♪♫♪ Minus two pounds ♪♫♪ (Imagine 2 square pounds of butter and it seems like a lot). Anyone out there want to challenge me on this weight loss attempt?

Here's our new boy who came home from Kukla's with Lady Belita. His name is Gunsmoke, but since I have such an aversion to any guns, he will be Gunny. He's quite the handsome guy and seems to know it. I put him in a pen with our Orion who was also born a year ago, but Gunny harassed him and chased him all over. Sooooo, out he goes with the big guys. Berringer, the black guy, has taken upon himself to teach Gunny alpaca etiquette and how to conform to the pecking order. You can see "Bear" taking the studly stance above after chasing Gunny away.

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Dang! I wish I knew how to control these pictures. They never go where I want them.

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♪♫♪ Tomorrow night is weigh in at Weight Watchers......

New Etsy Friends

In order from left to right, then center:

Maple (me) - North Star Alpacas, Dulce - DulcesCreations, Isis - Knitspin , Jessi - White Star Ranch, and Reanee - Squeezle's Galore

This is a picture of some of us from Etsy who managed to get together at Allegan's Michigan Fiber Fest last weekend. We were pointing to and showing off our Etsy pins and stickers. I'm sure that Reanee will kill us when she sees the picture we are putting up. Isis is going to try to get Etsy to publish it on their site blog.

It was so much fun to meet these women who had previously been just a shop name. You know how you imagine how someone looks? I hit it right on with Isis and immediately knew who she was when she walked up to my booth.

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By the way, after looking at this pict of me, I'm sure that I made the right move by going back to Weight Watchers last Tuesday. Even if you are not interested, you will be hearing about my lose. (How's that for positive thinking?)

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Remember way back on June 6th we took Lady Belita to Jackson for a breeding? Yesterday we received word that her Progesterone Test was above 4, which means that she is probably pregnant. EEEEHAW!

We are going to bring her home tomorrow along with a little silver gray boy named Gunsmoke, who will be a fiber boy - meaning he will be gelded this fall and not become a herd sire. I will try to get a picture of him when we get back home.

This is the beautiful hand made Lazy Kate Basket that I bought for myself at the Allegan Fiber Fest this weekend. Her name is Katherine Basket and she was made by Stefania Isaacson (her husband crafts the sturdy handles). Both Isaacsons were incredibly nice and helpful to newbee me. Their booth was just across the aisle and down a ways from mine and this basket just kept whispering, Take me home. Visit her shop Handspun by Stefania in St. Charles, Illinois.
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The socks that you see were purchased from the booth right next to me. The two women in the shop came all the way from Pennsylvania. I could kick myself because I didn't get their names or card. The were fun and sort of watched out for me too. I hate waiting until next year to know their shop name.
I so love hand made socks and so dislike making them.
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EEEEHAW! I found a business card that I'm sure belongs to my Pennsylvanian, next booth neighbor who was so kind to me. Go take a look at her place - Handmade in the Hills - Deb Schildt. Her yarns, hats, and woven scarves are awesome.

This is just a brief post to talk about my weekend vendoring at Michigan's Fiber Fest in Allegan. This was my first time there, well, my first time at a real show - period. We could set up on Thursday after 5, and I'm so glad that I got there about 3 because the stupid 8 wiry cubes that I bought to hold roving took 2 hours to put together. They ended up very wobbly and I was so frustrated that I only put together 6. Many vendors walked by me smiling and saying things like, "Oh, yea, I have several of those in my basement."
Marianne, my dearest friend, arrived about 5 with her soap and we rather quickly, I think, put together the rest of our booth. I stayed at her house about an hour away on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
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Friday was very slow because the advertising for the event names Saturday and Sunday only. Was a great time for shopping. Bought a beautiful basket, some dye, and hand knit socks that I will picture soon.
Saturday was very busy and $$$$ profitable $$$$. The best part was the people who stopped in. Ended up seeing 6 Etsy sellers. Was so much fun putting a face to online friends. I'm hoping that one of them will send me a picture of us to post here. Also had friends from home stop in so that was very special.
Sunday was rather slow again but I got to meet online blogging friend Lisa and her husband. Lisa had a hard time finding me 'cause she was looking for the gray haired AlpacaGranny in the picture with Cassie, and I am now the colored haired AlpacaGranny.
My main sales were rovings. Folks seemed to really like the dyed alpaca and have only four left. I think that dyeing is going to be my main focus for a while. Well, and spinning, of course ☺
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I want to talk more about the weekend but I need to go. Even though I put a CLOSED for the weekend notice in my Etsy shop, I have two yarn sales to get out. Hey, I'm definitely not complaining, just hoping that I didn't sell what they ordered. So, I'm off to dig through unpacked bins......

Way back on March 25th I showed you a picture of Meredith (the perfect granddaughter) working at my loom. This is a picture of her finished pillow, all handspun alpaca. I have to admit that I did help her warp the loom, or maybe she helped me, anyway, we got it done together. She did the yarn selections and the actual weaving. I had Suzanne, the owner of SipNKnit, the yarn shop uptown, sew it into this lovely pillow for us.
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Take a close look at that necklace too. We wet felted some wool balls and strung them up. I think she likes to come to grandma's house.
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I asked the girls if they would like to go into the dime store in town. Of course, being mall kids, they had no idea where we were going. Youngest, Elizabeth, told grandpa that we were going to get diamonds. Get it? Dime store - Dime monds?
The dime store had a great sellection of Webkinz pets. I finally came across something the girls didn't have. We bought a pink horse and a Clydsdale horse. What a hit! I had to set up a time schedule for them to use the computer. If you aren't familiar with these critters, let me tell you about this virtual world of pets. When you purchase one (about $10) you get a number so that you can log in to http://www.webkinz.com/ and register your pet. Then the fun begins - the pet needs food and attention so you have to earn points to purchase food, clothes, furniture for its room, etc. Points are earned on a large selection of age appropriate games or school type questions. You can take your pet bowling, exercising, partying, any number of activities. I found absolutely nothing objectionable at this site and suggest that all grannys become as popular as I am by being the first to hook your little one up. Elizabeth is 5 but reading a little so we had to help her some, but Meredith, at 8, managed great.