A 'Real' Alpaca Adventure

I was so excited this morning, today I had arranged to go out into the 'Wilds of Worcestershire' to visit Cotswold Vale Alpacas 'Farm'.  What beautiful weather we had too.  You can see how parched the grass is, we have had a  very dry spell in this county.

We were made very welcome on the farm by Ginnie, who breeds Alpacas, spins, knits and felts with their gorgeous fleece.

  I have never been close up and personal with an Alpaca, they look adorable, unfortunately for me they are not up for hugs and cuddles but they do get close and show an interest in people.  Ginnie currently has thirty eight Alpaca with one more expected any day soon.  These were all the girls of various ages.  The array of natural colours is stunning.  There are Huacaya and Suri Alpaca, the Suri Alpaca having the longer fleeces and the Huacaya having a fluffier fleece.

I was surrounded by Alpaca.  They are adorable and have such a gentle none threatening nature.  They have such kind faces and they even look like they have a sweet smile.  I am quite nervous around horses, cows and large animals, but I felt fine surrounded by Alpaca.

Some of the babies were still suckling from their newly sheared Mums.

All babies are so cute aren't they?

I loved the way they were happy to chillax with us close by.  I couldn't help looking and seeing gorgeous knitted stripes of natural colour.  Since I have been spinning, I look at animals and see yarn!

Euan is a farmer in the making, with his 'Goat Farm' training this year and today feeding Alpaca.  He had a very hands on experience and really enjoyed himself.  He is very confident around all these different animals.  He is feeding 'Ace' here, Ace is a two year old Huacaya male.

This is another male, his name is Ewen.  Ewen has a fantastic fleece and he is a stud male.

Here is Euan feeding Ewen.

Mom and I have gone halves on Ace's fleece.  Boy oh boy, it is going to be a treat to spin with.  I can feel a luxurious shawl on my shoulders already, born and raised 'Worcestershire Alpaca'.

My apologies for the poor quality photograph, but I wanted to show you, Ginnie spins and sells her own Alpaca yarn.

She also knits these gorgeous bags and felts them into a very strong fabric, oooh I don't know how I resisted one of these!

They are sold with a label including a photograph of the animal that the fleece came from.  How cool is that!

Ooooh!  I don't know how I resisted one of these either!  A scrumptious litter of three week old kittens and we did get a cuddle.

This is the last photograph, it's Ronnie and Roxy, the pygmy goats!  These are little bundles of fun too.  I could definitely make room in my back garden.  What a brilliant Alpaca Adventure.   It was very educational and we had great fun.  I have some beautiful Alpaca fleece to enjoy.   I am off to work on a business plan!  I need a career change.  Euan would be a brilliant 'Farm Manager'.  I will definitely go back to the farm, I have asked Ginnie to let me know when the 'Australian Shearers' are in town!  Wink, wink!

Happy To Be In A Spin

Not only did last week zoom past in a blur, I can not believe it was two years ago since we had our Alpaca Adventure.  My concept of time is all over the place.  Does it happen like this for anyone else or is it just me?  It has been far too long since I have had some quality time with my spinning wheel, literally months.  Yesterday I had a rare couple of hours to myself and I ignored the housework piling up around me (crafters are good at turning a blind eye to the trivial stuff in favour of expressing our creative genius)!  I do not think it is a good idea to store my spinning wheel next to Bob the Budgie for long periods of time, I had to blow lots of little blue feathers away.

When we win the Lottery Euan and I would like to become farmers...we would specialise in Free Range Poultry (eggs only of course).  We would also like alpaca, pygmy goats and pigs.  Any other cute critters would be a bonus.   There is just one problem with this plan, I never buy Lottery tickets! 

  I bought a gorgeous black alpaca fleece from the farm on the day of our visit and it has sat patiently waiting for my time and attention.  I already had a white fleece.  Then somebody gave me several sacks of alpaca fleece in beautiful shades of copper and brown.  The shed is bulging at the seams with fleece as I also have several sheep varieties!  It's ok, it really is, I do not have a stash hoarding problem!  Do I?  Short of finding Rumpelstiltskin it aint gonna spin itself.  I do not believe in saving the best until last.  Life is too short.  So yesterday I chose to start spinning with the best fleece I have.  The fleece belonged to a handsome male alpaca called Ace.  Ace is sadly no more and I see it as a fine tribute to him if I can turn his fleece into something beautiful.  I have a preference for using locally sourced fleece where possible.

 This is 'raw' fleece, unwashed.  You can see it has a good crimp.  We spinners admire such things as 'crimp'. I really am no expert but I know this fleece is a beauty and I have spun some beasts!  My very first fleece was a Hebridean that looked like it came of a sasquatch and I knitted Bullet Proof Socks.  You can wash and card your alpaca fleece if you prefer but I am spinning it in the raw, unwashed state.  Individual spinners each have their own preference, there is no right or wrong way to do it it my humble opinion.  Alpaca fleece has no lanolin like wool, it has no grease and no smell, alpaca are much cleaner than sheep.  Alpaca do not get mucky but they do like a dust bath and there is a very small amount of grass seeds and vegetable matter in the fleece but I just take it out as I spin.  It feels very natural and organic to spin this way.

 Slowly but surely this bobbin will fill up.  Then I will fill another bobbin and ply the two together.  I have Navaho plied alpaca before for peg loom weaving and I had a very chunky yarn.  Some of you may remember my 'Trouble with Tribbles'.   Navajo plying creates a 3 ply yarn.  I am aiming for something finer and will two ply this.  This is a long slow process and this fleece will keep me busy for months.  I have delusions of grandeur that I will be wearing a beautiful, hand knit or crochet, alpaca cardigan.  I may be waiting a few years.  It is a good job I am in no rush.
          Alpaca fleece has some amazing qualities over wool I blogged about it Here last year and there is a photograph too of my fleece mountain!   Come the 'Alpacalips' this fleece mountain of mine will be a real asset.
XXX 

Alpaca Adventure

How cute am I?

I am one of the worlds best/worst impulse buyers!  'Buy now, think later!' should be my motto.  I saw this and could not resist.  It looked so glossy and silky and soft and squishy and it spoke to me...'please give me a good home...'  Well I heard it anyway.  I have read about Alpaca fibre, I have fantasized about Alpaca farms...but as yet until this arrived a couple of days ago, this is the closest I have got.  (Just in case you are wondering I bought the fleece in the pictures below, but wish I had bought the cutie in the picture above.)  I now realise Alpaca fleece is very different to wool.  I have not tried spinning with it yet.  I have about 750g.  I have decided to wash it after I have spun it. I am worried that I may felt it before it even gets to the spinning wheel if I wash it first.  It does not smell, which to me raw wool can be quite whiffy.  It does not feel dirty, which to me, quite often wool can.  I have read Alpacas tend to get dusty rather than dirty as they have a penchant for dust baths, so you can spin first and then wash.

I read an article on the net last night that discussed the pros and cons of Drum carding or Hand Carding Alpaca fibre and made my mind up to try drum carding.  I spent almost two hours with my trusted and able 6year old assisstant and we manged to get about 80g beautifully carded into soft, fine, silky rolags.  I am new to drum carding and had a grand notion I would get the fleece prepared and ready in an afternoon, (the best laid plans of Mice and Men and all that).  I really did not expect it to take quite so long.  I am very tempted to spin with some this afternoon, but feel I should card more first.  I am going to try and spin 100% Alpaca but I am ready to blend with wool if I find it too tricky.

Rumpelstiltskin - Not quite spinning straw into gold!

I would like to introduce you to the 'Baa Lamb Brothers'.   They were a very cute Christmas present, hand made by my Mom.  Euan has the white one and I have the grey one.  I love their little woolly fleece.  I play with therm more than Euan does!  Mine will join me on my 'Spinning Adventures' for 2012.  They are pictured on top of a 'Woolly' Mountain of 'Merino'.  The Woolly Mountain is presenting quite a challenge...which is where the story of 'Rumpelstiltskin' springs to mind.  This is part of a 10kg Bale, I ordered out of overexuberance when I first started to spin!  Ooops.  It was a shared purchase with my Mom so that takes me down to a 5kg Merino Mountain.  Yes my Mom has a Merino Mountain of her own too.  My intention is to get  a large quantity of it spun ready for some  Dyers Adventures in the Summer.  Watch this space!  Whirrr whirrrr whirrrrr!  (That is the wheel going around!)  The Lady that initially 'taught' me how to spin said to me after about twenty frustrating minutes, "You'll get there, but you are not exactly 'Rumpelstiltskin'!"  I thought that was very funny.  Especially as the lady made a deal that if she couldn't get me spinning she would jump into the brook!  I think she had a few moments where she thought her feet would be getting wet!

Ah!  Ahem, yes another fibre Mountain!  Tis lovely.  A momento from our Summer 'Alpaca Adventure' at Cotswold Vale Alpacas Lovely Crimpy Locks of goodness.  It is quite different to spin compared to wool.  I have experimented, as I really fancy a light floaty shawl in 100% Alpaca.

This sample is 'Navajo Plied' so it is a 3ply yarn and anything but light and floaty.  I am not overly proud of this yarn as it is very uneven due to my inexperience with Alpaca and Navajo Ply.  I love it, but I know it is not technically great.  I would like to experiment felting thicker Alpaca yarn.  This would make a very dense fabric, ideal for a bag.

This is what is currently on 'The Bobbin'.  'Clamour for Glamour', a delicious hand painted 'Yummy Yarn' Fibre.

You gotta start the year as you mean to go on...look at me...all that 'Glamour'.  I still can't quite spin 'Straw into Gold' but I can manage a bit of 'Glamour' quite nicely, even if the only thing that is glamorous about me is what's on my bobbin!