Maaaaa, Maaaaa

The most recent additions to the farm are small, brown and white, they eat everything in site, and they have an insistent call of maaaaaa, maaaaaaa. If you guessed Boer Goats, give yourself a prize!



The small one on the left is Cybelle, and the whether on the right is Dinner. He was named so that there would be absolutely no confusion about his ultimate purpose on the farm! Hopefully Cybelle will be around a little longer, producing little goats for us.

They are very friendly and Cybelle especially likes to have her head scratched. Dinner is a little shy, but he is getting more comfortable with us. They have quite a job ahead of them, clearing out the hillside for us. You can get an idea of how much forage there is in this picture. But they are making good progress with it. They have certain plants they like better, such as multiflora rose, and so those are getting eaten first.

In other news, I posted some quilts over on my Etsy shop -- click on over and check them out!

Forecast Stormy

They hit it on the nose -- stormy has been the weather story here all summer long. I think the sump pump has been running for the entire month of June, and on into July.



But sunny days and stormy afternoons/evenings make for lush pastures, and the critters are eating it up! Get it, eating up the pasture...I crack me up!



Ahem...moving right along...the point is that even though the weather is crap during the hours that I am actually home and could enjoy the weather, it has brought back the east pastures pretty quickly. And they were definitely beat down while we were desperately dodging raindrops getting the fence strung on the east pastures.



So, when we found this beautiful grey and white fiber boy for sale, what else could we name him except Stormy! This is not the best photo, but the boys were not very cooperative for the shoot.

He is settling in pretty well -- I think he would have done better if we had brought home two that day, so that he could have a buddy while trying to socialize into the herd. But I think that five is our limit for now. At least until we can get the micro pastures set up.

Where Have I Been

This has been a crazy couple of months around here.

1. The shearing is done, the fleeces picked and they are at the mill now. (that should count as three!)
4. We have added to our herd -- an additional alpaca (Stormy) and two boer goats.
5. The Angoras have been cut down.
6. We have had two sets of chicks hatch, and started two more in the incubators this week.
7. The Lops and Angoras have been bred.
(Wait, not to each other...thats Lops to Lops and Angoras to Angoras.)
8. The Etsy shop is updated -- woo hoo!
9. I am getting bids on my fabric on eBay -- triple woo hoo!
10. I got a My Space page!
11. I am getting wool carded and ready for my Etsy shop.
12. And I opened a new Etsy shop exclusively for my roving and batts. (did you look? nothing there yet -- see #11 above!)

Obviously, the biggest time sucker here has been the fleeces -- getting them picked and ready for the mill takes quite a while. And even with a drum carder, it takes a while to get a batt ready. But I am having fun with it, doing a lot of blends right now with the alpaca, angora and some mystery sheep wool (I think corriedale.) And I love the scarves I dyed that are in my Etsy shop now -- gorgeous!!

Pictures later this week -- promise!

Random Wednesday

1. Gave shots and vitamins to the alpacas over the weekend. They are loving the warmer weather and the grass growing in the pasture.

2. No progress on knitting works in progress -- instead cast on a new pair of socks.

3. Etsy update -- felted bags. Pictures later this week. In the meantime, click on that sidebar link to go to my shop.

4. Tribble is having his fur plucked this week. Plucking gives longer fibers than shearing and he seems to not mind at all. Other than looking bald in patches. Besides, I was more than a little nervous to shear him off.

5. We are fiercely on the trail of a girlfriend for Tribble -- I can hardly wait for fuzzy babies!

6. Fence progressing slowly, and will be interrupted by the start of spring turkey season.

I Heart Garter Stitch

I know, I know. I've heard it all already. Garter Stitch is boring. There is no challenge to Garter Stitch. Garter Stitch is for beginners. And even, Garter Stitch is for "knitting wussies."

I can't help myself. In a beautiful yarn, garter stitch creates a beautiful fabric. And even that annoying curl at the bottom can be taken care of with a row or two of ribbing. (At least I hope so, because I have a lot of curl at the bottom, and only one row of ribbing. I'm definitely relying on the blocking for this one!)

And for me, a person who is undertall for her weight class, simpler is always better. Details at the top of a garment draw the eye up and away from all those troublesome areas down around the middle. Case in point, this will be a sleeveless top, with criss cross straps in the front. From Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer of 2004.

Settin' Fence Post

What comes first, the fence or more alpacas? My theory is that if I buy the animals, the men around here are much more motivated to get that fence up. However, cooler heads are prevailing, and so, more fence!


Just posts so far...

The fabulous Mr. D helps out with his tractor to pound in the posts...

Yes sir, we just love puttin' in posts and stringin' fence! (I truly mean to write "stringin" and "puttin" although my mother will not appreciate it. Adding the "g" only marks me as having spent way too much time in grad school!)


Well, maybe not everybody...

Another Etsy Update

Now available on my Etsy shop...

Pictured is 1 oz. of true black alpaca roving. Right now I have about 8 oz. carded and ready to sell, with more still to be carded.

This fleece has been wonderful to work with. We got it last summer at Magical Farms in Litchfield, OH when we visited. It is very fine and was super easy to sort and clean. It has carded up to be as light and airy as any fleece I have worked with.

So I am looking for a new home to send this beautiful fiber to...if you would like to spin and love this fiber, click here to go to my Etsy shop.

Don't Worry Spin Happy

I think that it has been well established that I love fibers for art and for craft -- fabric, yarn, roving, the animals that bear the fiber, etc. etc. I love it (or them.)

(We interrupt this blog post to admire how cute and adorable Norman is.)

Moving on...so given my love for all things fiber-ish, it makes sense then, that I would like to make my own. Yarn, that is.

Drum roll please...this is the first bobbin of yarn I have spun on my Kromski Mazurka. Is it pretty? not really. Is it even? definitely not. Do I love it? YES!! I can spin a lot prettier yarn on my drop spindle, but let's face it. I am the slowest spinner in the world on the drop spindle. I can't believe how much faster the wheel goes! In part, this is why we have the thinness, and the thickness, and the overtwist, and the undertwist, etc.

But this was a joy to spin! I think I finally get the "zen of spinning" I have heard so much about. Of course, this is when I wasn't fighting my wheel. But with Maggie Casey's book nearby, adjustments were made and spinning continued. This is four oz. of sheeps wool (breed unknown, just lying about) and it took me less than an hour to spin it up.

No plying with this -- why make it worse? Best to just set the twist and move on. I'll keep it with the rest of the crazy yarn that is sure to be produced as I improve my spinning on the wheel. Eventually to be dyed up together and make something funky and cool!

To Dye For

This has made me happy beyond any reasonable expectation of happiness...

My first handpainted yarn! (please pardon the general out-of-focus not-true-to-color crappiness of the photo. I attribute it to the serious lack of sunshine available to take photos in natural light.)



I love this yarn! Two skeins of worsted weight in Navy Blue, Colonial Blue and Lavender, dyes from Pro Chem. I have dyed a lot, and I mean A LOT of fabric -- hundreds of yards! I have dyed fleece to card into rovings. I have been enchanted by all of it, but never never never have I been so in love with a handyed item as I am with this yarn.

I was surprised how easy it was to handpaint yarn. I think "handpaint" must have been a little intimidating to me, given that I have no drawing/painting skills other than to paint backgrounds into a canvas.

First, soak the yarn in a solution of citric acid and Synthropol. The Synthropol scours the yarn, and the citric acid is the chemical to activate the dye. Then, mix the dyes up, first with a little hot water to dissolve the powder and then the balance with regular tap water. Lay out the yarn, and paint it in any pattern you choose. I divided the yarn into six sections and used each color of dye twice. This gives me a longer section of color for more of a striping effect when I knit it up, as opposed to a more variegated effect. Wrap it up in plastic, steam in for 30 minutes, and hang it up to dry. And th-th-th that's all folks!

It is truly, to dye for!

Etsy Update

Added to the shop today...

Small Study #1

Small Study #2

Small Study #3

Hop on over and check it out!

Wanted: Live-In Girlfriend

Have I mentioned yet that I love raw fiber? Not just alpacas, though I really love having them around the farm...I love all the fiber bearing creatures. Alpacas, sheep, goats, etc. In fact, one of my dreams is to buy or rent a little more land and add some sheep to the mini-menagerie as well as a few more alpacas.


Lucky for me, there is another wooly animal that doesn't really need land...just TLC and attention. Angora rabbits!


Meet Tribble, the latest addition to the farm! (yes, I am a Star Trek geek!)

Tribble is an English Angora, and a lovely color for natural or dyed fiber. I am so excited to have him join our farm! Yes, it is a boy and he is only about 4 1/2 months old. He came to us from a home where the owner did not spend a lot of time with him. As a result, he had a lot of really big mats and I had to cut most of them out. His fiber should be ready to harvest in 2-3 months and I am hoping some of those areas grow out enough to be good spinning fibers.

I brush him out at least twice a week, and he really enjoys the attention. This photo doesn't show his face, but English Angoras have much flatter faces than other rabbit breeds. He eats the same alfalfa pellets as the other rabbits, but he needs extras too in the form of hay and treats like broccoli, banana, carrot etc. This is to prevent wool block, which can be deadly for angoras.

And you know what? Tribble needs a girlfriend soon!

Hats

So what with the blizzard and all, it seemed like a good time to knit up a hat for myself. Understand, I have knit a ton of scarves, afghans, baby sweaters, sweaters with hoods, lace, etc. -- I screw up hats every time. They're too short and I have to rip out the whole thing. They're too long and the brim goes all the way up to the pom pom. The pom pom gets ripped off the hat by a boy who thinks that pom poms are lame, so the whole thing unravels. Etc.

But I don't have a hat. All this yarn, and all this knitting, and I have never made myself a hat (see above.) I never even made myself a polar fleece hat -- no knitting involved, just sewing! But going out to the barn to feed the animals in a blizzard without a hat provides some incentive.


Yarn Harlot's 4 hour hat in Berroco Keltic, color 5853.

Blizzard 2008

Snow is pretty -- it really is! It makes everything look clean, and it even sparkles in the sun. (I really like things that sparkle!) I even like to take pictures of snow.

But really, did we need to have a blizzard? In March? With 20 inches of snow? Winds up to 40 mph? Thunder and lightning? Really?

I think not.

So we should be done with snow, right? Wrong. 20 inches of snow on the ground, and we are supposed to get more tonight, tomorrow morning and tomorrow night.

This is what I will be dreaming of...

Feeding Time on the Farm

One of the fun times on the farm is feeding time. When we go out to the barn, the alpacas are usually out in the field, unless the weather is wet. Norman often hears me out in the barn, so he is the first one in for breakfast. But once that grain hits the trough, they all come running in! After that, this is my view of the alpacas...




Yes, they just belly up to the trough, and I get a view of their "best" side. This always just cracks me up! Of course, this leads to one of the least fun jobs on the farm...poop scoopin!

On The Farm

It has certainly been a Winter Wonderland here on the farm lately. I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to thaw! The alpacas have been reluctant to spend much time in the field, since it has been so hard to get to any grass. It's much more comfortable to lay around in the barn and wait for me to give them some hay! I can't say that I blame them -- it's been pretty cold out there. But they do have a very nice and warm coat to wear!

If they can dig through the snow to get to the grass, they will. But it is hard for them to get enough to eat when there is so much snow on the ground.


The snow is pretty -- in the trees and on the grass. I like to take pictures in the snow and walk around. When I look back at my photo albums, I have a lot of snowy pictures.



The alpacas don't really mind it either, as long as it's not windy. If you think about it, their native home in the Andean Mountains of South America gets some pretty good snow in the winter time. So they are probably better equipped for the cold weather than we are.



But it is finally starting to thaw, and I'm ready!