Seven Years

Today, my horoscope suggested I stop and reflect on the recent seven years.

I often check in with myself in the spring, but usually I am focused on what is still to be done.  So I figured this could be a good exercise.  I do think it's a good idea to stop to look back at accomplishments and progress.

Seven years ago today, was March 2012.

We bought our farm in October 2009.  Our Alpaca Herd arrived on New Year's Eve 2009 after being agisted for 2 years.  So in March 2019 we had been on our own farm for 2.5 years, been full-time Alpaca Farmers for 2.25 years and had Tibetan Mastiffs for 1 year.

We have since bred a fine litter, learned how to show dogs in conformation events, had several BOB awards and group placements.  We have been invited to the National Owner Handled Series all but one year.  We are recognized as mentors in LGD behavior, specifically as it related to Tibetan Mastiffs.

Fiber-wise my skills have improved dramatically, both in spinning and knitting.  I have received multiple awards at our County Fair and donated a piece for auction.

I've learned how to put up shelf-stable food....both water bath and pressure canning.

I built my shearing business up to a point to where I had no time off and have since reduced it so we could spend the spring working on other important things.

Both professional photographers and documentarians have visited our farm and I've had my own photos published.

I've learned a lot about merchandising and how/what I want Alpacamundo's retail business to look.  We dropped our very first order off at a mill which means we will have commercially-spun yarn available for sale next winter.

We've made a group of wonderful friends in our chosen location of Northern Colorado.

I supported Hubba while he pursued Paralympic dreams and we celebrated our 21st Wedding Anniversary.

In addition to being a farmer, breeder, and fiberista, I have been a consultant and an employee.  I have traveled a lot, not so much, and am currently travelling a lot.

While I have been laid off four times in the last seven years, I was able to return to building Flying Objects three years ago and am currently working on a super exciting project.

Certainly this isn't everything we've accomplished in the last seven years, and I am still longing for the day when I can focus on being a full-time farmer, breeder, and fiberista.  This has been a good exercise and puts me in a pretty good mood.

Happy Almost Spring!

Fiber Arts Friday: Washing

I broke the index finger on my dominant hand early in the summer.  This means that a lot of things I had planned did not happen... such as skirting and washing fleece.

So now that I've been out of my splint for a bit and the weather is still warm, I decided to start washing... basically I'm doing anything I can think of to regain mobility and grip strength... wringing out fleece counts!  Ramen is up first... I have 3 years of collected undercoat to wash... 2016, 2017, 2018.

While I have a lot of lingerie bags, apparently I could use a few more.  ;-)

Final tally is 3 lbs 1.25 oz of washed fiber added to my stash.  Ramen says "Nice work!  I'm getting ready to make another winter coat."

I like washing fleece, especially in the summer.  It's easy to fit in between everything else, and it dries quickly in the hot sun.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Alpacamundo Monday: Quiet Weekend

As they say, I've been burning the candle at both ends for a while.  So with Hubba gone for a hunting trip over the weekend, I decided I needed some quiet time and cancelled or postponed most of my people-y things.

I brushed a few dogs that are shedding and gathered nearly two pounds of chiengora.

I spent some time with yarn and a favorite movie.

Spent some extra time with the alpacas and dogs.

I'm feeling recharged and have a massage scheduled for later today.

Fiber Arts Friday: AOA National Fleece Conference

The new Alpaca Owner's Association (AOA) held it's First (hopefully annual) National Fleece Conference in Denver last weekend.

Since it was so close, there was little question as to whether I would attend.  Even without the schedule or session topics published, I was one of (if not the) first to register.  As fiber-producing animals, a viable commercial fleece market is essential to the alpaca industry and what I hoped would be covered to some degree.

My hopes were more than met.

The work that some of my alpaca brethren are doing is amazing.  The commercial demand for US Alpaca is there, both nationally and internationally.  We, as growers, are here.  The conduit between is immature, but appears to be working.

One of the Student Textile Design finalists using alpaca.

My goals for entering the alpaca industry has always had a commercial component.  Doing it after-hours has taken longer than I had hoped and of course the economic crash didn't help things.  But I left the conference feeling excited and energized.

I made a few contacts with people who are doing the kinds of things I've been looking for and I reconnected with other people I knew before we moved to our own farm.  So I still have a few emails to send and several documents and websites to read.

Over 500 fleeces entered in the fleece show, of which this is a very small selection.

I offered to give sessions about preparing for Shearing Day next time and Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD) for another future event.  Which I've already started to draft.  ;-)

The Fashion Student Design winner and Designer's Choice using alpaca textiles.

If you are a designer, artist, manufacture, producer, grower, or even just fancier of alpaca, I urge you to attend next year's event.  It is well worth the time and expense.

To quote Wini Labrecque, one of the fleece judges; "This is a great step forward to be able to improve pricing and marketing abilities for fleece.  We all need to step out of the past and embrace this forward movement."

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

100% Wool Feel Acrylic

What?!?

My sister found this at a shop in Seattle.

I hope this isn't the beginning of the fat-free, sugar-free, gluten-free fad for natural fibers.

Slow Living: February 2013

I'm excited that it's March.  Generally it's our snowiest month, but also it's the beginning of Spring.  The trees are getting ready to bud.  The Climbing Tree has a subtle red hue.  It's one of the last to leaf out, but it's definitely getting ready.

We've seen some of the "summer" birds and the dogs are acting different.  Spring is fast approaching, but for now, it's time for February's installment for the Slow Living Project.

NOURISH: Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch overpackaged, over-processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead. Share favourite links/recipes/tips from the month here.

I had a break-through with my broth last month, so this month I wanted to focus on making some well-brothed soups and stews... Pho, Shepherd's Pie and Pot Pie in particular, but I didn't make any of those.  Maybe next month.  ;-)

I did roast some whole chickens this month though.  It's my new thing.  ;-)  It's not exactly less expensive then chicken pieces at the super market, which I find surprising.  But we have access to a Free-Range, Organic, Local, Chicken CSA that I'm interested in joining this summer.  So I want to make sure I know what I'm doing.  Roasting Chickens is not quite the same as Turkey, but I'm getting the hang of it.

We had a few wonderful meals out and some interesting meals at home.  Hubba turned the ground Kangaroo I mentioned a few months back into a curry dish.  It was quite good and our very first time eating Kangaroo.  Our market is still carrying the ground meat, so I suspect we'll be able to get it pretty regularly.

I renewed my membership to my yoga studio, but only made it to class once.  It sure is tough to get re-started.

PREPARE: Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season. Aim to reduce dependency on store bought items especially those known to contain BPA and other suspect additives. Stocking up on dry goods when prices are low counts too.

It's hard to believe that we could be able to start planting seeds in about 2 weeks.  A couple of weeks ago, I would have said, "sure, no problem."  But now that we're under a blanket of snow, it's a little harder to imagine.  ;-)  That being said, I have been refining the plans for my garden.

I acquired a pressure canner and put up my first-ever shelf-stable chicken stock.

I've neglected working on our emergency preparations... other than checking the weather and ensuring we have provisions for extended cold snaps, power outages and (finally) a good amount of snow.

REDUCE/Reuse/Re-purpose/Repair: Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing. A ladder into a strawberry planter? A sheet into a dress? Share ideas and project links here, allowing others to be inspired.

With living on a farm now and not "going" to an office as often, the end-of-life line for goods is in a whole different place.  Items that would have been replaced because they aren't good for wearing to the office, or even to the grocery store have been held on to and used for much longer.  This has been a month of retiring many of these extremely worn out items to the rag pile... mostly notably a pair of jeans that quite literally were being held together by a small number of threads. lol.

Miss Noodle started blowing her coat about 10 days ago.  She's nearly finished shedding and the other girls are showing signs of starting soon.

I have been collecting as much fur as I can.  She'll stand while I pluck her, but after a few minutes she gets annoyed and will go play with her sisters.

I have spun Tibetan Mastiff before and have plans for a shawl/scarf for myself.

GREEN: up our lives. Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.

Still nothing in this category.  :-/

GROW: plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden? Herbs in a pot, sprouts on a windowsill or and entire fruit/vegetable garden -opt for what fits space and time constraints. Don't have a backyard? Ask a friendly neighbour or relative for a small patch of theirs in return for some home grown produce, they may surprise you!

Even though it's still, technically, winter there is a lot to share here... Miss Wasabi, our third Tibetan Mastiff, is one year old and bigger than The Alpaca Dog.

The cria are four months old and sometimes a little lazy at nursing time...

It's also been a month for babies... Early in the month, Hubba and I went to a local Tibetan Mastiff breeder to meet his puppies.  These guys were 1 month old and the time and ridiculously cute.  This "little" girl was climbing around Hubba's wheel and then stopped for a nap.

Then my newest niece was born and the puppies we've been waiting for were also born.

CREATE: to fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others. Create something as simple as a handmade gift tag or something as extravagant as a fine knit shawl. Share project details and any new skills learnt here.

I knit two Pay-it-Forward projects, began working on my Wingspan again and spun a bit of yarn.

DISCOVER: Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. Share titles/authors of what is being read this month.

Hmm :-/

ENHANCE: community: Possibilities include supporting local growers and producers, help out at a local school/kindergarten, barter or foodswap, joining a playgroup or forming a walking or craft group. Car pooling where possible and biking/walking instead of driving. Even start up a blog if you haven't already - online communities count too! Or maybe just help out someone trying to cross the street! The rewards for your time are often returned tenfold.

I finished and sent off the first two of my Pay-it-Forward projects.

ENJOY: Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment. Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.

Many mornings were nice enough for Hubba and I to enjoy coffee on the stoop, overlooking the alpacas and dogs.  It's a lovely way to start the day... and speaking of days, they are getting longer... I mean noticeably longer... as in, it's still light at 6:00pm.

I went to the Rocky Mountain Cluster of Dog Shows with my brother, SIL and one of their littles, puppy therapy, dinner with friends, a surprise observed-holiday at the day job and a proper snow day where the boys made a snow fort.

Happy March everyone.  I hope you enjoy the coming change of seasons.  :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Following Instructions

I've mentioned more than a few times that I'm not very good at following directions.  I blame it on being an engineer.

The first time I tried the Bandana Cowl I was using smaller than recommended yarn and needles.  I made adjustments to the pattern but had not read the instructions properly so my adjustments were not quite right and the cowl was giant and by that, I mean GIANT.  So I ripped it out.

This time, I am using the recommended needles and apparently, a thicker than recommended yarn.  I got a lot further, but the cowl is still quite large.  I took it off the needles and reviewed it with my Comadres earlier this week.  My gauge is 3 stitches per inch instead of 4... so a frogging it will go too.  :-/

Should be ~19 inches around.  The ruler shows it is more than 2 feet.

I also learned that for my entire knitting career (4-5 years) I have been doing my purl stitches incorrectly.  I have always purled through the back loop.  Which is a perfectly legal and proper stitch, but not the correct purl stitch and does not give you stockinette when knitting short rows... assuming your knit stitch is proper and not also through the back loop.

It's a cool fabric... but as you can see there is a difference between the short rows at the bottom and the knit in the round at the top.

I will be reclaiming this yarn and then figuring out how to purl properly.  In the meantime, Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Have I Mentioned that I Like Hats?

With several Fibery Bloggers posting about their project count recently, I became curious about mine.

I didn't feel that I had been very productive, but frankly productivity is not my goal.  I'm much more interested in improving my skills and understanding construction.  However this has been a crazy year and I have felt heavily-loaded for most of it.  So my fibery projects have primarily been simple and relaxing.

I decided it would be interesting (perhaps only to me) to take an objective view of 2012.  Many thanks to Ravelry for making this possible.  :-)

As if I didn't know this already, I like hats....

Only six hand-knit projects were completed in 2012 and every, single, one of them was a hat.  Hubba's Christmas Hat will make seven, but technically it is not completed as of this moment.

Note: there are only four patterns used across seven hats... how's that for keeping things simple this year?

I have six projects In Progress.

Two projects are officially Hibernating.

However, the truth is that three of my WIPs have not had any attention in quite a while, so essentially that makes five in Hibernation.

I officially Frogged three knit projects.  There were a few more that didn't even make it to the Ravelry Project Page.  I'm pretty certain that the two in Official Hibernation will also be Frogged.

I did spin 11 skeins of yarn in 2012 though, so that's something.  ;-)

The Wonder Why Gal had asked about Fibery Goals for 2013... at this point they are (1) to skirt enough raw alpaca fiber to send to the mill and (2) to re-finish the floor in the basement so that I can set up my loom.  I would also like to have the fortitude to tackle more complex projects, but at this point that's just a wish, and not a goal.

Happy New Year!

Fiber Arts Friday: Estes Park Wool Festival, 2012

Ahhh, the Estes Park Wool Festival where two of my favorite subjects collide.... Estes Park, Colorado and all things Fiber-y.  :-)

I had a few things on my mind for this festival... especially the cashmere goat show.  I happened upon the end of it a couple of years ago and missed it completely last year.  I could not find the schedule of events, so I missed it again this year.  :-/  But I did spy a few of them snoozing.

I was also looking for some specific yarn for a specific project.  I didn't find it, but I did find this...

wool + silk + viscose

I think it will turn into something wonderful.  :-)

I also found some special roving for the Tour de Fleece.

Corriedale Top

cashmere + silk

camel + merino

alpaca

llama

I will be spinning with the Team of Wonder again.   :-)  Of course, I just realized that most of the rovings are very nearly the same color...  lol.

The High Park Wildfire started that day, which I wrote about here.  So it was difficult to relax and spend time enjoying Estes Park, as I typically do when I'm there.

As of about 6:30 last night the fire looked like this from our place....

I think this photo is optimistic.  The fire is estimated at 52,000 acres (larger than the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland combined) and about 15% contained.  At the time I was taking this photo, the fire was racing to the north and had crossed the Poudre River.  That being said, last night was the best air quality we've had in nearly a week.

I am pleased to note that our Governor issued a state-wide ban on all open fires and private fireworks yesterday.

I hope you are enjoying your Fiber Arts Friday.  Please join us over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  There's always a lot to see.  :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Ready for Shearing

It's that time of year.  Time for our annual harvest of yummy alpaca fleece... tomorrow!

I've been making preparations over the last several weekends to get ready for this day.

The combs and cutters have been cleaned and sharpened.  The barn swept and rearranged.  The mats are scrubbed and set up.  The collection bags are labeled.  The checklist has been prepared and supplies all set out.

And the house?  It's (nearly) sparkling clean too.  :-)

I roasted a turkey earlier this week and started baked beans.  I will finish preparing the food today as well as the rest of the last-minute items.

A group of wonderful family and friends are coming out.  There is no way that we could do this day without their help.  So I want to make sure they are all well fed and cared for.

It's a little damp right now but the weather forecast looks good for shearing.

Now for a bunch of gratuitous photos of our alpacas... who will all be looking a lot different tomorrow.  :-)

Kocoa and Daisy

Keyla, Frieda and Apple

Keyla decided it was a good time for a nap.

Clementine and Big Thompson

Gus and Yoda

and Noodle and Wonton because...
Noodle can find something interesting nearly anywhere

I hope you have a great Fiber Arts Friday.  :-)