How to Make Naked Aliens from Fluffy Teddy Bears

Or, Pictures of our Alpacas Before and After Shearing
(My is Google going to love that title!)


Here is Chloe before and after shearing. As you can see from the large bump on her left side, Chloe is still pregnant. This picture was taken Monday after shearing. The bump is a different shape today, but it's still there. It is now day 354 and arrival of the cria is still "soon"

The answer to yesterday's question is two different alpacas. That's Georgia on the left and her son, Donovan, on the right. The two animals really are the same color and pattern. Most of the color differences in the pictures are due to lighting and angles. Here are the same two alpacas before shearing.


Georgia on the left (or top depending on your browser). Donovan on the right (or bottom again depending on your browser). Again, most differences in color are due to lighting.

I made progress on the fleeces in the living room yesterday. I weighed all the fleeces and recorded shear weights. Donovan sheared the most total weight. Anna had the heaviest blanket and best annualized total yield.

This year's junk and coarser thirds have now been converted to garden mulch. Given the pile of fiber in the spare room and the fact this year's shearing is still in the living room, it looks like I'll have plenty of mulch for the rest of the roses. I hate to do that with fiber, but I haven't found a way to create enough value from coarse fiber to make thirds worth anything more than mulch. My time is better spent -- and it's much more fun -- making rovings and handspun from the good stuff!

Stay tuned for before and after pictures and updates on my progress reclaiming the living room floor.