If you found my blog by way of the blog on Jewels of Saraswati, I welcome you. I hope you enjoy my ramblings about alpacas and fibery endeavors!
To my regular readers, check out Jewels of Saraswati. Hollyhock Farm Alpacas is featured there as part of the ‘eco-luv’ series. It’s a fun, interesting blog.
And a big thank you to Lauren for featuring me on her blog!
Here are this week’s mittens:
Mittens, again...
3 pair in brown. While knitting these, the sun was shining on this yarn and there is a sparkly-ness to it. It didn’t come out in the picture at all, but they are actually kinda pretty – for brown mittens.
After friends stopped by, I noticed this:
Cool tracks!
Their tires tracks had formed these hearts in the snow/mud. I suppose it is a common pattern to make, but I had never seen it quite like this. Darryl must have snapped the pictures as I found them on the camera!
I got crazy and knit up a whole bunch of wrist warmers. About 1800 yards of yarn, 27 pair of wrist warmers ! I’m slowly in the process of steaming and seaming! I hope to get some posted on Etsy soon.
Last night was the first Knitting Night Out at the Delightful Day Boutique in Becker. The group was small – only 3 of us knitters – but we enjoyed each others company and made progress on knitting projects.
This Wednesday finds me with only one pair of mittens. Same green as last week.
One more pair for charity
Since I had so much of this color, this pair is adult sized. It will go to the food shelf or some other charity. I did finish the ball with this pair. On to a new color next week!
Rolly and Sonny are weaned and we are starting their training. After a few times of just wearing halters, I’ve started working with them and the lead rope. Here’s Rolly.
Rolly
Rolly close up
He’s more shy and tends to want to just stand.
But Sonny
Son of Bond
Sonny close up
he wants to pull back and jump up. It takes many days of short lessons before they understand the gentle tugging on the halter just means to move forward. As it gets warmer, it is easier (for me) to work with them more.
I also updated most of the alpacas web pages and created a page for Rolly and Sonny. I’ve many plans for the website and the warmer weather is reminding me that my time to do inside work is quickly coming to an end.
I must praise Dharma Trading. I bought my dyes from them. When faced with the question of forgetting the citric acid, I emailed them. Within hours, I got a reply. They suggested I wash the yarn in the hottest tap water and detergent. If the dye stays, it is good! So I washed and the dye stayed.
Ready to go
The skeins re-wound to properly mix the colors.
On Saturday, I dyed this.
My favorite colors
It is the last of my imported 100% alpaca bulky yarn. My goal is to dye all my imported yarn before I get my Wisconsin grown yarn back from Rach-Al-Paca. I have a cone (about 2 pounds) of 80% alpaca / 20% silk lace weight and over a cone of 100% alpaca sport weight to dye! I got some dyeing tips from the Wool Princess and I’ll be trying these out soon and sharing the results with you.
I’ll be consigning my yarn and a few finished items at a new shop – Art Reflections near here. I’m very excited to see how my things will do there. And Delightful Day Boutique has had requests for yarn. So I’ll be bringing in some yarn to join the felting kits already there.
