Phat Fiber Contribution

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.

Snickers and Slammie Go on Vacation

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.

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

New Alpaca/Merino Yarn Arrives

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.

Yummy Alpaca and Merino

I bought this colorful merino from Jennifer who lives in Columbus, Ohio. Visit her shop at The Laughing Rat Studio http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7231 I also bought some of the loveliest sachets that I have ever seen/smelled.
If I remember correctly, Jennifer and I first got acquainted through our blogs. I was fascinated that she actually had pet rats. Visit her blog here http://laughingratstudio.blogspot.com/

I thought Jennifer's roving would work perfectly with Polaris's dark fawn fiber. Sorry, Chris, you can't really have it all to yourself.

Can you see in this picture that I held them next to each other as I spun? Polaris sort of overpowers the colors, but they do show through very subtly. I will spin another single the same way and then ply them together. The yarn is amazingly soft.

My life is starting to resemble my old routine of spinning for a couple of hours in the morning, and then again at night while I'm watching t.v.

Life after shearing

This is my buddy, Beth, whom I mention frequently, and the little ram lamb (don't know if that is the right term in sheep language, I'm still learning). Smitty hasn't officially named them yet, but the grand girls were here for Mom's Day and I think Meredith wants to call them Frank and Meri.
Cary's husband Bill is a retired vet and they graciously came over last week to dock the tails and remove the boy parts. I couldn't look...... Actually, the little darlings hardly whimpered.
Life since shearing last week has been incredibly busy. I'm trying to go through all the fleeces to evaluate them and decide what they will become. They are very clean so I'm removing hardly any VM (vegetable matter).
For some reason I have had lots of sales in the last couple days - fleece and roving. I'm surprised because lots of folks seem to back off from knitting and crocheting when the weather warms up. I guess the spinners just keep on spinning - I know, I do.
Last Saturday above mentioned Cary and I did a dye workshop. Great fun to teach others from our experiences. I dyed some alpaca roving as a demonstration, and spun it up at home. It's below ▼ I spun a single, then plied it with Wooly Nylon.

I used Jacquard dyes, (Periwinkle Blue, Burnt Orange, and Fuschia) and Indy's blend of alpaca, merino, and mohair in roving form.
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Tara, my blondechicken friend, asked what I will be doing with my fiber. Well, Tara, as I'm going through the bags, it comes to me and I jot it down. Right now I have chosen some to be blended with some purchased Merino and some to be blended with our BabyDoll sheep at Zeilingers' mill in Frankenmuth. A couple I'm sending to Suzanne's because she will do small batches and I want to keep them separate. I'm saving a few just like they are. I already have 10 pounds up at Stonehedge being made into yarn. One black I'm just saving until this winter when I can take the time to pluck all the white guard hairs out. Have I mentioned that I HATE guard hair ?!?
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Michelle akkasha, I can't leave a message on your blog?????

Funky Handspun

Yesterday I said that I could reward myself and do a fun skein of yarn and here it it. ↑ I spun a slubby, thick and thin from the roving posted yesterday but as I was spinning, I added pieces of shiney, brightly dyed mohair that I purchased from Cheryl at her cherylavenue Etsy shop. Then I threaded 140 little gold beads on beige Wooly Nylon thread and plied with it. I wish that the beads showed up in the picture...... I ended up with 160 yards which should be enough to knit or crochet some little thing....a skinny scarf or a funky hat.

And My Reward Is

This lovely black skein is what I finished plying last night and is hanging up to dry right now. It came out very soft and I'm very pleased with its consistency and balance. I run my plied yarn from the bobbin to a 2 yard winder, and when I take it off that and it hangs perfectly straight that means that it is a balanced yarn, and I give myself a big congratulations, well done, pat on the back.

NOW I can get to this... After I do a straight forward, well spun skein, I reward myself with something fun. This is some alpaca roving that I dyed last week. (I do have some in my shop also). I have some green and yellow dyed mohair (did you know that mohair comes from Angora goats?) that I think I will add to it. Probably will spin it thick and thin, slubby, you know. I also have some tiny gold beads that I could string on some Woollee Nylon serger thread and then ply it with that. Do you think 100 beads for 100 yards sounds about right? I haven't added beads before so this will be an adventure. Yep, sounds like the plan for today. Will put up a picture if it happens.....

Kim from Michigan bought the black skein soon after I posted it. Thanks, Kim. Take a look at her blog to see the beautiful squares being made for charity.

The Alpaca Fiber Process from Humming in the Back Yard to Yarn

Orion (Slammie), Pollux (Luxie), and GunnyI'm thinking that it would be fun to give a very simple explanation of the process of making yarn from our alpacas. You need to imagine the step of shearing to get the fiber off the alpacas. I will have pictures in May when we actually do the shear.
This is what the raw fiber looks like. Our animals stay quite clean and free of vegetation because we don't bed with straw and I sweep up fallen hay everyday. When the 'pacas are inside, they live on rubber mats.
To clean the fleece, I spread it out on a screen stapled to a big square, and pick out the vegetation (VM) by hand. Dust and dirt falls through to the floor.
Then I wash it which I have talked about here in my blog. If I am going to immediately dye, I leave the fiber wet after a vinegar solution soak.


My favorite way to dye is in my crock pot. I sprinkle dry Jacquard powder over the wet fiber, pour boiling water over, cover and cook for about 30 minutes. This yellow and green isn't the fiber for the final skein. But this is ↓


Then spread the fiber out to dry. Riley Cat enjoys the drying too much so this usually goes into the tub in the spare bathroom.

The fiber can be spun as soon as it is dry, but I like to card it which lines all the fibers up nice and straight and makes the spinning easier. BTW, this isn't the fiber in the final skein either.

Now the fun part (well, it's all fun, but this is my favorite) SPINNING. For this particular yarn, I tried to make slubby areas and very thin strands. I added some of Rita's (Castleman) mauve Tussah yarn as I spun. Then I plied the single with Woolly Nylon serger thread that had some elasticity to enhance my slubs and bumps.
All this preparation for 50 yards of this ↓

Alpaca Fiber to Create Tuxedo Kitty

Marianne, from Lawrence, Kansas, just listed this dear kitty that she made for her Etsy shop - MarianneW. Go take a look at him. His face, paws, and tail are made from Celeste's yarn that Marianne bought over a year ago, January 2007. It's so much fun to see what my yarn becomes. Thanks for sharing, Marianne.

Adding Silk While Spinning Alpaca

This is hand dyed Tussah silk that I bought from Rita in her Etsy shop, Castleman. I love these colors and blended them with light fawn alpaca fiber from Pudge.
I think that alpaca and silk are naturals together. Because this is what we raise, I spin mainly Huacaya alpaca which is the crimpy, Teddy bear looking alpaca. Suri alpaca have the long, straight pencil locks and their fiber actually works like silk which adds drape and luster to yarns.
This next picture will show you how I hold the two fibers together while spinning.

The silk is on the left and the alpaca on the right. As I spin, I try to ease the two together equally which I find nearly impossible, but I believe that is the charm of the finished yarn. I've stripped the silk to pieces about this wide and the extra is laying on my left knee ready to join into the alpaca. The alpaca is coming from my right.
The spin method that I use is the front/left hand is nearly stationary and resting ever so lightly on the fiber, allowing it to slide through. My back/right hand is tugging and drafting back toward me and controling the amount of fiber going forward. I have developed this method to give my alpaca softness and loft.
Somewhere recently, I read that alpaca needs lots of twist to keep it together. This isn't true. Lots of twist will just make the yarn hard and it will lose it's soft alpaca quality. At least, this is my opinion......


Ta Da ---The results - 2.8 ounces/80 grams - 150 yards. I love the contrast between the almost flat alpaca and the shine and color variation of the silk.

A Successful Experiment

I need to share this happy little experiment with you. I finished dyeing the roving on the left and quite a lot of dye was left in my crock pot. So, I poured it into the canning jar, added a glug of white vinegar, and stuffed in the little 95 yard ball of handspun that was waiting for a project in my knitting basket. I zapped it in the microwave for 3 minutes and let it cool. The color was totally exhausted and the yarn came out beautiful because the outer part of the ball was much darker than the inside. Really pretty as you can see below. It was in my Etsy store about five hours before it sold.

More Dyed Yarn

This is yesterday's spin. I have only 2 more dyed up roving and then I'm going to have to heat up the crock pot again. I think the colors in this are quite yummy. Remind me of the granddaughters who love pink and purple.

I meant what I said yesterday. I am going to use up my dyed roving! I deserve to spin this lovely stuff! Yes! This is what is hanging up drying right now, and I've started about 4 ounces of a pink/ lavendar roving that I had named Heatherbelle after a very dear young friend.
I was telling friend Beth that I will soon run out of the dyed and why does it seem like we shouldn't start new projects, like dyeing, before Christmas. It feels like things should be finished up - wrapped up, literally. But I will probably break through that mind set and get out the dye pots.

Spinning up the dyed roving

For some reason I have been saving all that lovely dyed roving that I did this fall. No longer! I think that I had some stupid mentality like, I need to sell it and don't deserve to use it myself. It's so much fun to spin that I'm getting right into it. The 206 yard skein that I spun up yesterday sold this morning but is still drying so I can't mail it out or it might arrive frozen because it's going to New York state. So when I finish here I'm going to get into that bin filled with yummy colored roving.
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The Pony....... Yep, we bought her. I think that Smitty is going to call her Fiona, you know like Shrek's wife? We had to put her a ways from the other horses but she seems to be doing well. Smitty is delighted! When he works in her paddock/pen, she follows him around. I will try to get a picture on here.
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The (no longer) Boys..... They are doing fine. Although the removal didn't seem to take away that instinct. We were weighing the girls this morning and the no longer boys were just tearing around, mounting each other, and acting like dorks.

Marianne's Yarn

I am always stunned when I'm out visiting folks on their blog and stumble across my name or some of my yarn. I found this picture this morning when I was visiting Marianne's blog. I hadn't visited in a while and, oh my, has she been making some lovely stuff. You know how some people you just feel connected to? well, that's my feelings with her. Well, plus she is sort of a farm girl, has horses, kids - the good things in life. And did I mention Marianne lives way over in the Netherlands?

Pudge Yarn from Sunni

A few weeks ago, Sunni from Chicago, who has bykes shop on Etsy purchased some of Pudge's roving. I just received this picture from her and she assured me that Pudge's fiber is very lovely and that she is going to keep the yarn she spun for herself instead of selling it in her shop. Besides yarn and roving, Sunni sells other lovely "stuff", so you should go take a look.

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Sunni is a student in Chicago and rides her bike around town - which I can't even imagine doing.

EtsyFAST Sale

EtsyFAST, our fiber arts group on etsy, are on a really big roll. We are having a Trunk Show at Etsy headquarters in New York City on November 16th. I surely can't go to the event but some of our group will be there. Many of us sent items to be displayed. I sent some yarn and little packets with my business card and some alpaca fleece.

To recognize and celebrate this show, many (38 shops) of us are offering some really good sales from today, November 1st through November 16th. I'm offering 15% off all the roving that I have. These items on sale are everything from roving, to yarn, to finished products. Most of the shops are having 15% off, but there are some with 20% off.

I have no idea what happened here, but if you click on any of this underlined stuff, you will go to a list of all the shops participating in the sale.

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For those of you who are wondering about Lady Belita, our sick alpaca, she seems to be just fine now. The only thing we can figure out is that maybe she was dehydrated. For some reason none of the animals, (horses, sheep, & alpacas) were drinking well earlier in the week. The blood sample and the fecal sample showed nothing conclusive.

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I have so messed this up. Click on any of this underlined stuff to find a list of the EtsyFAST artists who are having sales.

Gunny Alpaca Training - continued

First of all, I'm very pleased to announce that I haven't been spit on since that first day. In fact, the little darling hasn't even made the hawky, throaty noise that is a threat.
Yesterday he wore his halter with a short rope dangling. Even though I worried about him, he also wore it all night.
This morning after his breakfast, I tied him up! Yep, for about an hour. I wanted to use a bungee cord so that it would give some when he did his rearing and pulling but didn't have one. So I rigged up an old elastic trailer tie that I had used for hauling horses around. He did do considerable thrashing but never really got himself into trouble. I could keep my eye on him while I was cleaning the horse stalls, but managed to stay out of sight. I wanted him to think I wasn't involved and he would learn to give to the pressure. And....it worked! When I put a lead on him and released the trailer tie, we actually went for a little walk out side with no rearing and pulling. YEA!
I'll continue tying him up for a couple of days until he thinks our walks are fun.
BTW, that's a picture of his awesome fiber all spun up......
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Pam, look, I put the picture where I wanted it. Thanks for your help!

Fricke Yarn Winder

My two favorite spinning friends are my Fricke yarn winder and my Woolee Winder so thought you might want to see them. I originally wound my yarn onto a knitty knoddy (that doesn't look right), but my arm, hand, and shoulder would be screaming. Arithitis doesn't favor repetitive motion. I ordered this winder from Fricke, and ♥ love ♥ it. It had a counter that I managed to break in the first month but it is easy to count the yardage because each revolution is 2 yards.

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I guess I should have said my three favorite spinning friends are shown here because that's my Cassie girl in the background.

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Talking about this reminds me that I have a brand new knitty knoddy, or however the hell you spell it, hanging in it's denim bag in the basement. Think I will try to sell it in my Etsy shop. Hmmm, off to dust it off.......

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NiddyNoddy