Sunday, May 24, 2009


Tomorrow is Memorial Day. I salute all our veterans including my brother Dave, for their service to our country. May God bless each and every one of them. Thank you. Yesterday we got the four alpacas sheared. Finally! I'm sure they were all so happy to rid themselves of those hot sweaters they have been enduring. The temps have only been in the 70's but even so, they were too warm. I got over 12 pounds of blanket fiber off them plus the 2nd and 3rds. We keep it all separated; I will send the blanket fiber to Going To The Sun Fiber Mill in Kalispell MT and do something with the 2nd and 3rds myself. GTTS does such a fantastic job. So far I've gotten rovings and lace-weight yarns done. Thank you Diana! I will spin the 2nds and maybe try a little felting work with the 3rds. We got the goat side of the barn finished this weekend. Now the alpacas and the goats each have their own areas to eat and sleep in if they wish. Most of the time they prefer to be together, but when they eat its so much better to separate them. Dolly seems happy no matter which side she is on. She's so sweet and calm. Nothing disturbs her except loud noises or strangers. Such a love. Here's a picture of coming home after taking them to be sheared. The gray alpaca is really my white one after rolling in the dirt because it feels so good!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009


Spring, finally. The last week or so has been much warmer. We're shearing the alpacas this Saturday. I'm sure they will be so happy to get rid of all that hot fiber. And I'm getting two new babies the following Saturday. They are young and named Apollo and Harley. So cute. We will shear them when I pick them up. Finally got another side put on the barn. Now the alpacas and goats can be separated for eating and it gives them so much more room without them having to go inside the barn. I plan to use the barn this year to store hay. That way I won't be carrying it over to the pasture daily. I can carry almost enough for one day, but with two more boys, that would mean two trips. Since I have a booth this year at our local fair (very small), I really need to get busy preparing my fiber and other related things. Hopefully more folks will get interested in spinning and weaving. Right now I'm still working on spinning the black alpaca fiber and also some beautiful dyed silk hankies. Both of these will be yarn for sale in the booth.