I think officially spring is getting skipped this year! We are over the hump in April and still having freezing water to break. Even worse, we have cold and naked sheep! This Saturday it will be the alpacas turn!! I will share some pictures of our newest adorable lambs though and try to suck it up, make the most of what we are given! LOL

We also have 2 boys, one from Flora and one from Fauna! We still have Abbey to go and that will wind up the lambing this year.

We are currently waiting on Misty to have her cria in the alpaca pens. Misty is bred to our handsome rose grey boy Nebraska so I am pretty excited to see what she has! Her grey boy last year, Barron, was so adorable!!

Spinning Suri!

I am trying my hand at spinning 100% Suri Alpaca and am VERY pleased! Inspired by an eyelash yarn made from Suri that I bought, I tried to create my own version of it with a HEAVENLY fleece that I got from Bill & Emi Koopman of Koopman Family Farm Alpacas. This suri's name is Windy and she has a beautiful mahogany colored fleece with a 19.4 micron so it is so nice to handle!!! I have only done about 150 yards of it so far but plan on making more! Here is a peak of the "before" and "after" pictures of Windy's fleece!

Homespun

I have been doing a bit of spinning and I wanted to share some of my creations with you! As you can see, I like the novelty type yarns with a lot of visual interest! :-) The one if the middle I am extra fond of. I used a fawn roving and I placed some of my cria clippings from Alagaesia's Heartbreaker (AKA "Lovie") onto it when I was spinning it. This is great as his fleece was SOOOOO nice but being his newborn clipping, it is tecnically to short to have it processed at the mill into yarn. I have done some felting with it but was really happy to get it into some yarn too!

Completed!

Yeah! It is done! Now to decide what to knit next!!!!

I'm going Continental!...(style that is!)

Yesterday at the Farmers Market I had the extreme pleasure of being treated by one of the markets sweetest visitors! Her name is Mary Ellen and she shared with me a technique that has fascinated me but I was never lucky enough to come across knitters that knew it! As I am sure you have guessed by now, she taught me continental style knitting! Do I sound giddy? You bet I am! I always struggled with the throwing the yarn over while juggling 2 needles! I had learned crochet as a little girl so all that extra stuff going on just always slowed me down and made me frustrated (it didn't feel natural!)! I have to say, I REALLY like it continental though! Purling is still a bit of a challenge for me but I am working on it! My first project with my new "skill" (using that term loosely right now!!) is shown above. It will be a scarf with some garter and rib stitching to get my knit and purls down pat! I will show the finished scarf hopefully soon!

Amazing Wedding Gown!

Ever since I saw this gown I haven't been able to get it's unique beauty out of my mind! What adorable sheep that made it too...kind of like short Suri's! :-D Read all about it here!

Fiber Arts Fridays on AlpacaFarmGirl.com!

Share your Fiber Arts Passions on Fiber Arts Fridays at the Alpaca Farm Girl's website! While sharing your passions you can visit other fiber minded people and thier posts! See ya there!

Summer Vacation?

This summer has been a lot of fun for me as my daughter Jessica has been able to come with me to the market every day. She really enjoys going and talking with the people at the market, it is like extended family. :-) Jess has also been very busy making her own product line "Jess 4 Me". She has been knitting cell phone pouches and knitting and felting purses. Here are some of her creations. I think she is pretty ambitious for a twelve year old! Hopefully she will get a little vacationing in too!

2009 Spring Crias!

"Bella" is from Lady Lili and Black Ryder! She is a saucy little number! LOL!



Tally is from Crimp Suzette (owned by Rose Anne Johnson) and Black Ryder. She is extremely fine and I think she even has SRS (soft rolling skin)! Way to go Suzy and Ryder!

Lovie was the first of the spring cria and he is all macho boy! A delicious dark chocolate brown and awesome crimp and brightness so intense you would think he is wet! He is from Danica and Chino.

We are still waiting on Promise to deliver her cria with Chino and will keep you posted!

Surfer Chic Hat

I think this surfer chic pattern (found in Chicks with Sticks crochet pattern book) makes perfect summery hats and I couldn't resist making one in this hand dyed blue alpaca yarn. All the colors of a vacation get away at the beach (at least in my dreams!) come to mind with the blues that were used in coloring it. I thought it was an extra bonus with how it striped itself down in the spirals from the top!

Anticipation...

...anticipation is making me wait! Sorry, that song is on my mind lately as we wait for 2 new boys to arrive from Fairhope Alpacas! We are excited to meet Fairhope's Royal Cantigny and Fairhope's Pink Cyclone! As we are having our spring cria's born, we are looking forward to our next pairings and meeting the 2 new guys on the block will help make some of those decisions!

Here is a sneak preview...

Pictured to the left is Royal Cantigny who is a handsome fawn boy who hails from very royal bloodlines such as CCNF Royal Ring of Fire, Snowmass Royal Rose, and Royal Fawn. We expect a lot of royal cria from this boy in the future and with the powerful, proven genetics he has behind him, I am sure he will not let us down!

Pictured on the right is Fairhope's Pink Cyclone. He is a 3rd generation pink alpaca and his pedigree is like the who's who of the grey alpaca world! Cyclone's parents and grandparents are all grey so we are pretty confident he will pass grey easily! His dad is multi-champion Fleecy Dale Luminescence, who is the son of the famous Shaquille. Other notable alpacas on his pedigree include (you better be sitting down!) Silvio, Silvino, Quicksilver, General Schwarzkopf, Diamonds Are Forever, The Silversmith, Leon, the list goes on but you get the idea!

The boys will be coming after visiting at the AOBA Nationals this coming weekend. I am sure the girls here are looking forward to meeting the boys!

Dogwood Blossom Wrap

I just finished this wrap and I love the softness of the pattern and the ease of adjusting the size! It is made from a blend of alpaca/merino/bamboo. It was a lot of fun to make, I am trying to figure out what color to make another one with!

I took the pledge!

Are you someone that roots for the underdog? Do you appreciate handmade treasures? Take the pledge like I did to buy handmade! I want to help save small business and reward the "little guy" for all their hardwork. The big box stores that buy their products from who-knows-where have made enough money from me! Join me and TONS of others that are banning together...support and save our homegrown artisans!

BBRRRRR!!!!!

Boy! Isn't it cold outside! Thankfully we have alpaca stuff to keep us warm! My favorite thing right now are these awesome Frontier Blankets that I have from Frontier Fiber Mill. They are beautiful, limited edition blankets that were made in a small, family owned textile mill. They opened just to make these blankets and there are only 200 of them in the US! They are a 50/50 wool and alpaca blend. The alpaca makes them warmer and lighter than an all wool blanket. Please contact me if you would like more info on them. Pictures coming soon!

Stay warm! It looks like we are getting more single digit weather this weekend too!

Surfer Chick Hat!

I can't stop making hats! I am making some hats that are a bit more summery and I love this pattern from the Chicks With Sticks Guide to Crochet book. This is a GREAT book! Here is one of them I have made, a bright sour apple green and punchy pink yarn.

The Crias are HERE!

The crias are coming one by one and we couldn't be more pleased with what we are being blessed with! So far 2 girls! Beautiful, strong girls that are more than I could of hoped for! First came "Nade" or Alagaesia's Promenade who was born right as my son was getting ready to leave for his senior prom! She is such a big and strong girl! Then came "Winnie" or Alagaesia's Winona Ryder, who is named after her daddy Black Ryder! Winnie is Ryder's first cria to hit the ground and if she is any indication to the exciting cria he has in store for us we are overwhelmed with joy! She was born on the smaller side but is gaining quickly. Her beautiful silver grey coloring is bright and coming in crimpy already! Her expression is priceless though, what a beautiful face! Here are their pictures so you can see why we are so thrilled!!! We still have 1 more cria coming...Star is keeping us on the edge of our seats! Come back to check on her progress!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Happy Easter!!! I hope everyone is having a great time with their families (furry families and not!) and getting a touch of spring weather where they live! We are finally getting some sun and no rain or snow. We are very thankful for that!
Take care!

Midnight Skyz Shawl with Baby Alpaca

Can't stop Looming!!! I made another garter stitch shawl and this time I made with my Misti Chunky Black Baby Alpaca yarn. It took almost exactly 2 hanks and if I had done a crochet trim around this one it would of probably used up the full 2 hanks. The change I made with this shawl from the cream one below was I made the row that you are taking away from peg 1 the knit and coming back is the purl. I e-wrap much faster going counter clockwise so it was just a little change I thought i would try. I did complete it a little faster and it saved my wrist from having to e-wrap the other way! I also just left the point in the back natural and didn't add a tassel like I did with the cream one.

More Loomyness!

The next one that I have been working on and completed lickety-split is a creamy white colored one made from my Psyche and Andre blend sportweight yarn doubled up. I LOVED working with this one so much I got it done quick and love it even more completed. I did a garter stitch on the yellow KK. I hope to have the directions added to my blog soon. I have them done but I have to name them. HELP! Any name suggestions please let me know! :-D

1 side short of being a square!

Hi! Well, the grey days here in IN have kept me busy looming lately! Trying to forget about the cold, grey, winter that has yet to pass out of here! I sure would like to know where that global warming is! Anywho...here are a couple of the shawls I have completed. The first one is the rose grey knit shawl that I started in my last post. It is very pretty in color. It is a shame my model was at school today! This crate doesn't do it justice!