Alpaca Batts Make For Dirty Hands

A good thing I have a web cam. Trying to show you how dirty my hands are using the regular digital didn't work very well. I needed the hands to snap the shot. With the web cam, one I had my cursor over the right spot, my elbow did the job! hahahaha

Can you believe this?? My hands were absolutely black from the Alpaca fleece. I've spent the entire day using Miss Wendy's drum carder making batts from my Alpaca. Since the white fleece was a disaster after I washed it, the ladies of my weaving & spinning guild advised me to card and spin the fleeces unwashed, and then wash them after they were spun. So that's what I am doing, but I never gave a thought to how dirty it would make my hands! I was stunned when I looked at them and saw how black they were. Maybe I should start wearing gloves???

A progress report..................after spending several hours Sunday evening, and most of today carding batts, I would guess that I have at least a third of the fleece left to do tomorrow. And this is just the first of three Alpaca fleeces. I think what surprises me most is the amount of vegetable matter. I had no idea there could be so much. I would guess that I am losing a good 10% or more to VM, and it is very frustrating. Oh well, I wanted to learn what it was like to start at the beginning, and that is exactly what I'm doing. :)

Alpaca Fleece Update & More

Just when I thought I was going to have to cave and send my fleeces out for processing, my dear friend, Miss Wendy, came up for the weekend and brought up her lovely drum carder for me to use for a little while. She showed me how to use the drum carder, and I practiced with some of her Mohair (she has 2 Angora goats plus Angora rabbits). After working with the very curly Mohair, my Alpaca is a breeze. So I have been busy now (except for some time out to mow the lawn) carding batts of Alpaca fleece. Here is a picture of one of my batts opened.
I am starting to get quite a nice pile of batts. This fleece weighs 1 lb, so I have quite a few more to go. I do hope that if I am diligent and stick with it, I will have all of the Alpaca finished by the end of the week as Miss Wendy still has a lot of fleece at home that needs carding as well. And since she is coming back for the 4th of July weekend, I am hoping to be finished by then. I appreciate her generosity very much. I'm really enjoying the process of carding the fleece. With each one I learn something, and they are getting nicer and nicer the more I do them.
And now a little update on Miss Wendy's socks. That is Miss Wendy there in the insert. She is also the lovely lady that I knitted the very green Aran sweater for a few months back. Well, my friend Wendy has been knitting for a couple of years, knitting many scarves and hats, and the occasional sweater for her son, and she wanted to learn how to knit a pair of socks. So 22 months back, when we went to the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival in Hartford, PA., she bought skeins of 100% Merino wool in DK weight for myself (a gift to the teacher) and for her own socks. Then the first opportunity we had I started to show her how to knit a pair of socks on 1 long circular needle (Magic Loop), using a very basic k2, p2 ribbed design. For a total beginner I thought she did very well. There have been bumps in the road, some frogging and tinking, and having the opportunity to get together to work on them has not always been easy. She is a very busy lady and the Mother of a very precocious 5 year old son (Jackson), and she lives in Philly and only gets to the mountains occasionally, and then most often in the Summer months, although she loves the snow so they do make it up for a few Winter visits too.

Still, it has taken a long time, but she has stuck with them and did not throw in the towel. Today she finally finished her PAIR of socks. So it took about 22 months, I'm sure many out there have taken longer to finish some of their socks as well. And most of you are much more experienced too. So I am very proud of my friend, and I think her socks are really lovely. Most importantly, they are a perfect fit! Congratulations Miss Wendy! ((((HUGS)))) Great work!

All Kinds of Goodies

The Woodland Weaver's and Spinner's Guild, of which I recently became a member, was holding a sale of some items today at our general meeting place. One of the elder members had passed away and left some of her weaving supplies to the guild, and other members contributed some items as well, for the sale. I made sure to get there good and early so that I would have a good chance to pick up some prime lovelies. Oddly enough, one of the items I went looking for specifically nearly slipped by because it didn't arrive at the sale until right before I was readying to leave. The top whorl hand spindle. I had gone in hopes of finding one. I have never used one and wanted to give it a "whorl" (yes, pun intended). Lucky for me a few kits arrived late, but not too late. So I snatched up this little kit for $12. A bargain in my book. It comes with a top whorl spindle, 2 oz. of wool roving, and instructions all in this cute little basket.
One source may have been missed, but the other members of the guild showed me that by buying combinations of wool and wool blend cones, you can ply them together on your spinning wheel to get a very nice yarn for knitting. The two cones on either side of the white mohair are multi-colored and gorgeous up close. Plied with any blend of the other colors and you have some really interesting blends. I see some lace shawls in my future. How about you? And who knows what else.
These gorgeous lovelies are cones of pure silk..............definitely a lace shawl or two, or three?? And all of these cones combined only cost me $30.
And in my humble opinion, this is the piece de resistance - 2 lbs of lovely, soft camel. All for $60. I just know that must be a bargain.

So for little more than a $100 investment, I'm going to realize weeks, months, possibly years of fun and relaxation spinning, plying, and knitting with some amazing yarns and colors. What more could a beginning spinner ask for???

An update on the fleece washing:
I successfully washed and dried both of my wool fleeces and I am in the process of combing them into roving or slivers, whichever you wish, for spinning. I have even spun some of the black wool and plied it with some natural off white wool. I liked it enough that I am now spinning more to ply the same way so that I have enough to make a hat, scarf and mittens set with. The wool is spinning somewhere between DK and worsted weight. I'm still not 100% consistent, but I'm trying hard.

I washed one of the Alpaca fleeces. The white one, because I am so excited about learning to dye wools and yarns, which had a lot to do with my wanting white fleeces to begin with. After washing the white Alpaca I was not really sure how I like it. It goes every which way, and I think it's going to be quite a job to get it carded properly and into some decent batts for spinning. But I plan to give it my all.

I mentioned my dilemma to the other guild members today. Some of them told me they don't bother with it, they send it out to have it cleaned and processed into batts for them. Then they just have the pleasure of spinning it. Others told me they found it easier to spin the Alpaca first, and then wash it and/or dye it. They feel you have better control over the dying process if you dye the spun yarn. Well, my whole intention in joining the guild was to learn, and since all of them have far more experience than I do, I will most likely take their sage advice.

I guess that is all for today. I hope all of you are enjoying some Summer like weather. We certainly are not. It is one day before the official beginning of Summer, and it is STILL RAINING our temps today are a blistering 65º. Nothing to brag about, if you ask me. I may not get any ripe tomatoes this year, if this nonsense keeps up. And they call this "global warming???"

Make it a great day......... :)

Feeling Better

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to say that the tide has turned and I am defnitely on the mend. Yesterday was a good day, and today was even better. Finally I can get back to my spinning and knitting again. It was just too difficult having to concentrate as much as I needed to when I was feeling so miserable.

I am happy to be recovering and hope to be fully well very soon. Thank you everyone for your good wishes and concern.

:)

Back Again With Some New Homespun

First I want to let you all know, I have not been staying away because I had nothing to say. That day will never come..........LOL But I have been physically ill. Something, and I still don't have a clue and neither does my Doctor, but some kind of bacteria or whatever attacked my entire digestive system. Mouth, bladder and bowel. The past 10 days have been a living nightmare trying to fight this thing and keep my sanity because the pain was horrible. But today I have had the first signs of relief, and so there is a bit of hope that the battle has been well fought and I am now on the road to recovery. I sure hope so, because I don't know how much more of it I could have handled.

I did learn something about myself though. When I am emotionally upset, worried, I turn to my knitting and spinning. It calms me and relaxes my body and mind. When I am physically ill, I turn to books and read constantly. I think it's because I am trying to escape the situation I am in, the illness that has overtaken me. I don't even think of knitting or spinning. I just want a good book and to be left alone to immerse myself into the story being read and lose myself away from my world of pain and sickness. So I have been reading the past 10 days, with very little knitting being done, but one day I did get to sit on the porch for a couple hours and do a little spinning.

Anyway, right before I got really ill, I plied some of the black wool from the fleece I recently purchased from Bonnie at Gentle Reins Ranch. That ewe must have loved laying in hay or something, because there was and is a lot of vegetable matter in her fleece. I have a pair of wool combs with double rows of tines, and I needed them to clean and comb this wool for spinning with. The staple is too short for carding, and I did card a little bit, but I much prefer it combed.

I had some white roving here that I had already spun, so I plied them together, and got this ball of black and white. The ball is 81 yards, and I think I'm going to make some more. I still have more of the white already on a bobbin, so it's just spinning enough of the black fleece to ply it with.

I have no idea what the breeds were in this ewe except that she is supposed to have some type of Hair sheep as part of her blood line. I wasn't expecting a lot out of this fleece. It's not one of the top kinds of wool fleeces. But it is soft and very very springy. So whatever I make with it, it should have plenty of memory. This stuff is like working with elastic, the way it bounces back. I loved it!!

This has nothing to do with knitting, but fresh, warm from the sun tomatoes are my most favorite food of all. Today I found this one lone flower on one of my tomato plants. I know it's going to take a long time before it becomes a tomato, but this too brings hope. I can barely contain my delight!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend........... :)

A Ducky Day And Some Wool Too

On Thursday I had to be down in Honesdale for PT because of my lower back problems. Afterward I ran up to Walmart to pick up a couple of items I wanted for the garden. When I went back to my car to leave, this was the scene in the next isle over. A pair of Mallard ducks were taking a rest right in driving lane of the parking lot. The children were tickled pink, and there was an elderly man that was standing watch to see they were not injured. All the drivers I saw were very patient and waited for them to move. And all of the children were snapping pictures when they could. Oddly enough I had actually remembered to take my camera with me that day too, so I caught this little scene before I left. They sure seemed right to home setting there. And with all the rain we've been having, maybe they landed here to find a dry spot as our Walmart is on top of a small mountain, so it's high and dry here. LOL
For DAYS I am washing fleece. Friday morning I finally finished the last of the black fleece (Mystic) and began washing the white fleece (Trinca). These are the sheep fleeces. I was looking forward to getting right down to business this morning, but my fleece is not quite dry, so I have to wait a bit longer. I have it spread out on the bed in the back room, and I have a fan positioned to gently move the air over it, to help it dry a bit quicker. I should be able to start washing more this afternoon.
Since I couldn't wash any more fleece for the time being, I thought I would start preparing some of the clean black fleece for spinning. I tried carding it, and I didn't like the results at all. For one thing, this fleece has a LOT of vegetable matter in it. So I got out my mini combs and started combing it instead. This is working much nicer and doing great at cleaning out most of the vegetation, although occasionally some tiny bits seem to stick. I keep a pair of tweezers next to the spinning wheel to pick those occasional bits out with.
Not knowing exactly what the breed of this sheep is, just that it is crossed with a type of Hair sheep. I had to look them up as I had never heard of Hair sheep. It seems 90% of them come from Africa, and they don't grow the long woolly coat of the sheep we gather most of our wool from. They are short coated. Obviously Mystic also has a long wool breed as her other half because the wool is not too short for spinning at all. I will say this. It is very soft in the hand when it is combed. As you can see, it is spinning up fairly thin. I am hoping for something close to DK weight once plied.
Not much of it on the bobbin, but I've just begun. So far I am very happy with the result. We'll have to wait to see if it continues to spin so nicely. Right now it is just exciting to be spinning something I started out with that was such a mess, it was un-spinable at that point! hahaha This is the first wool I am spinning that did not come from commercially prepared roving too.

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice warm and sunny weekend. The sun has finally come out here too. Tomorrow I will have to mow the lawn. It's so wet it will take at least all of today to dry out. :)

Vote for my pet in the Furry Faceoff Challenge!

lizette

It's cats vs. dogs... the ultimate showdown! I've entered my pet in the challenge and need your help to win!

The furry friend with the most votes will be the lucky winner of the AmericanGreetings.com Furry Faceoff Challenge.

Wool, Babies, And Hummingbirds

The nice friendly folks at Gentle Reins Ranch saved the wool from their 2 sheep for me. Today I went over and picked it up. The white ewe is a Romanoff/Suffolk cross. And the black ewe is another cross, one of the breeds being a Hair sheep. I know nothing of Hair sheep, and the Romanoff/Suffolk is not going to give me prime spinning wool, but it will give me experience, information and a chance to experiment and learn so much more about wool, working with it, and spinning it. And for that I am delighted to have these two wonderful fleeces. I think for me they were made to order. I am not ready for Merino and Corriedale yet, or any of the other supposedly "wonderful" fleeces. And if that was all I had to work with, I would suffer so much anxiety over messing up and making mistakes. Now I don't need to fuss or worry, and if I make a mistake, oh well, lesson learned. In the end I will be a much better spinner for having this "not so grand" fleece to work with. And who knows? I just might surprise even myself!
Since I last visited to watch the Alpaca shearing, Mommy Miniature Donkey Venus has delivered a little son. His name is Jasper.

Cute little guy, isn't he? Like most babies, he sleeps or rests a lot!

Finally he gets up, and guess what? He really can walk! LOL
Mommy is very protective. She presents you with her butt most of the time.

Mommy hummingbird? Not sure, but this is a female Ruby Throat Hummingbird. This feeder is attached to the window directly to my left. I sit here at my computer, and these hummingbirds are my entertainment. My cat Rosie will lay in the window and watch too. I swear the birds know she is a cat, and they just love teasing her.

I had another little surprise today. While checking my e-mail I found a letter from the people at Feedmil.com. It says it is a "long tail" feed search engine. They wrote to me wanting a little more information about my blog. Hey, the more the merrier, right? So I sent a little message back, and you can find my blog on their site by clicking HERE. I guess word is getting around, and these places make it easier for others to find me. I am hardly the one to object. :P

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend everyone. :)

Big Surprise!!!

This morning, before the sun was too high in the sky, and it was too hot to be working out under it, I went out to cut back the weeds around the base of a few apple trees and a couple of very young plants. One was a small Lilac bush, and the other this tiny little pine tree. Notice anything????
Now, a little closer, can you see that tiny little nest?? As I was pulling the weeds away this little nest fell on the ground, and out flew two little blue, lightly speckled eggs.
I carefully picked up the tiny little eggs, laid them back into the nest, and eased the nest back up into the branches. Then I ran like hell back to the house to get my camera. In my entire 67 years of living, I had NEVER seen, up close and personal, a Hummingbird's nest. But today I did! When I arrived back with the camera in hand, the Mother Hummingbird (see post script) flew up out of the nest. I hope she was not so upset over the cover those nasty looking weeds may have provided her, that she totally abandons her nest. I would feel just horrible if it ends that way, but I'm sure that could be a real possibility. I'm crossing my fingers that she continues to set on her nest. But for me, this was an experience of a life-time.

Post script - I have to apologize to everyone because I made a totally false assumption here. Seeing the tiny nest and tiny little eggs, I assumed it had to be a Hummingbird's nest. But I have been reading up on hummingbirds, and their eggs are almost always white. Not blue. I continued to do some searching, and now it seems that these are Red-Winged Blackbird eggs. The description of their nest and their eggs fit much too well to be otherwise.

And the sad part is that I must have frightened Mother bird away, because I have seen no bird at all near the nest for 2 days now. And although I thought it had to be a Hummingbird flying out of the nest that first day, it happened so fast, catching me totally off guard, that I did not get a good look at the bird at all. It was just a flash of movement, and the bird was gone.

So I have yet to actually see a Ruby Throat Hummingbird nest. And I will most likely go to my grave never having seen one, just as most people do...........LOL

There Is SOME Knitting Being Done

I admit that lately I have been outside doing so much yard and garden work, that very little is being done inside the house or with knitting and spinning. But I have been slowly picking away at a few things. One of them being this pair of cabled socks that I am working up on my own. Not like I've never knit cables before, so I didn't really need a pattern. But rather than have the cables all go under or over, I am doing both. I knit 4 rows then cable in front, knit 4 rows, then cable in back, alternating with ribbing. Cable 4, purl 2, knit 4, purl 2, and repeat around. I'm using Imagination from KnitPicks, the colorway is "Munchkin." A 50% superwash Merino wool, 25% superfine Alpaca, 25% nylon. This is really soft, and very nice to work with. I can't wait till they are done because my feet are begging to wear them. If you remember, I also purchased "Frog Prince," a green yarn, at the same time. I want to knit a pair of socks for my BFF Kate next, and then I'll make my green "Frog Prince" socks for me. I sure plan ahead, don't I? When I get this pair finished, I'll block them and that will make it much easier to see the stitch pattern. It's a bit blurred right now.
This is the other major project I am working on. It is the Agatha shawl by Rebecca Logan. The yarn is "Black Hills Gold" from Seacoast Handpainted. It is 50% Merino/50% Tencel blend, and amazingly beautiful. It has a light sheen to it. I bought it to knit socks with, but one look said "you can't possibly hide me on your feet, inside shoes." So I had to find something that would do it justice. This yarn is amazing. Wonderful to work with, beautiful and pleasing to the eye, and so very soft. I often catch myself not knitting, but just squeezing it. It's that soft. It comes in 400 yard balls, and I purchased 2 balls, so I am hoping that will be enough for the shawl. Below is a close up of the stitch pattern. Don't you love the subtle hints of green and peach and gold? Amazing yarn.
The next item is a finished object! How about that? This was a one-day project. It was so bitterly cold and windy yesterday, never reaching more than 50º (and today is more of the same, and colder yet) so I chose to not do any yard and garden work, but to take the day for myself and just have fun. On Saturday's free pattern of the day, on Annie's Attic website they had this little crocheted toy, Barkus Dog. I had all the yarn laying around and plenty of stuffing, and I just thought it was rather cute. So this is how I spent yesterday. Crocheting the pieces and then assembling the little dog last evening. I am horrible at attaching limbs and sewing on faces. I never get anything exactly where it should be. His poor tail is really lopsided and nowhere near centered on his bottom, but the recipient won't mind, I'm sure. I'm going to toss him in the bag with the Teddy Bear I made for my BFF's youngest grandson, Liam James Schillinger. His birthday is May 24th, and I'm sure Kate will be heading down to visit him very soon. She already has the teddy in her car, so I have to run down and add this to the bag too.
Do you think he is colorful enough for a 1 yr. old? I look at him and see lots of handles for such a small child to grab on to. Either leg, or tail would be real easy to grab onto. And the arms or ears would work in a pinch too............I hope he is dragged all about.
Pyewacket has made herself right to home, taking over Dudley's big soft cushion. She is spending most of the day and evening inside with us now. I do put her in the basement at night. Her litter box is down there, and there is food and water. I am nervous about her being in the house when I cannot keep a close eye on her. After all, she was banished all those years ago because she had started spraying inside the house. I do not want a repeat of that. So far Rosie does not bother with her. She got a little curious the other night and tip-toed over to sniff Pyewacket, and Pye snarled back at her in warning. So you see, she has already established that she is top cat!! The poor thing is so old, she deserves to have some luxury for a while if that's what she wishes.

Since today is a repeat of yesterday I am taking advantage of it. It's just too cold to work outside, so I started by moving that lousy air bed (Sleep Number Bed) into the guest room, and putting my much loved box spring and mattress back on my bed. Lew LOVED the air bed. I couldn't stand it, but I didn't think I would have the strength to move the old boxspring. That bed is heavy. But I did it. I will sleep well and happy tonight.

I also steamed the kitchen floor, and I'm getting ready to do the wood floor in the bedroom and the bathrooms. Then I'm hauling out the vacuum and getting that done. Today is "indoor chores" for a change. Believe me, the indoor work is long overdue............haha

Have a wonderful day! Warmer weather is promised for the rest of the week. I sure hope they are right this time. I am more than ready for it.......... :)