Finally Time for Fiber

I actually managed to make/take some time for fiber on Sunday. With everything else going on, it's amazing my fingers actually remember how to spin.

I spun up two balls of the coarse alpaca thirds I used in my knitted felt experiments back in March. I haven't decided what to do with it yet and I'm not to the point of attempting socks. Perhaps this yarn will also become knitted felt and eventually portions of new slippers should that project ever advance.

In addition to spinning, I accomplished some long-overdue yard and alpaca work this weekend. Open Barn Day is fast approaching and the place is a mess. The small lawnmower has died as have both weedwackers. The big lawnmower doesn't mow very close to landscaping or fences. Thus, I have much "mowing" to accomplish using a pair of hedge shears and some hand clippers. At least the lawnmower should be back this week. It's a good thing, too, since the grass is getting has gotten away from us.

Too much grass outside the pastures. Not enough grass inside the pastures -- except one pasture where the grass is growing faster than it's being eaten. (I'll elaborate one day, but for those of you unfamiliar with the topic, one of the challenges of raising pasture-fed livestock is dealing with seasonal variation in forage production -- grass grows fastest in the spring.) You would think, that with seven of our nine alpacas in overgrazed pastures, we could figure out some way to use some of the alpacas to mow this surplus outside the pasture fences. Like building fences and establishing rotational grazing, it's easier said than done. I'm sure someday we will learn how to manage alpacas and grazing such that they mow 95% of our lawn for us. We'll look back at our early days and laugh about how foolish we were to spend so much gas, money, and effort mowing the grass when the alpacas would eat it. In the meantime, we'll be doing the foolishly hard mowing and trimming work so we'll have something to look back on ten years from now.

One week after open barn day is shearing weekend. The junk hobby room is still full of last year's fiber as well as some from 2003. I have no idea where I'm going to store all this incoming fiber.

I haven't managed to card the Easter Egg dyed suri fiber yet. If I've had the time and energy for carding, rain has been threatening, and when it's been dry, I've been either too tired from my day job, or had higher priorities here. I'm starting to get in shape and the days are getting longer, meaning I'll have more evening daylight for carding. With other events fast approaching, I might not get the suri carded until after shearing -- and in my first in, first out fiber filing piling system this means it might be a while (read frantic preparation for BSG) before I find dyed suri fiber again.

If you are in the Roseburg or Glide area on May 14, I invite you to visit us on Open Barn Day. In the meantime, please peruse The Alpaca Merchant, our on-line store. If you are in the market for animals, we do have alpacas for sale on our herd page.