Not yet

I ran out of yarn for the infant sweater and thought I'd spin up more.  I had some brown yarn in process so I'd have to finish that first.

I sat down at the spinning wheel and started to spin. My thought was I could spin for 10 minutes, take a break, and do that several times over the day. 

:( I didn't even make 2 minutes at the wheel.  I kept thinking "why is this so hard to spin?". Yeah, 11 days post surgery might be the answer.  Clearly it is too much too soon.

So the spinning wheel is set aside:

I do have a head band in process that I can work on - since I can knit just fine. Maybe I have other scraps of yarn around here too. 

No more yarn

So I found the pattern in this book:

This pattern:

I think part of me was hoping the baby came with it :)   Just to hold, not keep.  Snuggling a baby is the best :)  (though right now no baby over 10 pounds, I can't lift more than 10 pounds).

I started with the back: 

It is an easy knit (k2p2 pattern) and if I wasn't only a few days post surgery, I would have done more that first day.  

The second day:

With the back done I was ready to start on the front.

There are 2 front panels.  I have found it best to knit these at the same time, then I know for sure there are the same number of rows on each panel:

Then I ran out of yarn :(

That little bit of yarn is what I have left:

Yeah, that's not enough to finish the neckline and make 2 sleeves.

I realized this pretty early on in my project, that there wouldn't be enough yarn, but thought I'd just knit until I couldn't.

Then, I can make more yarn!! 

Knitting projects

My plan has been to do some knitting while I am home recovering from surgery. I knew the first few days I wouldn't be up to it, and I expect it will be awhile before I want to spin yarn, but some knitting seemed do-able.

What I didn't consider is that digging around for just the right pattern might be hard with healing incision.  I mean, those books are heavy and my cupboards hard to dig into when I can't get down in the floor:

I made a mess and I don't think I can clean it up :( 

But, I found several patterns I am excited about and that right there is the point!

Organizing

I bagged up alpaca show ribbons so they go with each alpaca to their new farm:

And I organized our farm etsy page with fiber pictures:

With lots more fiber on that page. 

I admit, this stuff I did before I had surgery, I just didn't have time to post about it until now.  Having down time has given me a change to catch up on blogging :)  

Fiber

Oh dear

Yeah, my fiber room is out of control!!

We do have a sale going on at our farm etsy page, including 20% off EVERYTHING in the store!!  I need to destash a lot of this. 

The code for 20% off:

new2013

Spinning

For those who don't know I had surgery on Wednesday.  I had to have a hysterectomy which requires a six week recovery period. As any mom knows and more so any farmer, there is never a good time to be laid up for six weeks. I can't pick up, lift, pull, push anything more than 10 pounds. It all worked out that most of our alpacas have sold. The 5 remaining ones I can now see from my bed (and watch my kids do their chores - its very cute). We also have the 8 sheep (5 ewes, 1 ram & 2 lambs).  And 2 farm cats. My kids have it all under control.  And they bring me meals!  I am blessed. 

The farm is doing fine with me laid up in bed (day 3 now).  My kids are doing good too :). My head is spinning and so is my tummy - not in a good way. It is just afternoon here and I have taken more naps than not naps so far.

Before surgery I did a lot of yarn spinning. I am hoping in the next couple of weeks I will be up to knitting:

I had 1 strand extra of the brown:

So I plyed the white & had some extra:

Sorting

Now that we are selling off our alpaca herd, there is lots to sort out.

Here is some of the mess if ribbons:

These are ribbons I never wrote who they belonged to:

And these are the few left:

So many changes

Lots of things are changing on our farm and I am updating this blog as fast as I can to keep up with the changes.  You will notice links and names and features changing.

But I want to assure you we are still a farm and will continue to be.

I will still be writing this blog.  Just that the content will change as our farm changes.

I encourage and ask that you stay with us, this is truly an adventure of a lifetime!


I changed our farm write up to say this:

Our farming adventure began with the purchase of 3 alpacas in the fall of 2007.  This eventually grew to an alpaca farm that birthed 23 cria.  While we averaged 20 alpacas on a farm at any given time, we hit a peek of over 30 alpacas.  We were involved in every aspect of alpaca farming: from breeding decisions, birthing, to attending alpaca shows, and shearing our own alpacas along with making product from their luscious fiber (hand spinning yarn and knitting product).  We participated in 24 alpaca shows, and became very involved in the alpaca community.

In 2013 we added hair sheep to our farm. 

Throughout this process we continued to tweak and revise our business plan.  Our business plan evolved over time, and in 2013 it became clear that our goal was to raise grass fed animals for human consumption.  While the initial plan was for this to go along side of alpaca farming, we slowly came to the conclusion our adventure was going to take us somewhere else.

In 2013 we began to sell off our alpaca herd to begin our new adventure with grass fed sheep and cattle. 

Our adventure is still unfolding, so please, join us in our adventure of a lifetime as our journey unfolds.

Incredible Alpaca Male for Sale

This is TCS Gabriel (link to his sale's page):

Looking to move towards true uniformity in your herd? Looking for a male that has a close grade between primary and secondary fibers as well as doesn't have extending primary fibers, even in his neck fleece?

Gabriel has a waxy, ultra-soft handling fleece. His regrowth exhibits a tremendous staple length with consistent crimp character throughout. His fleece is perfect for commercial or cottage textile production, as his primary and secondary fibers are close in grade and the primary fibers do not extend past the secondaries, even up his neck!

His 2012 Certified Sorted numbers are just as impressive as last year. Still holding a 9 for brightness, 8 for density, shearing 8.44 lbs with a 5" staple length!

Gabriel's 2011 histogram also affirms this one is special! 19.4 AFD, 3.4 SD, 17.4% CV, 99.3% CF at 21 months of age!

He has quality genetics that boast the likes of Accoyo Maverick, Royal Fawn, Snowmass DeBeers, Peruvian Hemingway and Peruvian Snowmaster.

This guy has trunk-like bone structure with fleece that completely covers both his ears and his toes. A sweet disposition rounds out this handsome guy.

P.S. Gabriel is 15/16th's peruvian.

Awards

2012 1st Place, Spin-off, MAPACA (6 entries)

2011 1st Place, Spin-off, AOBA National Show (10 entries)

2011 1st Place, Walking Fleece, Huron Spring Show

2010 Best in Show, Walking Fleece, Huron Spring Show - Over 150 entries!

2010 Color Champion Fawn, Walking Fleece, Huron Spring Show

2010 1st Place, Walking Fleece, Huron Spring Show

2010 2nd Place, Halter, Huron Spring Show

2010 Best Brightness, OABA Fleece Show, over 120 entries

Best of the Us, 2013

Great Midwest Alpaca Fest, 2013

Savings code

Lots of fiber for sale on our farm's ETSY shop with a code for 20% off:

new2013

Lots of nice fiber:

A little yarn (if it's still left):

Two Suri Girls for Sale

These girls are still available - the only girls we have left to sell.

A nice little package of 2 suri females (link) both bred to an beautiful male. Priced at $4000 when sold together (may be sold separately too) with financing available. These girls have top knotch genetics.


 Maxine:

This a beautiful young Full Peruvian suri female. She is a dark alpaca in a light fawn wrapper. Full of luster, nice lock structure, great bone. She is bred to a male who has won numerous awards, including Best Luster. This should be a knock out cria.

Awards

Best of the US, 2013 Light Yearling Never Shorn

Great Midwest Alpaca Fest, 2013 Light Yearling Never Shorn

Take Five (AKA Candy):

Her lineage and pictures speak for themself. She's bred to an outstanding male who has won numerous, including Best Luster.

Awards

Best of the US, 2013 Fawn Yearling Never Shorn

Great Midwest Alpaca Fest, 2013 Fawn Yearling Never Shorn

Sold Sold Sold!!!

This afternoon we had a farm visit due to our recent announcement that we are selling off our alpaca herd.

Two ladies came and looked and bought all of our huacaya girls!!

They bought:

Rose and her 2013 cria, Violet

Cocoa with 2013 cria, Irish Cream

Mysteria

Tehya

Lady Bing

Twilight