The Hollyhock Blog

A while back I got this:

Bags of fiber

That is 19 fleeces from Kinney Valley Alpacas.  All have low micron counts (that measures the diameter of each fiber) which makes nearly all of them fall into the ‘baby alpaca’ category of fineness.   Only a few were just outside the range considered baby alpaca.  Slowly that became this:

Going down, down, down

And finally, this:

All gone from here

Meanwhile, on the other side of the shop in the barn, this was appearing:

Two full bags

And then became this:

Six bags of cleaned fiber

Another angle – yes, I’m very proud!

These bags are big

Each of those bags average over 6 pounds of cleaned, very soft fiber.   Five bags will be sport-weight yarn, one bag will be lace weight.  All to be dyed and for sale!   This was left behind:

Under the skirting table

Tomorrow I’m making a run toRach-Al-Paca fiber processing mill.  I will be bringing these six bags as well as some from our animals – Vagabond‘s, Jose‘s, and Pelasia‘s.  I’ll get some roving and some yarn from each of these.  It will be a while before I get this back, but I do have roving from Toro waiting to be picked up.  I’m also picking up a big yarn order for Twisted Suri Alpacas.  They have asked me to dye some of their white yarn.  Can you guess what is on my schedule for next week?

Speaking of next week – we’ll be at Pie Day in Braham on Friday – Aug 6.  Come see us and have a piece of pie!  YUM!

The last couple weeks, I’ve been working on creating a new felting kit.  I chose a cute little bunny in a flower pot from the designs selected by my partners at Twisted Suri Alpacas.  After dyeing and stamping and all that, I got to needle felt the design.  This is the fun part!  And I am ‘required’ to do every design so I have an example to take the pictures for the packaging. 

Bunny #1

I asked for opinions and 3 out of 3 (4 of 4 if I include my own opinion!) were not thrilled with the bunny’s color.  So…..

Bunny #1 removed

I had carded white and black fiber together for the gray and thought I had a really nice gray roving!  I’m considering attempting to combine a bunch more and even try spinning it.  Gray yarn is so popular, but gray alpacas are rare.  (It is a bonus when good still comes out of an experiment gone awry!)  But a gray bunny was not to be.  So I tried again.

Bunny #2

This is the finished picture!   Already in our Etsy shop.   Cute and fun to make.

I’m starting a new alpaca felting kit  design and have started dyeing roving in the new colors needed for this design.  I decided to try acid dyeing in aluminum pans heated over water in my big roaster. 

After soaking the roving in soapy water for about a half hour, I put it in the tins over a couple inches of water in the roaster.   I added the citric acid directly to the dye, which I mixed up in a little glass jar and sucked up in a big syringe.  I squirted the dye onto the roving and squished it around with chopsticks.  I added a little more water as needed to get better coverage.   Then I cranked up the heat and let it cook!

Cooking over the roaster pan

I have an ounce each of 2 shades of what I was hoping to be a rusty red roving.  In the smaller pan I have 1 ounce of roving divided into 2 shades of green.

Since the roving is not directly in contact with the hot roaster pan, I could use higher heat.   The roving got more steamed than boiled. 

This is the result.

New colors of roving

The purple was done in a dye pot on the stove.  The 2 reds are more red than the brick color I wanted and I didn’t get solid coverage of the color.   Neither of these really matter for the felting design.  That is why I chose this project for my experimentation.  The green also has some lighter areas that didn’t get much dye, but grass and leaves can be that way!   Now I know – I need a little more liquid to get the dye to reach all the roving in the tin pans.   The citric acid in the dye makes the dye stick to where it is squirted faster than when in a big pot of water.  Good lessons to learn.

I’ve a few more colors to dye before I can felt the new design, but I’m hoping to to get it done this week!

I’ve completely finished the remaining custom  order sets.  The blue and brown set:

Completed!

And the brown set:

Also done!

All boxed and ready to go.

It's in the box!

All I have left to complete this order is one more hat.  It is on the needles.  Then I will move on….  I want to do some multi-color dyeing for a scarves.  I MUST work on getting a felted hat perfected!  And knit a hat from that yarn I spun at the retreat (there is lots if you would like some!)  And I got a bunch of yarn and roving back from Rach-Al-Paca…..yummy!  Want some???? DK and worsted yarn, dark brown from Chestina and Jose.  Way too many ideas and never enough time. 

It is snowing like mad here!  I’m refaining from showing pictures as snow pictures seem to be on every news channel and blog lately.  But it is lovely – from inside looking out!

Announcing:  (drum roll, please!)

Alpaca Felting Kits   (and the crowd go wild!)

I’ve been working with Roger and Gina of Twisted Suri Alpaca Ranch to develop a line of felting kits using our alpaca fiber.  I have finished our first design.  Scroll slowly and watch this little wonder develop before your eyes. 

What is it?

A little more to see

Can you guess?

Almost complete

Hello World

Framed and ready to fly!

This butterfly design will be our first felting kit.  The felting kit will include the backing (60% alpaca / 40% wool) which will be stamped with the design, hand-dyed (by me) 100% alpaca roving, alpaca yarn, a foam block to use for needle felting, 2 felting needles, complete instructions and a photo of the completed design.   Frame is not included.   We’ll also be creating refill kits which will contain everything in the felting kit except the foam and needles.  We have a hot-air balloon design, an alpaca and an iris in the works.  We have our Etsy shop  – Alpaca Felting Kits - open, but no kits posted yet.   We still need to do the accounting (blah!) to determine the price of the felting kits and refill kits.   As I get the roving dyed for each design, they’ll be available for sale. 

What do you think?   Do you like the butterfly?  Do you want to see more?