The Hollyhock Blog

A few weeks back I did the online registration process for Carley and Georgie.   Along with the online portion, I sent blood samples in to the Alpaca Registry, Inc (ARI) lab for parental DNA verification.  I now have this:

Carley's registration

The registration paper for Hollyhock’s Carley K!   Alongside is an example of the little DNA cards we use.   All the info is written on the outside, the little circle is carefully filled with blood and the card is mailed to ARI.  The little purple capped tube is Carley’s blood sample (purple is important).  I had our vet draw the blood back in June when he was here to check on Georgie when she got that infection.  I’ve had 2 tubes of blood in my fridge since June! 

Why do I keep blood in my fridge?  If you could read the test tube, you could see it says ‘no name white’.   Back in June, we had no idea what our 2 crias would eventually be named.  But since the doc was here, I had him draw the blood – DNA doesn’t go bad in the fridge – and I saved paying for an additional vet visit.  The reason to have the vet draw the blood into a tube, rather than just fill in the circle on the DNA card is this.  I sent Georgie’s card in with Carley’s, but the cards got separated somewhere.   Should Georgie’s card be lost, I can create a new one from her test tube of blood in the fridge without needing a vet visit.  I can now toss Carley’s! 

Molly (our chief mouser) had a bad Thanksgiving.  There was a free can of cat food in her last bag of dry food, so we saved it until this morning.  Guess we’re not real bright around here — we left in the barn and it froze.  Apparently it was not appetizing at all, as Molly preferred her dry food.  How many people do you know who can ruin Thanksgiving dinner for the cat!  A chef, I am NOT! 

The score on the Spotsie hat:  Hat 2 / Teresa 0   My first try was too big –RRRRIIIIIIIIPPPPPP.  I think the second try is too small – but I think I only need to rip the decrease portion.  It’s in time-out!   No pictures until I’m winning the challenge.

I finished the ear-flap hat.  I started this hat on the car trip a few weekends ago.  It is done.  $30.

Completed ear flap hat

I also made a simple little matching scarf ($30) - but forgot to take a picture of it.  They are made from my hand spun yarn I’ve been calling Mixed Cria in earlier posts.   I still have lots of roving and 2 more bobbins nearly full to be plied.  Lots of mileage from those little ones!

I made this.  Commissioned as a gift. 

Gray & white hat

The yarn is my hand spun.  The white is from our Mr I. M. Perky.  The gray is an alpaca merino blend that I purchased as roving, spun and plied with Perky’s white single. 

I finished this.  $120.   I needed to get the loom out of my way.  The long side of the loom is nearly 80 inches and not convenient as it holds court over most any room! 

Shawl front

The green is 100% bulky alpaca – Kool-aid dyed.  There is a fine sparkly silver thread of mohair woven in the shawl.  

Shawl back

The weaving is the herringbone pattern.   On the advise of Kathe and Julie, I opted to leave the mohair thread out of the fringe.  Now that the shawl is off the loom, I see they led me in the right direction. 

Shawl - ready to go

A shawl and rocking chair in front of the fireplace.   All that is missing is you! 

What?  The ‘Spotsie yarn’ experiment?  Well…  The yarn mocks me every time I see it.  I’m still working out needle size, number of stitches and all the details in my wee little head!

Back on November 6, the local Girl Scout troop visited.  As I said before, they had lots to do in a short time.  That is my excuse for not taking pictures.  Many thanks to the troop leaders for taking pictures and sharing with me – so I can share with you.

After a short discussion about alpacas, I showed the girls how to weave on the smaller of my triangle looms.

Tri-loom weaving demo

They caught on to that quickly and took turns weaving.  

Girl Scout weaving

At the very end, I revealed my green shawl and showed the girls how to do the very last row.  I’m still working on getting fringe on that shawl.  The girls got to take their partial triangle off the loom and keep it.  Perhaps they will share it with family at a future meeting. 

While some were weaving, others were learning the art of felting fiber.  First wrap fiber around the plastic form.  

Cat Toy form for felting

Four layers of fiber is applied in alternating directions.  

Wrapping fiber completed

 The form is then rolled in bubble wrap and kneaded.  Kneading was a new concept!  We practised! 

Learning to knead bubble wrap

Some girls didn’t know their own strength – as evidenced by the sound of popping bubbles!  Everyone got a turn working the bubble wrap.  Then the plastic form was removed.   I did demo of finishing the cat toys so the girls could add the catnip and sew the hole shut after their felting had dried.  A fun and educational afternoon.

A while back, we had a visitor who spent some time in the barn getting to know all the alpacas.  The visitor was especially taken with Spotsie’s curiosity and personality.  

Spotsie Dotsie - May, 2008

 After some time in the gift shop, the visitor commissioned a hat with yarn from Spotsie.  I explained that the carding required to get the fiber ready for spinning mixes the small bit of black fiber with the white and it is barely noticeable.  I pondered how to get the desired ‘Spotsie Yarn’ that would have spots.  I embarked upon an experiment.   I took white batts of Spotsie’s carded fiber and a small bit of Toro’s roving processed at Rach-Al-Paca Farm. 

Ready to spin

I spun 2 bobbins of a little over an ounce each.  Randomly, I stuck in tufts of black.  Sometimes the black spun in nice and even, sometimes it was a big fluffy bubble. 

2 bobbins spun

I plied the 2 bobbins and wound it on the niddy-noddy, wet it down and let it dry overnight to set the twist.  It is soft and fluffy and dry this morning. 

Yarn on the niddy noddy

What did my experiment show? 

       Did I spin yarn?   Yes.

       Is it nice and even?  No.

       Can you find yarn like it anywhere else?  Certainly not at Wal-Mart!

       Will the yarn make a hat?  Yes, unless I run out of yarn.  But I can spin more.

       What will the hat look like?   You’ll have to wait and see.   I’ll have to wait and see!  The experiment is not over!  

I’m also working to add some adult / women’s sized mittens to my inventory.  I sold out during Farm Tour and have not had time to make more – until these. 

Mittens on the sales shelf

100% alpaca sport weight, knit doubled.  Dyed with hollyhock blossoms, then over-dyed with indigo.  $18.   My goal is to make a few more pairs, maybe felt a few, have a pair at the Sherburne History Center with my other things on consignment there.

My friend from high school, Kristi, spent last Wednesday with me.  She had her youngest son, Micaiah with her so he could get to know some of his ‘Minnesota’ family.  Her husband and 2 older sons were at home in Washington.  Kristi and her family will be doing missionary work in Thailand later this year.  I gave her my birch-log finger-puppet display to use when she does craft shows to sell the finger puppets.  The puppets are one way she raises money to support their missionary work.    

Micaiah is wise beyond his years and was quite intrigued by how my spinning wheel worked.

Micaiah studies the wheel

Notice he is also wearing the hat I made from the same yarn I’m continuing to spin.  I can see the roving in the bag has decreased, but there is still lots in there.  A matching scarf is forming in my brain at this moment.

Then we did the mid-day chores.  Carley was quite intrigued with the little person who was in her area.

Carley studies Micaiah

 We had a wonderful day and realized we couldn’t even remember when we last saw each other.  THAT is too long! 

I finally finished the scarf I started a while back.  I dug back in my brain and come up with a retro / macrame kind of fringe for it.  What do you think?  

Complete Scarf

And that is an exercise ball -  taking interesting pictures in Minnesota this time of year is ….  challenging, at best!