This is my dear friend, Beth, who shows our alpacas for us. The pictures were taken while she was waiting to go into the show ring. Beth has her horse, Cord, here at our barn. The brown boy on the bottom left is Orion, and the white guy on the upper right is Pollux. Both boys placed 4th in their classes.

The show was great fun and rather profitable as I sold quite a bit of yarn and knitted stuff. I even managed to get a skein of yarn spun up for my Faroese Shawl. I have decided to use Sivia Harding's "Follow the Leader" pattern. It calls for 1100 yards but friend Cary says it will probably take less. I think I will just start knitting it and spin up what I need as I go along.

Alpaca Show and Vet Call

Tomorrow my dear friend, Beth, and I will be taking these two little boys to an alpaca show in Davisburg, MI. The drive will take us a couple of hours which I don't mind but we have to go on I-75, which is an expressway. Hauling a horse trailer on a "big" road will always terrify me, especially if I have some of my 4 legged friends in the back. I'm trying to get organized today because I would hate to forget some important - like the 'pacas or my spinning wheel.

I put an announcement in my Etsy shop that it is closed until Tuesday. I am taking lots with me to, hopefully, sell and would feel terrible if someone ordered an item that I sold. Last year sales at this show were great. I sold several handspun & knitted hats, but it was very cold. This weekend is supposed to be really nice - sunny and in the 70s.

Our vet came yesterday to look at our pony's eye. She stained it and decided that it has some ulcers (sores?). We are using an antibiotic and a steroid ointment in her eye plus a little Bute in her grain. Kelly is being very good about letting me apply the medication but I do have to have Smitty hold her for me. Vet wants to look at her in a week and thinks that it may just clear up.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php?id=1178104771341U67624
I'm in an Etsy treasury today. Take a look while I try to figure out how to get the pictures here.

Horse talk

Been rather neglectful with my blogging so will add a few notes here. Yesterday was our oldest granddaughter's birthday (we have two). Birthday party on Sunday with other grandparents and cousins. Lots of fun.

This picture is rather old but it is of the birthday girl and Kelly - well, me too. We have known for a few years that Kelly's eyes were failing but in just a week, one eye has completely clouded over and is a whitish opaque. I can't understand why this would happen so fast. We are giving her a little Bute to reduce any inflamation although it doesn't look sore and she's not showing any indication of pain.

We have four horses in the barn who are all on Equine Sr. Kelly, the pony above, is nearly blind; Abbey, 26 year old quarter horse, is doing great but retired; Cord, my friend Beth's 20 something, quarter horse is asthmatic but happy and eager to go for a trail ride; and Ivan, my guy, is standing around getting fat. I really need to start riding again.

This is a picture of us from last summer. Ivan is showing off how well he can bend. All you dressage riders know how important "the bend" is. He would like you to notice that he is using his whole body, not just his neck. Ivan is a Percheron/thoroughbred cross and has been the perfect horse for me. Our experiences together include lots of dressage lessons, a few shows, jumping, camping, trail riding, giving lessons together, and just hanging out learning stupid horse tricks. He has an incredible sense of humor. When we give a lesson, if the student doesn't use his/her hands, legs, and seat correctly, Ivan will just go to a corner and stand. No amount of prodding will get him to move until all the rider's body parts are lined up.

I will probably talk more about the horses as time goes on because they are a very big part of my life. Right now I need to go spin because I ordered some awesome Faroese Shawl patterns from Margaret Pittman > www.heritageyarns.com <> I am spinning the lovely rose gray fiber from Rouge. Have about 300 yards done but think I will need about 700.

Dang! I cannot get my pictures to stay where I put them. Need to figure this out.

Rose Gray Yarn

This fiber was grown by Rouge, a very handsome alpaca who lives in Michigan. While my dearest friend, Maryanne, owned him, he came here for a breeding visit. He also got to go to an alpaca show in Davisburg, Michigan last spring. As you can probably see from Rouge's picture, his

fleece has lots of variations and shades of the rose gray.

The fiber that I used to spin this particular skein of yarn was rather dark but has light colors running through it. It was great fun to spin.

Occasionally after I spin up a skein, I just have to knit a swatch (don't you think that sounds like a dirty word?).

I used U.S. # 9 needles and did sort of a knit 2 together, yarn over pattern because I thought this would make a lovely lacey scarf or shawl.

My intention was to list this in my Etsy shop but they have the site down again until about 4 or 5 this evening. At least that's what the announcement was when I tried to log in. This is going to make a lot of people angry. Because it's reasonably new (about 2 years old, I think) they do have a lot of problems. The site is growing faster than the management can keep up. This is an excellent online place to shop for handmade items. They do allow commercial supplies that they are going to keep separate. I am thrilled to have an outlet for my yarn 'cause as I've mentioned again and again I love to spin.

Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep

I am totally beside myself with excitement. In the Hobby Farm magazine my husband found an article about these darling sheep. In the classifieds was an ad for a farm called The Bidlack Pasture that raises Babydoll Southdowns. And, imagine this, the farm is only about 30 minutes from here. I emailed Amy Bidlack and EEEEHAW we are going to visit this Sunday. I hope Amy doesn't mind that I lifted this picture from her website.

I have been researching this breed and there are several things that appeal to me. Number one to satisfy my fiber addiction, they have very fine wool, between 19 to 23 microns. Baby alpaca is classified as fleece below 24 microns so you can see this wool is really fine. Can't you just imagine blending these Babydolls with alpaca? Mmmmmm.

They are very small according to what I have read, between 18 and 24 inches and easy to handle. Apparently they are friendly and bond to their humans. Colors are black and white. I can just imagine these sweeties in the pasture with our alpacas. Will update after our visit.

Awesome Yarn

I spent most of today creating this yarn that I just love. The picture on the bottom left is the fiber that I used. I had dyed this alpaca roving a couple of weeks ago. Remember? I wrote about it. It was rather felted so I had to pretty much strip it apart and loosen and spread apart the fibers. Was quite a challenge to spin because I held the stiff dyed and the very soft natural brown together in the hand that I was drafting with. My pinchy forward fingers were busy stretching and drafting too. I did the two singles the same way and then plied them together.

I had to see what it would look like done up so knitted this swatch right off my wheel. That's a US size 9 needle. I was very pleased that when I took it off my winder, it hung perfectly balanced. I always give myself a silent cheer when that happens.