She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. --Proverbs 31:13

4/10/2005

We had a wonderful time at the alpaca shearing yesterday. We pulled in and Reagan saw an alpaca and said, "Look, a deer!" No honey, that's an alpaca. Then we walked on to the lot where they had the next alpaca's waiting to be sheared. There were 4 babies in a group by themselves. Reagan said "Look, sheep!" No sweetie, alpacas. She got it right after that. Here's a picture of alpaca's before they were sheared.

So we stood around and admired the beautiful animals for a while, and then I saw that Veronica was there. Veronica is another homeschool mom, and I had some self striping sock yarn for her, so I went to fetch that, started talking about spinning with this couple who had bought alpaca's from Margie and had them there to be sheared. About that time, everyone decided to go to Margies studio to spin a little. My kids and the other kids there played on the porch while the we all marveled over Margies studio and showed the couple spinning, and talked and talked and talked. I really think the talking is one of my favorite parts. One of the cutest things in Margies studio is a set of two framed calligraphy prints. One is a qoute by Margies late husband, and says, "Spend, Spend, Spend" Right next to it is another quote, by Margie. It says.."It's an investment". A picture of shorn alpaca's.

The most wonderful thing that while we were there though, was that a cria (or baby alpaca) was born. This is Margie giving it a bottle of colostrun. Notice mom was sheared before the baby was born. There was a little excitement because the mom had to be taken to the vet before lunch because the baby was turned wrong. But they got it turned, got her home, and he was born. We didn't see him get to his feet before we left, but were assured he was going to be fine. He did pick his head up a few times, but mostly they just both rested.

Well, I know I said that I probably was not going to get any fleece while we were there. But Margaret's husband talked to my husband and told him what a deal we were getting on the fiber. So I got almost two pounds of fiber. One was this bag, of a mixed white and caramel colored fleece...

And this fleece, which is actually a deep dark black/brown. It looks gray here because of the flash on my camera. I am going to pay and pick these up next week, and just had a moment to steal a couple of pictures. Both fleeces are so soft and lovely. I can't wait to spin them up!

1 comment:

Jill said...

Hi, Jan, it's your cousin, Jill.

I'm so jealous about your spinning and wool-gathering. I've been after my husband to buy me a loom for years. I have some wool I saved from a baby lamb we raised on a bottle. I have it's black baby wool, and the wool we sheared every year after that 'till he died. How long does wool keep if it hasn't been cleaned? I didn't know how to clean it. It's just stored in trash bags.