The Cria are Coming!

Yep!  We had our vet out today along with a 3rd year veterinary student.  :-)

We gave everyone their annual CDT vaccination and did a few other things.  Then we ultrasounded (that's not a verb, but you know what I mean) our "pregnant" girls.

All of our lady alpacas and a little bit of Wonton's head

They confirmed that three girls are pregnant and the-one-we-thought-probably-wasn't, isn't.

Since I'm not well trained on alpaca anatomy or how to read an ultrasound, I pretty much only saw a bunch of dark and light areas on a screen.  But I did see the heart beat for one of the cria and the complete head of another, which was pretty cool.

Clementine and Kocoa

Confirmed Pregnant:

• Enchanted Sky's Kocoa Moon and Blue Mesa Yoda (Yoda's first)
• Qaint Keyla and Enchanted Sky's Charlie Brown (Charlie's first)
• Alpacamundo's Frieda and Smokey's Bandit at Pastoral Profits (Frieda's first)

Frieda is the first of our farm's offspring to be confirmed pregnant... so will that make me something of an Alpaca Grandmother?  ;-)

Keyla, Apple, Frieda, Daisy

The three cria are due in early October.  Yay!

Fiber Arts Friday: Duck Foot, part 3

I finished my first foot!

Yes, I need to weave in the ends and fix a hole I made, but I finished knitting my first sock!

It's Fiber Art Friday, so please go see what the other folks are sharing at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.

Fiber Arts Friday - Baby Hats Part 3

Ta-da!! My second baby for adult hat!

As I mentioned last week, I did the eyelet detail knit-wise instead of purl-wise.

One thing I like about knitting, is that it's ok to do it incorrectly.  If the incorrectness is consistent throughout, then it looks like it was on purpose. :-)

I did do the swatch math correctly so the hat fits perfectly. :-D

Please enjoy the rest of Fiber Arts Friday over as Wisdom Begins in Wonder.

Fiber Arts Friday - Baby Hats Part 2

I finished my first baby for adult hat this week.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

My next baby for adult hat is from the Algerian Action Blog.  I decided to make it out of a shiney black merino single and finish it off with a white satin ribbon.

The pattern calls for the hat to be made flat then sewn together.  I decided to knit it in the round, which means fewer purl only rows.  Which really means it's easier for me.  I'm not sure why, but those purl only rows are harder than the knit only rows.

The pattern is also written for a baby-sized head, smaller yarn and needles.  Therefore, I actually made a swatch.  I cast on 20 stitches and knit four rows.  The resulting swatch was five inches that stretched to six.

The hat band is in stockinette stitch, so I used 20 stitches per 5 inches to determine that 92 stitches should be cast on for a 23 inch circumference.  Comparing that to the pattern, I decided to cast on 93 stitches.  I'm anxious to find out how well I did on the sizing.

The only trouble I've had so far is that the eyelet detail became a purl row.  I'm certain I was not doing the "insert the needle into the diagonal" correctly, but I decided to make these knit rows since it was easier.

I'm about half-way complete.

Get more Fiber Arts Fun with the Wonder Why Gal.

The Alpacas are Coming - part 2

With the alpacas on their way today, I've been reflecting on the last couple of years...

We bought our first alpaca in September 2007.  His name is Charlie Brown and I was in love.  He was 2 weeks old and oh so cute.  I had intended to name all of our cria after other Peanuts characters because I have loved them since I can remember. 

Of course, two years and five cria later, not a single one has been named after anyone in the Peanuts gang.

We named our first Augustus.  He was a strapping boy, screaming white and born in August 2008.

Then came Daisy, named for my mom's favorite flower.

Frieda was our first 2009 cria.  My husband named her after a favorite artist of his sister.

Eduardo was born during Senator Ted Kennedy's funeral.

Our most recent cria is Captain Jack who's name was chosen as the winning entry in our Name the Alpaca contest.

We have two cria due in 2010.  One maiden will be coming of age in the spring.  We also have an older dam who we are slowing down to be bred or nursing, but not both.

Our herd is now a baker's dozen at 13 alpacas.  They will be here in a couple of hours.  We are ready to receive them.