The Hollyhock Blog

NO!  It’s a finished object!   I’ve finished the purple shawl I’ve been working on for way too long! 

I dyed the yarn - way back in May.  But it is ready in plenty of time before the cold weather sets in.  It is a custom made request for a customer who wanted a purple blanket/throw made of alpaca to curl up in.  It still has the faint scent of grape Kool-aid in it.   Grape seems to have the longest lasting smell!  I rinse, wash and rinse my yarn after dyeing, but somehow, the grape scent hangs in there! 

I think I got the hang of the herringbone pattern by the end of the weaving.  You can really see it on this close up. 

It didn’t seem to show up much while it was stretched on the loom, so I’m very happy to see the texture come out now that it is finished.  Vicki - I hope you love it!  And it’s okay if you wish for cold weather!  I’m looking forward to wearing my alpaca sweaters again, too! 

The St Michael Daze and Knights festival started today and goes through Sunday.  But tomorrow is the craft fair and I’ll be there showing people what my alpacas can grow!  Last year was rained out.  Today I heard there is no rain in our forecast until next Wed!  It is dry already, but I’m glad for the festival!  The cool nights are starting to get people thinking about the fact that summer will end - it always does - and then comes the alpaca wearing season! 

A bit of bad/sad news - our female alpaca Chestina is not pregnant.  She was last fall - per the progesterone test, but it appears she lost or absorbed the fetus.   This happens some times, but she is a bit chubby (!) and we didn’t notice this spring.  

The other side of the coin is both Spotsie and Embrace have been spitting at Vagabond (poor guy - his ego is totally destroyed!).  We’ll soon be doing progesterone tests on them. 

The Alpacas of Minnesota group met last Sat.  I had been working feverishly on getting fiber ready to take to Rach-Al-Paca Farm to be processed.  Here is the result before the meeting:

Yes - that is a big pile!  Bottom row from left. 

1) Big bag of mostly Embrace - fawn, second quality.  She’s been too busy having crias to make wonderful fiber.  I’m not sure if I’ll get some roving or have this all spun for me.  I’ll use it for handbags, placemats, maybe rugs. 

2) Big bag of Auracano - white, also second quality for the same reason.  I’m also not sure if I’ll have some of this into roving for me to spin.  Can’t decide how much time I’ll have.

3 & 4) These dark browns are Chestina’s and Jose’s - full bro and sis.  I can’t remember which is which in the photo.   I’m having Rachel mix these 2 together and spin it all into various weights of yarn.   This is the second shearing for each - so it will be very nice.

Top row from left.

5) Toro - black.  I want to spin this!  I’m having this made to roving.  Toro is the herdsire we own in partnership with Rum River Alpaca Ranch.  I get the fiber every other year.   This is the 2008 clip.  He has great fiber.  Yum!  Can’t wait!

6) And Pelasia - white.  She still has nice fiber.  I’ll have this spun into various weights of yarn!  For sale and for me to knit into more goodies for sale. 

 And I after the meeting I came home with these:

2 bags of wonderful roving!  The fawn is Vagabond’s - our herdsire. I’ve spun his fiber from the previous year and love it.  Have knit it into hats.  Isn’t it lovely?

And the other is a mixture of my crias neck and upper leg fiber.  Usually this is second quality fiber, but on crias it is still very soft.  There just isn’t much of it on little crias, so I tossed 3 or 4 babies’ fiber into a bag and sent it to be made into roving.  Some brown, some black.  I love it!  Can’t wait to spin.

Think I can have these 2 bags of roving turned into yarn before the next batch comes back? 

Pie Anyone?   Pie is one dessert that will go out my way for.   And I’m going tomorrow!  The first Friday of August is the annual Pie Day festival in my hometown of Braham, MN.   And, yes, pie is the star of the day.   There are lots of things going on — Sweet as Pie car show, kids ‘n berries area, Pie-Alluia Chorus will sing, Pie eating contest (do you see a theme going on here?) and lots of pies to eat.  Home made pies.  I know, my mom helps bake them.  She even donated some of the rhubarb from her  garden this year.  And I will be there - at the big arts & crafts show and I’m bringing my handmade alpaca things!  Yarn, hats, mittens, scarves and all the things that most people wouldn’t dream of wearing the beginning of August in Minnesota.  But there are those folks who are looking ahead, those who know that a HOT, HUMID summer day will be followed by the COLD, WINDY days of winter.  This is the third year I’ve been a vendor at Pie Day.  I like catching up with folks I only see a couple times a year.  And I like talking about alpacas to new folks.   And I like going back to my hometown.  And I like pie!  I really like pie! 

A few weeks ago, Georgie got her first haircut!  I hand sheared her.  Off went her brown fiber — down to very black fiber on her blanket (mid-section).   I left the fiber a little longer on her legs and upper neck and head to give her some protection from flies and gnats.  It hard to see the color difference in this photo - even harder to get that little one to pose for a picture! 

 Georgie’s name has stuck, but Cloudette’s name has undergone many revisions.  That name just didn’t roll off the tongue.   Cloudy just didn’t fit - she is far from cloudy - more like sunshine!   For a split second, she was Clementine.  Out of the blue, Darryl called her Sweet Clementine, which made me think of Sweet Caroline, which further made me think of Carol.   Carol was the wife of Darryl’s Uncle Stanley.   Carol passed away before I met Darryl but I did get to know Stanley before he passed away.   So I put their names together and came up with Caro-ley, which morphed into Carley.   And that seems to be good. 

They have both discovered that they like pea pods - which we had in abundance from our garden’s pea crop.   Georgie will walk up to me and look me in the eye and I swear I can hear hear her say ‘Got anymore of that green candy?’   She has me wrapped around her little toe!   Totally!  

I have gotten a little weaving done.    You can see a bit of the herringbone pattern on the corner of the purple throw.

It’s coming along.  I think I’m over the learning curve, so I should finish it up soon. 

This past week the gals on the Farm Tour Committee of Alpacas of Minnesota and I met some serious deadlines!   Kathy of Jackpot! Alpacas created a wonderful poster.  Linda of Foothills Alpacas formatted a booklet with information on 50 alpaca farms.  Kathe of Sawtooth Star Alpacas created a map of the farms which is the centerfold of the booklet.  And the reason for the fuss?   Farm Tour 2008!  Sept 27 - 28.  Over 50 farms across Minn open our barns to the public.   The posters and booklets are at the printer.  Next Sat, we’ll stuff packets of promotional material for the farms participating in Farm Tour and hand them out at the Alpacas of Minnesota meeting.  Visit ExploreAlpacas.com to see where all the details.

Rachel of Rach-Al-Paca Farm will be at that meeting next Sat, too, which gives me a great opportunity to get fiber to her without paying for shipping.  So I’m off to sort fiber.   I want to have some roving made and some yarn made and I really want to reclaim a large portion of my home!  I’ll be getting back some roving that Rachel has processed so I’m looking forward to some spinning in the future. 

We’ve been quite involved in a non-alpaca related event that has taken a lot of time over the last weeks.  But I’ve still managed to get a few fiber things done.

 I finished spinning and plying this skein of yarn.   The grey is from 70% merino / 30% alpaca roving that I picked up at Shepherd’s Harvest in May.  It is from River’s Edge Weaving Studio.   The white is from Mr. I. M. Perky, the young male begot from Embrace who we traded for our Vagabond.  His fiber is shiny white - the whitest of any alpaca we’ve had here.  There is just over 6 ounces, 160 yards of yarn somewhere between worsted and bulky weight.   Very nice and for sale. 

And in the garden, a  casualty of the winds - and fortunately, the only casualty we had here, was 2 of my indigo plants.  I pulled the little green branch accidentally while weeding.  See how green it is compared to the dead/dried plant that the wind broke.   There is definitely dye in that dead plant!  I can hardly wait until I can use the leaves for dyeing.  But I’m also a little nervous, as I’ve never dyed with indigo before - it is a bit more complicated than my usual Kool-Aid dye!

And I’ve even started weaving a big triangle to become a wonderful purple throw / blanket.  I’ve been commissioned to make this.  I dyed the yarn the beginning of June, and I’m finally getting started on the weaving part.  It’s a new pattern for me, so it took a while for me to get the hang of it.  It is a herringbone pattern.  It is difficult to get pictures while on the loom, but I hope to keep working on it and have it photo-ready soon.

On June 19, 20 and 21 I spent my days at Rocking Horse Farm near St. Cloud, MN.  I attending Knitting Machine Camp!  There was actually the space for those who wanted to to camp on the grounds.  But I’m close enough that I was able to drive home each night.  It is a beautiful farm, no longer in production, but with old buildings in various states of restoration.   Carole Wurst and her family have a wonderful studio/store/classroom there, which is where the camp was held.

For the three days, I tried to absorb as much as I could from Carole and the other ‘campers’.   Tips and ideas and so much knowledge was in the air those days, if I retained even a small percentage, I should be able to create some wonderful new alpaca items.

The first day I made this shawl using a tuck stitch.  The yarn is from a garage sale - cotton and acrylic - and the shawl is destined for donation to a church fund-raiser.

The machine does most of the work on this.  It is all in the set-up.   The detail is wonderful.  I can’t wait to try this in my alpaca yarn.

The second day, I worked on a hooded baby sweater.  The knitting is done.  I need to sew up the sleeves, finish the hood edge, add a zipper and weave in all the yarn ends.

This is knit with garage sale acrylic yarn and is destined for a fund-raiser or the local food and clothing shelf.   I use acrylic yarn as my ‘practise’ yarn to learn the ropes before I try to knit with alpaca yarn.

On the third day, I started a baby bunting.   It is very cute, but not very far along! 

But Life happened after my camp days, and I’ve not even got my machine unpacked since.   But I’ve been busily working on tying up loose ends in the rest of my life, so I can dedicate some serious time to imprinting my brain with knitting machine techniques. 

Another great thing took place that I forgot to mention in a timely fashion.  The first meeting of a new spinning/knitting/weaving guild happened in Elk River.  We don’t have a name yet, but have set our meeting day as the second Tuesday of each month, from 6 - 9 PM, at the activity room of the senior apartment building - Guardian Angels.   We had 10 gals attend and 2 more interested.   It looks like it will be a fun and informative group. 

The East Central Minnesota Loonies came to visit last Wednesday!   They are a Red Hat group named after the Minn state bird and/or the antics of the ladies!   They won’t say which!

We started the day with coffee, tea, cookies and a chance to stretch their legs and shop a bit in the gift shop.   Then they settled down to learn about alpacas.  I talked for about an hour, showing fiber, yarn, products, etc.  Since the group was all adults, I included the reproduction discussion - very interesting!  Then we headed out the barn.   The ladies fed treats to the alpacas, took pictures and got to see and touch the crias.   They had lunch reservations at the local golf course restaurant, Peakes.   After lunch, the ladies each felted a bar of soap.

I had several colors of fiber to choose from and hand made soap from Caroldon Soap Company - a fellow vendor at the Elk River Farmer’s Market.   They look pretty serious, but don’t let that fool you!   There was plenty of laughter and a few bubbles flying!

Once the fiber was felted around the soap bars, the ladies let them drip a while and relaxed.  A few were interested in seeing my indigo plants, so we checked out the garden.    

It was a wonderfully enjoyable day.  I hope all the ladies of the ECM Loonies had as much fun as I did!  Thanks for visiting Hollyhock Farm! 

Aaacckkkk - summer is flying by and I can’t keep up!   I’ve only a short time to post, so here goes:

 1)  The Elk River Farmer’s Market has not moved, YET.  But there are plans to.  Hopefully by July 10 (no market on the 3rd).

 2)  I’m planning to add Amish Cinnamon Bread to my Farmer’s Market offerings.   While I don’t really enjoy baking, I thought the variety would help the market.  And my Mom gave me the starter and I don’t have enough friends to pawn off future starters on! 

3)  The crias now have nearly official names - it won’t be official until the registration is complete.   The black one will be named after my uncle George - Georgie, Georgia, Georgette, Georgene - not sure exactly what variation, yet.  The light fawn one will be Cloudette, named after my great uncle Claude.  What do you think?  

  4)  Georgie had a relapse.   She seemed to be fine, so we stopped the antibiotics and she went downhill again.   So she’s back on antibiotics.   She’s doing very well now - spunky as ever.  She’ll stay on the meds a while longer this time - to be sure we’ve got it licked! 

 5)  We hand sheared Cloudette.  We wanted to get the cria tips off - the ends of the fiber that get all fuzzy while in utero.  We cut nearly an inch off.   She will be cooler for the summer.  Her fiber will be better in the spring.  The fiber I trimmed off is just like a cloud.  It is almost impossible to feel.   And, thus the name!

6)  I spent last Thurs - Sat at Knitting Machine Camp.  More about that later!   It was too cool to breeze over quickly in this list.

7)  I have a Red Hat group coming to visit on Wed.  There will be pictures!  These ladies reach a new level of fun! 

That is all I have time for right now!  I hope you are enjoying the summer - it goes by so fast here in Minn and we got a late start!

We’ve been busy around here.  

Darryl, with the help of a friend, starting putting up corner posts for a new outside area for Vagabond, our herdsire.  Fencing is my least favorite thing about alpacas.  A necessary evil!  It is hot, heavy, dirty work that never ends! 

Last Thurs was the first week of the Elk River Farmers Market.  And it POURED.  The rain started at 3 - the same time the Market was to start!  I was packed up and ready to leave by 3:15.  Today looks better.  We did make a decision last week to move!  The Farmers Market will be at the Westside Liquor Store - on the west side of Elk River,  Hwy 10 and 185th starting today!   You’ll see us from Hwy 10.  Please stop by - there are cut flowers, fruit, veggies, salsa, soap, and my alpaca things.  It is good to buy from your neighbors - better for you, better for the environment!  Support a Farmer’s Market in your area. 

We had a sick cria this week.  Our little black girl, seemed ‘tired’ on Sat.  Just not herself.  On Sunday, she was not gaining weight and didn’t seem real interested in eating.   Monday morning I called our vet.  The poor baby had a high temperature, but the vet listened to her heart and lungs and declared them fine - thank goodness!  He couldn’t find any obvious infection externally either, but we started her on antibiotics and gave her something to bring the fever down.   I even held a cold compress on her tummy to help her cool down.  The antibiotics seem to have found the infection and sent it down the road.   She’s had a normal temp for 2 mornings and I even saw her running with her little buddy this morning!  And she’s eating like a trouper and gaining weight!  She’s still not 100%, but she’s getting her spunk back!  It is scary to have sick babies - whether human or alpaca.