Inside Out:: One

Inspired by House Wren Studio, I have decided to do an "Inside Out" post every now and then. Mine may contain several pictures, not just the usual two. It seemed like a fun and inspiring idea that should help me blog more spontaneously, and might even occasionally get me out of a blogging rut; though that's certainly not to say I am in a rut every time I decide to do one! 

Inside:: My projects for today. I mainly worked on my rug hooking. That is to say, of the projects shown the rug hooking is what I concentrated on. I did not spend the whole day rug hooking however! Though I will be the first to admit, I am very slow at it. It is not one of those projects that I can just work on anytime. It doesn't work very well for watching a dvd, I have to always be looking at what I am doing and I miss half the movie. I haven't tried working on it in the car. Lately anyways I have been the driver, not the passenger, on many of the longer trips. But I DO work on it occasionally. And it makes teeny bits of progress each time. One of these days it will be finished and framed. And I DO greatly enjoy working on it. Though there are times when I wish I had chosen a kit with 1/4 width wool strips instead of 1/8 inch........

Outside:: The ladies were all in a huddle, fluffing out their "cowls" (as we like to call them), against the chilly breeze. Alas, they have ceased laying for the winter. I'm already missing the daily fresh eggs.

Misty Autumn Morning

The other day I took a break from my cleaning to run outside and take some pictures. It was misty and the sun was just breaking through the clouds, it was just lovely. The boys and ladies were out in the damp, having breakfast. Most ignored my presence but Mounty watched me curiously. He has always been such an inquisitive little guy. I do have some sad news to share about the boys. But I shall save that for some other time.

There was still a gentle misting of rain lingering on the grasses and leaves. Most everything is dead, and trodden down with autumn rains, but these few grass heads were bobbing in the early morning light.

 But the sky was blue, showing promises of a warm, sunny day later on and as I was finishing my walk the sun came out and brightened up the grey morning.

Most of the leaves have fallen, but there was a lovely patch of yellow leaves in the front yard that were just calling my name. They were also a bit misted with rain, and blowing about in the breeze. But there was a few that held still so I could photograph them. Autumn is always so lovely to experience, so many different and unique colors. It is a blessing to be able to enjoy the beauty of the creation God has made.

In Snapshots: My Week Thus Far

~Early Sunday morning milking. I enjoy the cool quiet, the warmth of the cow, the sound of milk streaming into the metal pail, it is a lovely way to start the day.

~Fresh, foamy milk. Steel-toed boots to protect my toes, getting accidentally stepped on by a cow hurts!

~One of my cousin's new French Angora bunnies! Isn't she darling?

~Sunlight through the trees. It always makes me so happy.

~Handspun Painter's Palette yarn. Spun with Turquoise Owl Fibers roving from my shop, by my cousin.

~A spot of morning tea

~Knitting my Seaweed Stole and browsing through the most recent copy of Spin Off. 

~Picking a colander-full of fresh grape tomatoes.

~Chicken scratch.

~Bright pink Yarrow in the garden.

~Spinning a beautiful blend of 70%Polworth Wool/26% Alpaca/4% Silk.

Have a beautiful day!

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway if you have not done so yet. Only two days left!

Spring: Part 1

This year spring arrived early because of our bout of warm weather a month ago. In between we have had some cold days, but overall it has been very spring-like and altogether lovely. It has been nice enjoying such a lengthy, drawn-out spring. 

The pictures in this past were taken over a couple weeks, going from oldest to newest. I was on my way back across the state and everything was beginning to burst into bloom. There were photo opportunities everywhere, but I was on a schedule and could not stop very often. However little unexpected chances arose, such as these gorgeous flowering trees in the walkway by the music store.

About a week ago I started working on the raspberry patch. Because of the early warm weather the weeds have gotten a wonderful jump, thus it was not a pretty sight that met my eyes the first time I went out there. We have clay, and in-between rains the ground gets as hard as rock. So after a rainfall, and as soon as the slippery, clumping clay is remotely workable, it is best to rush out and get things done before the crazy winds on our hill dry the ground back out. Sometimes if we do not have wind the ground will stay soft longer.
I did some weeding, raked away a great deal of dead rubbish from last fall and then called it quits because I was in need of thick gloves before I pruned. I came back a few days later with two helpers and got more weeding and raking done, as well as pruned back dead  and/or wild growth. The patch is not quite ship-shape. But it is looking pruned and respectable. Every time I scoop the boys beans I spread a bucketful or two around the base of the raspberry canes. Alpaca beans are mild enough that you can use them straight in your garden. There is normally some straw interspersed with the beans, but it will help keep down the weeds and eventually decompose and add nutrients to the soil.

Crabapple tree

Apple tree.

Maple tree.

The leaves are coming on ever so slowly, but each week the hazy green in the distance deepens and the woods look fuller. The field behind us has been planted already. Corn. Not at all a happy thing for me, as well as other members of our family. We were never allergic to corn, but something about this new GMO corn is not good for our allergies. Lets just say for about a month and a half some of us can not even go outdoors comfortably, nor have the windows open in the house. Its a relief when we can get away from the corn and are able to breathe without sneezing constantly or having running eyes.

The Applemint has spread and is doing nicely. It is almost impossible to eradicate it, (short of a huge excavation and some sort of poison I suppose!) so everywhere we have been it has done nicely. But here with all this lovely(?) clay, it grows huge and happy. It is nice for tea, however we haven't dried a whole lot of it in recent years. Though I do believe I will try drying a bunch of it this summer. My Mother and my sister-in-law both make soap and it would make a nice add-in to certain scents.

Windfall & Mounty

And now on to the animals on the farm! The alpacas are doing well, there have been some temporary modifications to their living arrangements.....

.......And for a while there they were not sure how they felt about it.  But now everyone is settling in nicely and getting used to the change. Meet our newest members.....

.......Guinea Hens!

The ladies are about 6 months old. We purchased them from my Aunt. Due to her other animals they were not very compatible on her farm. Her poor bulldog pup had to be on a leash and was getting chubby from lack of exercise. Not to mention they can be a little noisy when alarmed.
But so far we've not had any trouble with them. They have to be kept enclosed for awhile, so they get used to their new home and do not try running off. They are all just starting to lay, and we get four or five eggs every day. It is a nice steady amount. Not enough to give eggs away very often, but also not so many as to overwhelm us. Guinea eggs are different from your standard chicken eggs. They are quite small, we've heard two guinea eggs equals one large chicken egg. To me they just look like small chicken eggs. The shells on the eggs are quite thick, they feel like little rocks when I hold them in my hand.
The ladies do not have names as of yet. It is not like we will be able to tell them apart! But we do like to name our creatures. 

The first time let the ladies wander around the boys pen Mounty has tried to chase them. But he and Windfall both are learning to listen. After getting after him, he has since left them alone. Sunday while I was taking care of the guineas water they escaped out the barn door behind me. I had not had that happen before and I was envisioning them flying over the fence and escaping entirely. Mounty instantly went on the alert and let out a little hum, taking a step toward them. But I firmly told him no, and after watching them a moment he went back to eating. Windfall ignores them unless they are let out in the lawn to eat grass and bugs. Mother did that once, last week, and he was quite agitated. I don't know if it was because he thought they were somewhere where they didn't belong (since they are usually kept locked up) or if it was because he wanted to be outside his fence. The grass is always greener you know....

That is all the farm news for now! 

Next up:  a new (for me) spinning technique!

Meet Our New Suri Alpacas, Windfall & Mounty!!!!

Yes, this is the new adventure which I spoke of in my last post! About a month ago we got two male suri alpacas.  It was a completely unplanned venture, and came about rather suddenly. But we all talked it over and prayed about it, and a couple weeks after the fact, they arrived in their new home!

This is Mounty. He is 6 years old and a shy little guy. He is quite stocky in build, and about a head shorter then our other Suri boy, Windfall. Mounty was pretty skittish when we first got him. Within a day or so he had calmed down quite a bit and we were able to feed him grass right out of our hands. He's adjusted beautifully to his new home.

And this is Windfall! He is 7 years old, and clearly the alpaca in charge! As I stated above, Windfall is a head taller then Mounty. He's built differently and is not stocky at all. The front of his legs are covered in tight curly locks so we are anticipating some beautiful curls on him when his coat is grown out. Windfall lets us pet him on a daily basis, which is lovely. 

Mounty

Mounty in the background. Windfall's curly legs in the foreground.

Windfall.

Windfall, background. Mounty, foreground.

Windfall.

Mounty.

Looking at the two above pictures you can see the difference in the boys builds. Even though Mounty doesn't have the tight curls that Windfall dose, he still has a soft and beautiful coat. I think his fiber will be amazing to spin!

We are so excited to have alpacas, it is such a blessing! They have been quite the learning experience so far. Despite everything we previously knew concerning alpacas, nothing compares to owning them and encountering little situations that arise every now and then. There are more alpaca farmers in the area and we were able to get lots of advice and some help from a young couple who live not to far down the road. He has also offered to do our shearing come spring, and since they live close by the cost for shearing will not be as much as we had anticipated. What a blessing!

The boys LOVE to be hand fed fresh grass. Their enclosure is temporary until the spring when we can put them out in a bigger field. So consequently they keep their little patch of grass nibbled short. Fresh grass by the handfuls is always a treat and the crowd against each other and sometimes us in their haste to get to it first. Normally two of us go in the enclosure to give them their treat of grass. Windfall is quite the piggy and tends to steal Mounty's treats and grain if allowed.

I look forward to sharing more about our suri boys as we sally forth on this new venture!

In Which We Speak Of Fiber, And More Fiber

 I thought I would share some pictures of my recent fiber festival aquisitions with you today. I went with a friend and between the two of us we purchased 7 and a quarter pounds of fiber! However a good deal of it was not processed, and raw fiber tends to be available at much better prices then already processed and dyed fibers.

 This will be a bit of show and tell so bear with me please, I'm pretty excited! So first up is washed Romney locks. I picked up a pound of Romney, 8 ounces of a light grey Romney, and 8 ounces of dark grey locks. There is a LOT of colour variation within the Romney fleeces that I looked at. It was really quite exciting and quite the process to narrow down which of the fleece we wanted! 

 I started carding my Romney yesterday. I made up about 14 rolags and then started spinning. It changes so drastically from locks to spindle because all the colour variations in the fiber are blended together in the carding process and then blended even more so when it is spun. Overall the colour would probably be described as a gray-ish cream color, with little strands of black running through it. 

 Romney has a beautiful crimp to the locks. Once I started carding and spinning this fiber up I was wishing I had purchased more. The sheperdess did a fine job of skirting and washing these locks, I was very pleased with the fiber. It is SO beautiful, soft and springy with a sturdy hand to it. I'm considering making a beaded stole with it, and keeping that idea in mind I am spinning it a fingering weight right now.

 Our Siamese/Angora cat, Sasha, insisted on getting in my photo shoot. 

 Here is the darker Romney roving I picked up for my Mother.

 Look at all the colour variation just within the rolags she has carded up so far! Beautiful.

 I splurged a bit on 4 ounces of Blue Faced Leicester/Silk roving. Mainly I was trying to shop with making Christmas presents in mind. This first skein will, Lord willing, become a Christmas gift. Though I can not say who it is for, or what it will be, here on my blog!

 This was the first time I have ever spun a singles yarn on my drop spindle. I am using my handspun in a pattern that calls for Manos Del Uraguay handspun, and I decided to pattern my yarn after the Manos. The single ended up quite lovely I think. As it was my first non-plied yarn I over-spun it slightly, but I'll know better for the other 2 ounces. If I spin them up the same way, that is! I have enough yardage in my first skein, 138.25yds, for the Christmas gift I have planned.

 This is a sampler pack of various mixed wools, Merino, Corriedale, etc. I don't have any definite plans for this, just a few ideas. I'm sure you'll hear more about this roving in the future. :)

 60%Llama/40%Polworth roving. So scrumptiously soft! I purchased an angora/polworth blend from this same farm last fall and was very pleased with it. This will make something warm and cozy for wearing this winter.

 I also picked up a 1.5# of Merino/Corriedale/Dorset raw wool. It is not skirted, and unwashed. Quite pungent indeed! But I'll be washing it up sometime within the next couple of weeks. I'm waiting until I get together with my friend, as she bought a pound of the same fiber (in a different colour) and has never washed raw fiber before. We are going to wash our fiber up together and lay it out on a sheet in the sun to dry. A few ounces of this will be carded together with angora fiber.

 I picked up a couple things for my sister, one of which was all these little wool/llama/alpaca/silk balls of roving. I also got Romney roving for her. I learned some interesting facts on Romneys. Apparently Romneys are originally from over in europe, and were much smaller in size. With inter-breeding Romneys have become much bigger, but at the price of the fleeces becoming less soft then the fleece that comes from the original Romneys. The locks I purchased are from a medium sized Romney. Whilst the roving I picked up for my sister is from a small UK Romney and is amazingly soft. 

The total haul of the day between my friend and I. We made a lot of identical purchases as you can see!

Well that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed the show of fibers! Next time I'll try to update you on projects, and such. Take care my friends and I'll be back with you soon, Lord willing!