Yard sale days are finally here.  One of our favorite things in the summer.  We are cleaning out our own closets and storage areas in the hopes of getting rid of a lot of unneeded stuff.  We've got several big tent-like tarps to set up in the yard but probably most of the stuff will go into the garage, just in case it rains.  Memorial weekend is coming up so that seems like a good time to start.

Our Blanchard Spinners went to Paradise Fibers yesterday.  Not all of us could go, but those of us that did had a great time and found some yummy fibers to put on our wish list.  I bought some green flash fibers that I want to try blending with my alpaca to give it some bling as well as being soft.

The yard is coming together again.  Everything is so green and fresh.  Lots and lots of weeds.  That's the next project for me I guess.  I love gardening, but on this farm there's just so much of it.  Anyone want to have a garden?  C'mon over!

My beautiful, sweet Dolly is still gone ... Since Feb 4, 2011.  In the last couple days I've received several calls about big white dogs who apparently were hit on the road and died.  Funny, these dogs were all quite a few miles from us and all in different areas.

I refuse to give up looking for her.  I just have the feeling she is close by, possibly being cared for by well-meaning folks.  If she is, knowing Dolly she will find a way to ecape again.  Praying God will lead her home.

In the meantime, I have my two beautiful other companions, Bella and Jessie.  We love these huge, gentle beasts.  They love playing together and with my niece.  Its so comical to watch the two of them rolling around all over each other.  Maybe I can get a video going on soon.

Our Blanchard Spinners group is heading off to Paradise Fibers in Spokane Sat morning.  Most everyone hasn't been to the new store, so we will all go together in a couple vehicles and I will show them where it is.  I Love the new store.  So many fun things to look at!  Better leave my checkbook at home, I'm always so tempted.

Shearing Day!  Alpacas usually are sheared once a year, our goats twice a year.  Its always a hard day, pretty dirty too!  I just had knee surgery on Wed, so had a very good friend come over to help my daughter and my niece.  Also my niece had a friend from school there and the two little girls did a super job.  Our wonderful shearer Clint did a great job and was able to get everyone done is a fairly short time.

I got to sit in my chair and be the picture taker for the day.  So much easier than bending over to gather the fiber off the tarp. 

I will be selling the 2nds right out of the bag, if anyone is interested.  Probably around $2 oz, unwashed but since it doesn't have lanolin like a sheep fleece, it may be dusty or have a little VM still in it.  Let me know if any of you would like some, its extremely soft.  There is a lot of white, a good amount of brown, and one bag of black.  Oso is a true black and has no white at all in him. 

All in all a very good day.  The weather was good, a little windy at times, but warm (finally) and it didn't rain.  Woohoo.  We're done.

Paradise Fibers Fiber Club Subscription

Paradise Fibers Fiber Club Subscription
What a great idea!  For $35 or less per month you can try out three new fibers from Paradise Fibers in Spokane WA.  Made a quick phone call to them this morning and (of course) it depends on the cost of the fiber as to how much you get.  But, the total amount should usually be between 12-16 oz for the three.  Increase your stash or try out something new! 

I bought some Punta fiber a while back ... WOW.  My new favorite.  Never would have considered it if a friend hadn't recommended it to me or I had been sent a sample to try.  Thanks Paradise!

Here it is mid-April and its snowing this morning.  Light and fluffy so hopefully it will disappear soon.  It was in the mid-20's this morning when I got up.  No fair!

We got five new babies shortly after we lost the first two little ones.  Three black girls and a white boy and a beige girl.  All doing well, thankfully.  Their eyes have opened and I think they are beginning to hear a little.  They sure can smell when one of us is around though.  waaaaAAAA!

I'm working on new fibery stuff for our spinning group.  New colors, different blends.  So much fun.  The shearer is coming on Friday to give everybody their summer haircuts.  Unfortunately, last week the goats B-E-utiful long lustrous fiber went the way of dreadlocks.  The little boys were rubbing against the fence, and all their fiber felted into a tangled mess.  I'm sick about it.  Just a couple weeks ago I was admiring how beautiful they looked.  All that work and expense for nothing ... again.  After they get cleaned up Friday I think I will put them up for sale.

Sad news today.  In the last two days we lost both the new baby kittens.  The little orange one went peacefully on Friday, the little black one went Saturday.  They were so tiny, so delicate.  RIP little loved ones.

This one was named Pumpkin.  I couldn't bear to take a picture of the little black one.

They've arrived!  The first two babies for fostering by my daughter.  She is the one that does all the feeding, loving, playing and cleaning of these little beings, along with lots of help from my niece.  The shelter likes our foster babies because they are usually so people friendly.  How could they not be, with three of us always kissing, touching and holding them.

These two are just 24-hours old.  They arrived Tuesday evening still wet from being born, and one even had the after-birth still attached.  They will live here with all the rest of the ones (to come) and at about 12 weeks be returned to Priest River Animal Rescue shelter to be adopted by some very lucky family.

There is no word yet on Dolly.  I can't give up looking for her.  New flyers to be hung on every post and pole around.  Now I'm resorting to driving up to farms and houses asking if anyone has seen her.  That's a lot of territory to cover, but like I said, I can't give up.

I've been dyeing alpaca roving this week.  I dyed some brown alpaca with indigo in spots.  Very interesting and I think I need to card it to distribute the colors throughout.  Then I put white alpaca roving in the nearly-spent dye pot and it came out a very light blue denim.  We'll see.  Pix when I get them spun up.

This is true love in action.  Bella and my niece certainly love each other and spend every waking hour together.  They are so cute.  And niece keeps Bella on her toes.

Bella is doing her best at being a livestock guard dog these days.  No word yet on Dolly, but I got a phone call today there was an ad on Craigslist about a big white fluffy dog.  I emailed the craigslist address and we went to where the dog had been seen. 

We didn't see any white dogs but talked to a Sheriff and possibly he can pass the word on Dolly.  When I got home there was an email response from the person that put the ad in.  She said a large white dog had walked through their back yard today but she was unable to catch her.  After sending her pictures she thought it had been Dolly! 

Tomorrow we will go back up there and hang flyers on everything we can with Dolly's picture on it.  Hopefully someone will remember seeing her and give us a call.

Our spinning group is still going.  We are meeting twice a month at the Community Center.  Had a call from someome today that may join our group.  Last Saturday we went to the spin-in that is a once a year event.  Its so much fun to see other spinners and weavers, knitters and of course the vendors who have all the 'must have' things for this wonderful art.

I'm currently spinning a blend of black and brown alpaca from my own herd.  Its mostly black with brown highlights and is being spun thick and thin in a somewhat modified woolen type yarn.  Its dark and rich looking, sightly fuzzy and very interesting.  It looks to me like mink or something rich.  Pix when I get a chance.

This morning I have added a YouTube video my daughter did of our beautiful, funny alpacas.  The four white ones are Harley (the little one), Wasabi, Apollo and Diego who was my first one along with our black alpaca Oso Negro, who has the most beautiful black fiber.  Very soft!  The brown two aren't in there much but are named Coop and Raulito.

She even got the pygoras in there.  Snowball is a sweet little female and has horns.  The other two are wethers, LoverBoy with the red collar and Toby, his twin brother.  We call them the 'naughty boys' because they are!

All these animals have incredibly soft, fine fiber.  Right now I'm blending some brown into Diego's white fiber making really nice, soft, light tan batts for spinning.  These are undyed and all natural.  Unlike wool, which many people are allergic to, these won't cause any discomfort to most folks.  A dream to spin.  These will go on my Etsy shop for sale.  I have the shop set up but nothing for sale yet.  The link will be posted when the shop is ready to go.

No further word on Dolly, our Great Pyrenees.  I am still praying she will find her way home.

10:00 a.m. Update ... Sorry, it wasn't Dolly.  It was a beautiful white and brown short hair dog ... probably some sort of pit bull mix.  Very large, but not Dolly.  We will keep putting up flyers and praying for her return.

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 A very short post this morning.  Last night someone called to say he thought Dolly has been caught!  THEY MAY HAVE HER!!!  We are so excited.  We are heading up to the water treatment plant in Newport this morning.  Apparently they have a place there where they keep found dogs, and have a contract with the Sheriff's office.  They can only keep them for three days then they turn them over to the main shelter to be euthanized.   You all will be the first to know if its her.

I've no idea what fiber this yarn is made from.  Its fairly soft, looks possibly handspun, but not really sure.  There are short guard hairs in it, but it makes such an interesting yarn.  Not scratchy.  It was inherited with the cormo and the rest of the things when I purchased the Mighty Wolf loom from some friends.  The skeins were such a mess I didn't really know what or how much was there so ended up using my swift and ball winder to help straighten it out.  Guess I better show it to a friend who knows much more than I do.

I've dyed up the rest of the cormo yarn this week.  The new dyes work so beautifully!  Since I wanted to see what they all looked like these yarns are multi-colored but I think as a winter hat or scarf they would be great. 

My Etsy shop is nearly ready to open.  Now that the shop design and payment options are ready I just need to price some fiber batts and yarns ... that's the hard part.  Never knowing what to charge for something I love so much.  I can give them to friends and family but sell ??  Well, empty nest syndrome and all that I guess.

Dolly is still gone.  This week we are making up new flyers with a different picture of her and hanging them all the way up and down the highway where she's been spotted quite a few times.  We still pray she will come home of her own accord, that God will show her the way back.

We've been having a blizzard since last night.  The wind is so strong.  We all thought just maybe(?) winter was over.  The last couple weeks have ranged between 40's and even 50's one day.  Oh well, -12 degrees F isn't as bad as it could be.

The alpacas love it, Bella seems not to mind it ... she was lying out in the pasture near the gate watching for any sign of life in the house this morning.  The goats seem fine, although Snoball, in the pen by herself, was shaking a little this morning when the girls went to feed.  My daughter put in more hay but I think that shed may be too drafty.  We will have to put a tarp of something around the outside when the wind dies down.  She was eating and drinking alright and not crying so I think she's ok for now.  The cashmeres used to shake a lot but never got sick.

The yarn balls are the Cormo I dyed the other day.  I was just needing to see how it would look as a hat or pair of socks.  So soft and pretty.  I like the colors much better mixed together in the balls.  After the 'four-year sox' I finished last year I said I'd never make another pair.  Now I'm not so sure.  We'll see.

Dolly is still missing.  I still get an occasional phone call that someone has seen her.  I think everyone in this area is looking for her.  I just pray she is ok.

We had another cougar sighting yesterday on two of the roads leading up to our driveway.  Called F&W but they won't do anything until damage is done (what does That mean??).  Finally called a referral from that office and he indicated he'd come down if there was a problem.  Hopefully the lion will keep movin' on.