Spring "Bus-e-ness"

It's almost summer, and we're not sure here in  Troy, ID, that spring really came. We've had more than enough rain. But the daffodils did bloom!

And we got ready for shearing. Fortunately, it did not rain on shearing day. Lots of folks came to watch, to sit and spin or knit, or to help (those who helped get my grateful THANKS!).


Cathy D. spins alpaca

We got 28 animals sheared, 15 of mine, some alpacas belonging to others and three llamas. A friend of mine took some great pictures that she's put on flickr. If you want to see the process, which shows my wonderful shearer and his exceptional shearing table, take a look at
http://www.flickr.com//photos//cottagedyeworks/sets/72157630083826664
(While you are there, take a look at some of her yarns and batts! She does some beautiful dying!)

Someone looked at the pictures and asked "why is there a sock on the black alpacas nose?" The answer is also the answer to another question: do alpacas spit? The answer is: "In their 11th month of pregnancy, especially when getting sheared!"  Leyla, as of today, is three days overdue. But we're having another cold, windy, cloudy day, so she won't give birth. You see, alpacas (generally--I'm sure there are exceptions) give birth on sunny days between 10 am and 2 pm!  Very convenient for the owners.

And shearing day was a good tryout for my new dog--Sam I Am. I don't (or didn't) think of myself as a dog person, but I keep chickens on the farm--not only because I enjoy free-range eggs and sell them, but because the chickens keep the bug population down! Early this spring, I had at least 18 chickens and one rooster. As the coyotes came and went, I ended up with one rooster! Rosebud (as his former owner named him for his tight comb), as gentle as he had been with the "girls," must know how to fend for himself. So, it came down to this: chickens and dog, or no chickens.

Sam I Am

Fortunately, an acquaintance of mine who had sheep and chickens was preparing to move permanently to New Zealand and had a dog she needed to rehome. I reluctantly called her, knowing the dog was a Great Pyrenees but not knowing gender or age, but I knew Pyrs were known for roaming. Sam turned out to be a one-year old male that had lived with sheep.

So I brought him home. And I'm now a dog person. He has adjusted so well! The alpacas were frightened at first--most of them had never been around a dog. But Sam pays them barely any attention and he calmly lay in the yard while we were shearing, with traffic and animals coming in and out of the place (he was on a chain).

Now, is he going to help me keep chickens. Well, I know he will chase coyote. One of my crew heard the alpacas give a warning call and saw a coyote--he then watched Sam chase after it!! But, I have a funny chicken story. The mother of Madi (my animal manager) brought four chickens out for me and they were put in the coop while I was otherwise busy. Later that evening, I went up to look at them. One panicked and flew out the coop window and starting running around the area that we have penned in, just to keep new chickens in place until they know their home. Well, she just ran around cackling; Sam kept watching with great interest, tail up high--I kept saying, NO!!! But the hen found a place to get out under the fence and ran cackling down into a highly wooded area. Sam followed in pursuit. No way for me to follow. I heard silence, then cackling, more than once.

Very disappointed, I assumed that Sam would end up eating her, and since I got Sam to help me keep chickens, I went into the house, sat at the computer and tried to find information about what to do. Then I heard, outside my window, cackling!! Went outside! Sam had caught and brought back the hen! She was a bit beat up, feathers missing, but no bleeding. Supposedly, he's purebred Pyr, so I wouldn't expect him to be a herder! But apparently, that's what he thought he was doing--returning the chicken to me.

So I need to find out how to stop chickens from panicking and running away!!

So enough for now. But here's a before and after shearing picture of one of my alpacas, Lexy.

Lexy with and without fiber.

Yes, It is Spring

 

Well, at least the bluebirds know what time of year it is!  They have been romancing my truck and its mirror and flying around having a good time.

Spring is such a mixed up time. Madi, the young woman who works for me, was so happy on Wednesday because she got to cut the grass on the farm! Having sun was so unusual, she forgot to put on sunscreen and so was suffering the following day (when it rained again!) We got up to nearly 80 degrees on Saturday, but we were spared the tornadoes and hail that were predicted! Early this morning it snowed--but of course, it didn't stay long!

Sunday, after a beautiful morning, it rained, but the Girl Scouts that came for a farm visit didn't seem to mind. They enjoyed visiting the alpacas, feeding grain and petting BMCA Madison and BMCA Leyla, who always love the attention. The group of older girls and geldings and Katherine, the llama, kept approaching the girls with their usual curiosity. The girls learned what it meant when I explained that alpacas were herd animals, as they pursued the animals to try to get them interested in the grain.

The girls collected eggs and laughed at the skinny, bare necks of the turkins! They each picked their "favorite" egg to take home. They also took small ziplock bags of alpaca poop home!

In the garage, after spending time with the animals, the girls used alpaca fiber dyed with Kool-Aid which they felted and strung along with beads to make zipper pulls. They feasted on cake and lemonade and worked on an alpaca crossword puzzle and word search.  I gave them a demonstration of spinning and they read the display boards that showed pictures of shearing, a cria birth, and other pertinent alpaca "facts."

"I really had fun!" one of the girls said to me. And her grandmother who came along as one of the chaperones decided that she really wants two alpacas!

Did I say Spring???

Well, it's surely not summer--it's closer to winter. This picture of "Mother Earth and Earth Dog" was taken by a friend who lives only 10 miles east and went outside to play in the 4 inches of snow that came down at her house yesterday!  Here on the farm, the yearling girls were out early and cushing together on their hill, but when the snow started, back to the shelters they went! It snowed on the farm, but didn't lay, but it was cold and windy.

But tulips and daffodils have made their way out of the mud and  I'm sure will be blooming in a couple of weeks. It's sunny today, but supposed to be rainy for the next few days. Don't know when I'll be able to shear. Last year it wasn't until the third week in June and it may be that late again if spring keeps coming in so reluctantly!

I'm getting ready to head north to a fiber festival in Fairfield (South Spokane) Washington on May 7. Will be taking roving, alpaca socks, alpaca yarns and other miscellaneous things of interest to fiber folks.

Today as I worked down at the Artisan Barn studio, I plied two bobbins of alpaca--one a darker gray huacaya and the other a white suri. I have to take it off the plying bobbin and wash it tonight. Can't decide if I'll try to sell it or use it myself for a cowl--what I had in mind originally.

In the meantime, I'm working on a beaded lace shawl with 100 percent baby alpaca--it's Alpaca Cloud in Raspberry from KnitPicks and the beads match perfectly. The pattern is a lace sampler and its fun to see the different lace patterns take shape and decide where I'll add the beads.

A Happy Easter to all!

Spring comes to the Pacific Northwest!

Yes--although we woke to snow two of the last seven days, spring is definitely here! Snow, sun, crocuses, lambs! Weather changes every two hours!! Yes, that's what spring is here. Yesterday, our Friday spinning/knitting/knoshing group met at a Troy farm to visit the spring lambs! Although this picture only shows white, we enjoyed black, brown, black with white starred foreheads and one little tan baby ram, all running around enjoying sunny weather. Baby animals are all so adorable.



In celebration of spring, I finished my latest pair of entrelac socks in a pastel blend that makes me think of Easter baskets. It's made from Plymouth Zino, a blend of wool and nylon, a single-ply that does have a tendency to split if one isn't careful. You can see them on my Ravelry page.



Spring Visitors

Another sign of spring are the visitors that came off and on this week to enjoy my pond--a pair of Canada goose. This was the first week that the pond was water, not ice, and the pair seemed to enjoy stopping by.

Watching grosbeaks at my feeders, too! One friend saw bluebirds back. Last year was the first year I ever saw bluebirds. I had nesting pairs in my two bluebird houses and I have another house to put up. I'm considering raising mealworms to keep them well fed and loving my place! 

And the alpacas are enjoying the spring sun--instead of moving back and forth from feeders to their shelters, they are spending time sitting in the sun and nibbling at the fresh grass coming up.

Promises of warm days and starting the day outside with a cup of coffee!

Creatures on the Farm

Yes, it's an alpaca farm! But alpacas aren't the only creatures (read "living" creatures) around! This morning, in fact, I was working on the computer, looking out the window, and I saw a rather unwelcome sight! Yes, right out in the driveway--a coyote, looking like he belongs here. I'm glad that all my crias are not so small any more . . . and that there were no chicken feathers hanging out of the coyote's mouth! Maybe he was just a sign of the wierd spring we are having.

And it has been wierd--high winds, show, sleet, hail, rain, wind, and more rain. Planning for this year's shearing, I thought we weren't going to have trouble with mud on the feet/legs, but over the past two weeks, all that was dry lot is now "mud lot." But the grass is growing taller [too wet to mow :( ], the trees are in bud, the daffodils and narcissus are in full bloom and the tulips getting ready!

But plans for the garden are also on postponement! Hopefully, the potatoes and onions put in two weeks ago aren't rotting underground.

I had a new greenhouse erected over the winter and we haven't quite learned how to use it yet. Although I have had lettuce, spinach and radishes to enjoy for over a month.

Oh, yes, I was talking creatures. Last month, well in April, I had an interesting sighting: a pair of bluebirds. This really was exciting because I had never seen a western bluebird before. The day

was wet and windy--I was in the garage skirting fleeces and looked out at my Dodge Ram that was parked in front of the garage. This male bluebird was flirting with himself around the side mirror. He hopped all around it, hanging on the door, sitting on the mirror. I learned from a good birder friend of mine that bluebirds (and robins, he said!) have this habit--they are acting aggressively toward another bird in their territory! At one point during the afternoon (because this went on and off quite a few hours), I saw the female sitting on the Dodge roof--"What a silly male," she seemed to be saying!

On another day when I was down at the pen of weaned crias, down at the edge of the woods, I saw another pair (or the same pair?) I had recently purchased some beautiful handcrafted bluebird houses from a friend of mine, and I got them up as soon as possible. I haven't seen any action around the birdhouses yet, but it's been so miserable, when I go out to feed the alpacas, I get it done as soon as possible and get back inside!

The hummingbirds are back, too! Saw some flitting around the back porch and so put out the feeders, but the feeders are emptying in the high winds. The kingfisher is back, checking out the spawning goldfish in the pond. The dreaded flickers have been back and we've already had to seal up some holes they made. I've had someone knocking on my front door and ignored it, thinking it was the flickers back at the grouting between the logs! They are attractive, but cause too much damage for me to enjoy them.

Looking out the window--it's snowing again! But the Ren Fair is over and Mother's Day is coming--maybe we'll get some sunshine again!

Is it spring???

Well, of course it’s spring. Spring brings that uncertainty—you never know what the weather is going to be like from one moment to the next—at least here in the Pacific Northwest. Just two weeks ago, it was sunny and warm when I got home from work I was inspired to start the spring cleaning in my yard. I even planted some tulip and daffodil bulbs that I bought right before the ground froze. Filled two big bags with dead foliage to take to the recycling center and discovered the first spring blooms.

Today those blooms are covered in snow—only an inch or so melted down from the original three to four inches that arrived overnight, accompanied by a winds coming from a variety of directions. A friend of mine said the snow at her place looked like white dunes, blown on the Palouse desert”! More wind and snow expected today, keeping many of us from heading north to the spin-in in Coeur d’Alene.

But the snow gave me the background for taking a picture of my finally finished cabled socks. My pal Miss “T” (for Terror) had to check to see what I was doing.

Miss “T” was rescued and given to me when I was recovering from ankle surgery (I have an artificial ankle, not knit!). I think my brother believed that a cute little kitten to pet would help me keep my mouth shut. She’s what’s called “blue and cream,” so the vet called me, and she was named Miss Terror because she would chase my brother’s feet and attack his large dogs. She has become a companion cat—she’s beside me when I sleep, knit, sew, garden (attacking my weeding hands) and at the computer (nudging my hand on the mouse to remind me she needs petting).

I enjoy knitting socks, though I hardly ever knit any for myself. My feet are hard on socks and I don’t usually don’t want to take a chance on beautiful knitted socks for myself. But this pair, I’m keeping. They feel pretty solid—made from a blend of KnitPicks nylon/wool—they should wear well. I was lucky to find a knitter on Ravelry who had some of the same yarn in her stash. Although I had two skeins, I found out that wasn’t enough to finish this pattern (from an Interweave book). The socks sat for a week or two while I was deciding what to do with not enough yarn, and in the meantime, I took the entrelac class (see my March 12 blog).

I have a finished pair of socks from a beautiful (Sundara) dyed Cobalt over Mediterranean superwash Merino in the hedgerow pattern. I was led to both the yarn and pattern through Knitting Daily. The web provides such inspiration for us knitters! Anyway, I can’t decide whether to sell, give, donate or wear these beautiful blue socks. Maybe I’ll wait to decide after I’ve worn these cabled socks for a while. Maybe I’m “walking” softer these days! Time will tell.

And time will turn spring into summer!