JR's Morning Feed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.......