Happy Easter

♥ We hope the Easter 'Paca is good to you today ♥
Photo by Beth

Sonata's Easter Bonnet

♪♫♪ Beth wrote a sonnet about Sonata's Easter Bonnet ♫♪♫♪
☼
Buddy Beth has been in the barn again with her camera.

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.

Alpacas as Natural Materials

These are our three young fiber boys (l. to r.) Gunny, N. S. Orion (Slammie), and N. S. Pollux (Luxy). I just stuck in a picture because what I wanted to tell you about doesn't have a pict. unless you go look. And you do ♥ the alpacas, don't you?

Our NorthStarAlpaca store is mentioned and linked in an article by Autumn Wiggins in Crafting a Green World. This online magazine features projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials. Thank you so much, Autumn.

I do always wonder how someone finds my shop. Etsy does not have a tracking in place for us. Would be such an interesting feature. I can track who comes here and reads my blog through Google Analytics.

Mood Enhancer

When I woke this morning it was an "OMG, I don't want to get out of bed, I have to do barn chores alone, and I have a 2 hour dentist appointment at 10, poor me" type of morning. Then I looked out the kitchen window........

Purchase - Handmade Sock Pins

Isn't this just too cute! It's tiny! Over twice the size smaller than this picture. My pinky finger won't fit down into it. It has one of those little tie tack pushy holders on the back. I purchased 3 of them to give to a few of my sock knitting friends. (I don't deserve to wear one with my one sock syndrome.) Take a look at my cyber friend's Etsy shop to see or order. Collette at Epicurus lives with her family and chickens and rabbits and alpaca on the Mojave Desert and is a fellow fiber addict.