Productive Day

Wool roving dyed in the crockpot -
crimson red, lilac, and chocolate

Then spun into a single which was plied with
a single of carmel colored alpaca to make this pretty yarn.

More wool roving dyed in the crockpot -
teal, brilliant blue and chocolate

Here it is as a singles yarn

How big is your stash?

In recent posts by Laura Fry, she talks about finishing projects that are using up her stash. If I was as prolific as she is, my stash would be gone after a few projects! Here's every piece of yarn I have:

What does your weaving stash look like?

Fun fiber stuff

My dd and I made some neat yarn yesterday morning.

A few months ago I won an ebay auction for 24 pirns that were loaded with string. I only wanted the pirns to use in a shuttle I had bought; I had planned to throw away the string. Once the items arrived, the string was actually kind of nice. And since I had a warp on the loom already that needed to be used up, I went about using the string and made some nice placemats. They were so nice that I used them as a Christmas gift to my sister, who said she loves them and is using them as doilies and end table runners. Even after I ran out of warp (remember my floor loom came pre-warped with white string), I still had about a dozen pirns filled with string. But these were not in as good a shape as the others - the string broke when pulled on with medium tension. I'd hate to make something and have it fall apart because the weft is too weak. So to the garbage these fibers were headed.

filled pirn

But it killed me to throw away all that string. And it was taking forever to pull off the string. Rotary cutter to the rescue! One quick pass over the length of the pirn and I had most of the string removed.

cut pirn

But wait! The removed string actually looked just like that stuff in the eyelash yarns. Oooooo!!! Card it into some wool, spin it up, and Viola! Eyelash Yarn

eyelash yarn

One by one...

I'm convinced that if everyone who likes fiber - that would be knitters, crochetters, weavers, etc... - tried alpaca fiber, that they would never go back to anything else. To that end, I do my best to expose as many people to the fiber as I can.

I carry a drop spindle with me where ever I go. I always let people "pet" the fiber and the yarn when they ask what I'm doing. Someone always asks. :-) They are always amazed that it's so soft. My current carry-around is some of Boot's suri fiber.

Sometimes I substitute teach at my children's elementary school. I always bring a bunch of wooden toy wheel spindles and fiber so that if we have some free time I can teach them. It doesn't matter what age the kids are, they LOVE learning. I've even done presentations in the kindergarten classes to coincide with the cowboy section they study in January.

I sent my cousin a small skein of dyed alpaca yarn at Christmas time. I had just found out she's a knitter. She spent time this weekend at a Superbowl party knitting some wrist warmers. Aren't they great!!



Of course, my children being California babies asked why someone would want to make something to keep their wrists warm. LOL!! I reminded them about our trip to the snow in Tahoe last year. *Then* they understood!

Puss 'N Boots

And Boots makes THREE!



Technically he's not part of Humming Hearts Ranch. Boots belongs to our daughter. She fell in love with him from the day she first met him. He's an incredibly friendly (but not too friendly - the tail stays down) and curious alpaca. He's first to the fence when visitors arrive and loves attention. In fact, he was recently photographed for an article in the local newspaper. The Hollister Freelance came to Foothill Llama and Alpaca Ranch (where we agist) to do a story on the business of alpacas. Boots was so friendly that he was featured on the front page of the Community section where the article was published.

The ranch who owned Boots gave us his last fleece. DD (dear daughter) has been cleaning it and spinning it. So have I. It's really incredible. So soft and shiny!!! Suri fiber really "shines" best when it's combed and spun worsted. I only have a drum carder and haven't learned worsted spinning really so I doubt I'm doing this lovely fiber justice. Nonetheless, it's making some really nice fine gauge yarn. I've kept most of the chocolate fibers separate so far but I'm not worrying about the bits that do make it through. It just makes for a more interesting yarn.

Monterey Pronk 2004

Competing in a show is exhilirating
yet nerveracking
and also exhausting
but most of all, awesome!

This weekend was our first show. It was held at the beautiful Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey California. Our yearling male, Autumn Heat, competed in a full fleece halter show. Here we are walking in the ring as the judge (in red) looks on.



In addition to the halter competition, they also had a Fiber Arts Competition. I entered 3 handspun skeins of yarn and my daughter entered 1 handspun skein. Between us, everything we entered won a ribbon. I won 2 First places and 1 Second place and my daughter won a First place on her skein. Here's one of my First place skeins with its ribbon.

He's ours!

We are now the proud owners of FTHL Autumn Heat, a yearling male. You can see a picture of him in the January 13, 2004 post. He's being agisted at Foothill Llama and Alpaca Ranch until we are ready to move to our own ranch.

The search for a viable ranch location continues. This month we'll be scouting out parts of Oregon and Washington. The kids have a week off from school in February so we're driving up and staying with friends and relatives. (The kids just had two weeks in December and they get another week in April. I don't remember getting that much time off when I was in school!) Given that dh is a California boy and I've become spoiled by the temperate CA climate, it's going to be interesting to see how we fare for a week of February weather up north. DH is spending this week on Long Island New York, where the winter has been especially tough this year. We'll see how he feels about snow when he gets back. For me, I guess I'd be okay with a bit of snow each winter. When I say a "bit", I mean inches. Shovelling feet of snow just to get out to feed the animals is out of the question.

This week I'm spending my evenings sorting a dark chocolate baby alpaca fleece for cleaning. So far, the fiber is quite nice. This one doesn't have a lot of crimp but it sure is soft. I think I'll spin it a bit thicker than I usually would and then ply it with itself to make a chocolate yarn. I've already mixed a bit of this fiber with some white baby alpaca fiber and it made an interesting white with chocolate flecks yarn.

Spinning Guild Day

I love today. It's the third Saturday of the month. I look forward to today all month long. Today is the monthly meeting with the local spinning guild. I get to hang out with fellow fiber enthusiasts. I always come away from the meetings having learned something new. Part of what I love is the time that I get to spend, doing something that I find very relaxing with other people who are doing the similar things and chatting about everything under the sun but usually about fiber stuff that just puts me in a place of comfort. Another part is the fact that I *always* come home having learned something new. And yet another part has to do with this activity being something I do just for me.

The guild I belong to is called Serendipity Spinners and they are located in San Jose, California. Their web site is

I borrowed someone's Lil Herbie wheel to spin up a yarn sample. Just yummy! Okay, you're going to have to trust me on that because this is a really bad picture.


Tomorrow we're headed to Southern Cross Alpaca Farm in Gilroy. Robyn Houts is a nationally known alpaca fiber judge so I'm eager to see what's she got available in her fiber store. We're also curious about the layout of the ranch they have since it sits on only 5 acres - a plot size we may well end up with ourselves.