the sheep is washed, it loses some weight so I'm calling this a 60%Alpaca/40%Merino Blend, DK weight yarn.
If you are interested, Stonehedge charged $186.02 to wash, spin, skein, and ship this back to me.
It didn't even take a month for them to process and return it.....and with a little note on the receipt saying "Beautiful" which really pleases me.
I do think this is beautiful. Probably the prettiest yarn that I have received from any mill.

The little sheep picture here is from McMurry's farm of some of their sheep. Look the young lambs have long tails.

Ivan's Colic

2009-02-05T10:31:00.004-05:00

My plans this morning were to go to the feed store and get grain for the horses. They are all older and eat Equine Senior. I'm very lucky because I can watch all the horses very well from my kitchen. These pictures were shot just opening the deck door. Anyway, there was Ivan pawing, looking at his stomach, getting up and down, and not eating. These are sure signs of colic, a horsey upset stomach that can be serious. I took him back into the barn and then took him for a walk down the road. Sometimes a little exercise will help. I lunged him a little in the indoor arena (it's zero out there this a.m.). I knew he was upset because he didn't stop and munch on the hay stacked in there. I gave him an injection of 6 cc of Banamine which usually helps a lot. Then put him in a big stall with fresh water. Sometimes in the winter the horses just don't drink

enough which can cause them to colic. The good thing is he pooped while I was walking him so I don't think that he is impacted.

Because he looks bright and alert (as you can see by the picture above) I'm going to go let him back out into the sunshine ☼

The little picture here is of the other three looking at someone walking down the road. They look like they are all together but are actually separated by fences.

Maybe I'll get to the feed store afterall.....

Two Maples

2009-02-05T06:59:00.003-05:00

I have google alerts for NorthStarAlpacas and Maple Smith so that when these words are mentioned out there somewhere, I get a link to them. My Maple links are usually related to wood, you know- bats, musical instruments, things like that, and of course, lots of Maple Leaf hockey referrals.

But this week I was linked to http://joshbrandymaple.wordpress.com/ , the blog of Brandy Shelton of Johnson City, Tennessee. Lo and behold, here's little Maple Rae who was born on December 7, 2008.

Oh, my, another Maple. It's kind of like having another grandbaby out there.

Brandy (mom) and I have corresponded some. She wondered how I got my name. My grandma, who died in her 30s, was named Maple, and the story goes (I find this hard to believe) that she was named after my greatgrandfather's girlfriend back in Ireland.

JR's Gruel and Hungry Deer

2009-02-02T13:32:00.009-05:00

Yesterday I increased Jr's food intake to 3 tubes of 3 ounces of gruel 3 times a day. 27 ounces surely seems like enough to make him grow faster. He weighed 29 pounds last Friday when I weighed him (4 months old). I'm having to mix up a lot more now. I keep it in the frig and then syringe it into the tubes a couple of ounces at a time.
I just drop the capped tubes into hot water to warm it up, when warm, I wrap the tubes in towels which I keep inside my jacket until I get to the barn.
☼
The dogs and I took a walk out behind the house. The deer have pretty much taken down all my fences to get into my little grove for food. There are apple and pine trees there. You can see where they have been digging for the apples. Poor deer. They are pretty hungry this winter and we have way too many here in midMichigan. When I was young, we had to go "UpNorth" to see any. I'm thinking we will be having a big put up fence party when the ground thaws.
Behind this grove is horse pasture and then an open corn field. The wild turkeys have been very busy scrounging in the corn field this week.

Custom Alpaca Hat

2009-02-01T12:40:00.007-05:00

Sara from northern Illinois liked the pattern on this brown hat and asked me if I could make her one in grays. Of course, says I, frantically trying to remember what I did. I seldom do the same thing twice and don't write it down. Fortunately the hat hadn't sold so I was able to look at it. Super easy - Cast on about 75 on size 4 needles, knit for a while, switch colors and to a size 7 needle. Knit for 5 rows and then 1 row of purl . Repeat until desired height. Do some decreasing then yarn overs every 4 or 5 stitches to make holes for the tie. Knit garter stitch for a couple more inches and bind off. Make an I Cord to match the border.
Unfortunately I didn't have any gray yarn so I spun up a couple ounces from Reggie, a herd sire owned by Sharon Winsauer and the Kuklas in Jackson. That's the handsome guy pictured above. I also spun about an ounce that I added black to as I spun for the trim on the hat.

So, this is what I came up with. I will go list it in my shop now and send Sara a note that it is finished.

It's here if you want to see it in my Etsy shop - just click →. PonyTail/BigHair Hat

Lunch with the Alpacas

2009-01-30T12:40:00.002-05:00

I had to run out to the barn for Jr's (Libra) noon feeding of gruel and took my camera to show you that the little guy is still with us. Tonight is weigh in and I'm hoping that he will hit 30 pounds. He's layered up here with a turtle neck underneath his coat. The taller white guy standing behind him is Astra (Snickers) who was born 3 days before Jr. Astra is about 4 times larger. I had a little naming help with Astra. Marianne was the winner of my naming contest.

More Finished Fiber

2009-01-30T07:46:00.004-05:00

Look what Michele from Jersey City, NJ just finished.....a lovely black/brown scarf that will be gifted to a friend. I know it doesn't show up great for you but black is incredibly hard to photograph, I think. I have problems photographing red also.

The fleeces were from Sonata ↑, black Chinella, and black Berringer. Go here to read Michele's blog where she mentions the fiber in a couple of posts.

Fleece to Socks

2009-01-28T09:11:00.004-05:00

You know how I love to see "stuff" made from my alpacas. At the beginning of the month, Jeanne from Eugene, Oregon bought the yarn for these socks.

They are for sale in her Etsy store (go here: ohthisnose ) but I asked her if I could buy them if they haven't sold in a week. She has a lovely store of her fiber art....beautiful quilts in all sizes, handmade shopping bags, and MORE SOCKS. I think that she should ask more dollars for the socks (well, after I buy some ☺).

The fiber originally came from Lady Belita, seen here with her cria, Celeste. We love Belita but she is rather grumpy. Her ears are usually back just like this picture. Don't get me wrong, she isn't mean and doesn't spit or anything like that. She's just a little insecure and would rather be left alone.

Back to the yarn......I had Belita's fleece blended with Merino and spun into 250 yard skeins up at Stonehedge. They do a great job. In fact, I have 10 pounds of gray alpaca and merino up there right now.

Back to the yarn.....I dyed a couple of skeins in my crock pot using Jacquard dyes. This was my last skein of this blend. So now, tah, dah, Socks!

Cancer

2009-01-25T06:11:00.004-05:00

Jen from Pennsylvania ordered this hat to be sent to a different address than her own. Come to find out it was to go to her sister-in-law's hospital room.
Her sister-in-law, Maria, is receiving chemo and will no doubt be losing her hair, and Jen wanted her to have something besides the tradition chemo scarf.
Jen says, "She's the best"

I hate cancer! It's a horrid, sneaky disease. Smitty was setting fence posts 2 months before he died.

I hope that you all will send good energy, or prayers, or whatever you believe in out to Maria and all the others who have had their world shaken by this horrible illness.

I Dyed Yesterday

2009-01-24T12:16:00.004-05:00

Sharon gave me over a pound of adult, white, alpaca roving quite some time ago thinking that I might like to dye it up. Look at it! Isn't that yummy! As alpacas age their fiber tends to become less fine so when you see something listed as "adult" alpaca, keep that in mind so that you are not disappointed in the softness. I used my crock pot to dye 5 different dye lots.

I got one batch of two 2 ounce bumps listed in my Etsy store. See here

I say 2 ounces but I alway weigh at least 1/10th over, usually 2/10ths.

☼

And what's a post without a picture of an alpaca? This is Chinella ( 1 year, 4 months old) who is joint owned by Beth and me. Lucky for me, Beth doesn't spin so I can't wait till May to get my hands in this lovely black, black fiber.

Jr's New Duds

2009-01-23T21:32:00.005-05:00

It was warm here yesterday and I wanted to wash Jr's (Libra's) coat, so after cutting part of the sleeves off an old turtle neck, I slipped it on him. I cut a couple slits for his back legs and gathered the extra up in a little pony tail and fastened it with a rubber band. He's styling, isn't he? It is supposed to be cold again tonight (about zero), so I slipped his regular coat over his T neck for the layered look. By the way, he is up to 28.3 pounds tonight. EEEHAW!
I guess that I'm going to have to put a halter on him soon if I continue weighing him weekly because he's getting pretty heavy for me to pick up. He's a good little boy though and doesn't squirm.
That mess on the back of his neck is hay. Because he's so small, the rest of the alpacas eat above him and lots falls down and sticks in his fiber. I'm definitely not saving that baby alpaca fiber at shear time.
☼
I dyed a little over a pound of alpaca today - 5 different dyelots to go in to my Etsy store.

New? Sweatshirt

2009-01-22T10:34:00.004-05:00

For Christmas daughter Terre gave me a gift card to Macys. Knowing full well that I won't be going to the city for a long time, I found this hooded sweatshirt on line and ordered it. Can't have too many hooded sweatshirts for the barn, you know. I thought the kids would be proud of me because it's a Ralph Lauren and not another shirt from Tractor Supply. Polo is a big deal name brand, I think. I really love it!

This morning I pulled it on over my turtleneck to head out for chores. I liked that the cuffs were long and turned them up. Well, damn, the cuffs are all worn with holes. Thinking I could pull the mailing envelope out of the trash and send it back, I noticed that the holes are all in threes and evenly spaced around the cuff. Oh, my gosh, this must be the worn look...... Duh! Yep, I'm definitely an old timer .

Help Me with My Morning Chores

2009-01-20T09:21:00.011-05:00

I thought it might be fun for you to help me with my morning chores. The first thing we do is throw my obnoxious horse, Ivan, a tiny bit of hay or he will continue banging on his stall door with his hoof.
Separate Sonata and Jr (above ▲) and give Jr his two tubes of gruel before it cools off. Toss a pad of hay into their feeder. Can you tell that it's still dark out? And look how he's growing. His coat is quite small for him.
Now go back to the horses and give each horse a drink because they will be shut out for the day and then give them a scoop of grain. Don't forget to slip some Bute (horsey aspirn) into Abbey and Kellys' pails. Water the alpacas while you have the hose out.

While the horses are munching, go back to the alpacas and fill the pans for the babies ► When you hang the feeders on the gate, call them, and they will come right over. The big girls can't get into this pen so the little ones can eat in peace. So now you can fill 5 more pans with alpaca pellets and feed the big girls.

Open their door and throw some hay out in the nice clean snow for them. Leave a little inside also.

Turn all four horses out with a couple pads of hay. Leave Cord's door open so that he can come inside if he likes.

Over to the 4 boys' pen and spread 5 pans of pellets on their gates. Leave a couple feet between each pan so they don't get to fighting and spitting at each other. When they spit, their bottom lip hangs open and they can't eat for a while. I read somewhere that the spit is quite acidic and that's why they do that. Don't know though. Open their door and put some hay outside for them. They didn't clean up all their hay from last night so don't give them as much.

I hope that you remembered to speak individually to each 4 legged and called them by name. I believe that like kids, they each need the special attention.

Now before you go in, think back, does each critter have food? water? are all the doors secure? This only took us an hour. If Josh weren't coming to clean, we would be out here for two more.

Walking in we pass by the horses who give us a look of thanks (or so I like to think).

My Path to Humility

2009-01-18T10:26:00.004-05:00

The definition of humility is "the quality of being humble". I became humble this morning when my snow blower wouldn't start. I've been a little proud and feeling "just a little bit superior" that I can get my snow blower going and stuff plowed out before the neighbor guys get around. You know, that "I am Woman, hear me roar" stuff.
Well, she wouldn't start this morning and I asked Ben who was plowing my driveways with his truck if he would take a look at it. Well, duh, what I thought was a choke is actually some sort of prime thingy. Using the correct little choke lever, it took right off.
So above is my snow blower path to humility and the barn......

Another Vet Call

2009-01-16T20:15:00.004-05:00

This is little Lyra with her mom Celeste right after she was born last spring. Today Vet Russ had to come out and redraw blood because Michigan State's lab totally messed up the samples that we sent in a month ago. We were testing progesterone levels in Celeste ↑ and Lady Belita to see if they could be pregnant. The lab also screwed up our blood samples from the babies that were sent for BVDV testing so we had to redraw from the babies. You can't even imagine how hard this is to take blood from their necks when it is covered with 4 inches of fiber. Cudos to you, Russ.

....and this is Celeste and Lyra now. Lyra has really beautiful dense, crimpy fiber that is a beautiful golden fawn color. I can't wait for the May shear to get my hands on this fleece.

☼

Have I mentioned the sub zero temperatures? ☺ I'm pretty sick of hauling and busting up frozen water pails. We are supposed to get a big snow tomorrow and then maybe a warm up to the 20s.