Socks, Pears, and Cria Watch

My day job has this very odd work schedule with rotating days off. Once per month, I have a stretch where I work seven days straight. Given I have a fairly physical, outdoor job, I can be exhausted by the end of that seven-day stretch. Yesterday was day seven of seven. Temperatures were in the high 90's. I'm tired.

I have been promising sock pictures. Here is a picture of my sock progress.



Yes, I am actually knitting a sock. The yarn is cheap Walmart cotton. There is no sense learning this many new skills at once using handspun alpaca. I've not knit that much yet, so knitting is still new. I've never knit in the round or with double-pointed needles before, so this is new. I've never knit a sock, mitten or hat before, so that's new. I am now as far as the heel of my knit sock – further than I ever got in my attempts to crochet a sock. Once I'm past the heel, there will be ribbing – another new knitting trick. I'm learning, and believe it or not, I'm enjoying the sock.

The figs are past and the pears are now in full swing.



Today's project – in addition to cleaning up the pastures from a week of neglect and recovering from seven days of lifting landscape blocks – is processing pears. Plans call for 1) washing at least three buckets of pears and putting them out to ripen, 2) slicing enough pears to fill the fruit dryer with dried pears, 3) starting a pot of blackberry-pear waffle syrup and 4) pick at least three more buckets of pears.

We're still on cria watch and hoping the girls hold off for a couple weeks. It's just too hot for new cria right now. Of course, it's also too hot to be pregnant and any of you who have been pregnant during hot weather can probably sympathize with just how Jubilee and Ipo Nani are feeling. They're not comfortable. We're seeing all the normal signs of late pregnancy, but no signs of labor.

Other Garden News

Today's post is a further digression on the garden. Even though there has been fiber progress, the garden and outdoors continues to be my focus.

The main crop of figs has been harvested. There are a lot of small figs on the tree and they may or may not ripen in time to produce a fall crop. This year's summer fig crop was a good crop. Dried figs are stored away for lunches and fig syrup has been stored away for morning waffles.

The pear harvest is starting. Pears are a little tricky, because our pears get mealy if they're allowed to ripen on the tree. Therefore, the pears must be picked and allowed to ripen in the kitchen. We plant to make dried pears for my lunches at work and we also plan to freeze some pear bread. I don't know how many dried pears we'll make since they take a lot of time and effort.

The apple trees are dropping lots of apples. We're trying to figure out if the apples are ripe or if the trees are dropping them due to drought. It looks like the apples will be smaller than usual this year, but we ought to be able to make some apple syrups for those winter waffles.

We've picked two tomatoes so far this year and I'll be checking for more red ones today. Hopefully, we'll have enough red ones at some point to make pasta sauce. We'll eat some pasta sauce fresh and freeze some for winter. I've heard dozens of comments about huge tomato plants and late tomatoes this year and our plants are following the same trend. The plants are spilling out the top of the tomato cages, yet we only have two ripe fruit.

The everbearing strawberries continue to produce ¾ of a bowl every picking. We've eaten a lot fresh, had some over waffles, and made strawberry smoothies on hot days. I'm happy to say our garden is doing well this year even though we've spent less time and effort on it than in previous years.

Oh, and those promised spinning/knitting pictures? They're still promised.

A Huge Thank You Wayward Winds Lavender Farm

A few weeks ago, Wayward Winds Lavender (blog, website) posted a better way to remove lavender florets (buds) from the stems in response to one of my lavender posts. I've been meaning to try that technique for a while and yesterday I finally got the opportunity.

What a difference! Instead of taking 30-60 minutes to process a bag of lavender stalks, I processed my entire supply of ten or twelve bags in under two hours. It's a huge difference and a vastly superior process.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The process is a little messier than my old method, but I'll trade fifteen extra minutes of clean-up for the huge time savings.

Once again, many thanks to the folks at Wayward Winds Lavender Farm.

Our lavender plants are starting to produce a second crop of flowers this year. I was planning to leave the flowers on the plants because the second bloom is usually not as productive as the first and because I didn't want to take the time to process more lavender. Now I'm considering harvesting more lavender.

Eggplant

Since digressions regarding gardening and cooking are allowed in fiber blogs, today's blog is a digression regarding a gardening success. I grew up with a rather large garden. Today's feature on that garden's website is eggplant. If you go back tomorrow, some other vegetable might be featured. My father has also written a very nice eggplant page on his website with some very pretty pictures.

Pam and I have been growing eggplant since we moved to Oregon. It's always been a disaster. I've been planting one or two plants of my favorite varieties from my childhood. Our yield has been one or two eggplant for the summer – enough for a nice meal, but hardly enough to justify the cost of the plants or the time and energy invested in them.

This year, I decided to try a different variety. The best available variety was a white eggplant. To ensure we got enough yield, I purchased two plants. We have yield. I think this year's eggplant plants have paid for themselves. I'm looking forward to some good meals.



It's time to start picking the eggplant. Supper this evening may well be my variation on my parents' favorite eggplant recipe. I prepare the eggplant per the instructions on their eggplant page. However, I don't fry the eggplant in olive oil. Instead, I mix a couple teaspoons olive oil with the eggplant pulp and cheese and then broil the eggplant in the toaster oven. It keeps the kitchen cooler.

There will be fiber content shortly. The spinning wheel is out and has been used within the past week. And, in astounding development, the sock on the knitting needles is actually starting to look like a sock. Pictures are possible tomorrow.

Cria Watch Once Again

Fall cria watch officially begins today. I'm not going to hype it like I did Chloe's delivery of Cailin.I'm not going to drag it out for two months – although nature might choose to do so. I'm going to try not to make impending cria my primary blog topic, and I promise not to be a nervous pacing alpaca-blog-father like I was this spring.

(Ok, first think Pam's going to do when she reads that last statement is post a comment that says, "Promises, Promises ...")

Pam, I promise I'll be calling in from work five or six times per day to ask if we have a cria yet, but I also promise not to post about it quite so frequently on the blog.

Jubilee and Ipo Nani are both due September 15th. Jubilee is bred Sindre for our first alpaca grandbaby. Ipo is bred to Nicholas, a classic tuxedo silver gray who's won a bunch of ribbons.

We're expecting great things from Jubilee and Sindre, of course, they are two of our favorite alpacas and Sindre is our first born. Sindre has incredibly fine fiber with high curvature. Jubilee has very slick fiber that gives her a pleasant handle despite her relatively high fiber diameter. We're hoping, of course, for Sindre's fineness, but based on previous breedings, we are expecting an intermediate fiber diameter.

As far as color goes, we are expecting the cria to have a black (like Jubilee) or dark brown (like Georgia) base color. If Sindre's gray comes through as well, we could get a silver gray (over the black base) or a charcoal gray like Sindre (over the dark brown base). White on the face or neck without any gray is also possible.

Ipo and Nicholas could potentially produce a second rose gray cria for us this year. Like the breeding that produced Cailin, there is one fawn parent and one silver gray parent in the mix. The truth is, though, we have no idea what color to expect from Ipo and Nicholas. I don't really expect the cria to be lighter than Ipo. Nicholas has a black base and Ipo's father has produced black cria, so black is a possibility as is everything in between. If Nicholas' gray comes through over a red or fawn color, the cria will be rose gray. If it comes through over black, the cria will be silver gray.

Whatever the color of Ipo's cria, we're expecting good fiber. Ipo is soft and has some character to her fiber. Nicholas is medium-soft and has won ribbons because of his fleece character. Obviously, we're hoping for Ipo's softness and Nicholas' character, but even if we get the expected intermediate fleece, I'll still be happy to spin it.

It ought to be interesting. We're excited.

Oh, and even though cria watch starts today, we have no evidence to suggest anything will happen anytime soon.

ps. I spun some suri alpaca yesterday and started knitting a toe-up sock mess.

What are your thoughts on crimp?

Melanie Wrote:
I do quite enjoy seeing current fibre stats, while shopping around for fleeces. I do a lot of looking around alpacanation, and really wish more people would get around to getting regular stats up. A lot of people, will only look at the micron count (oh, 21 microns!) and not the standard deviation or overall comfort factor, which can end up in a bit of wondering when they receive the fleece and it prickles ever so slightly as a scarf, so it would be great, if you had a short explanation on your fibre selling page! Another thing i really like to see, is the fibre history of the parents, just to give a little bit more idea where the alpaca will be headed in it's later years. obviously a snowmass alpaca is going to keep softness for a lot longer than a common backyard one! Another thing i cannot recommend enough, is taking a picture of a lock, next to a ruler, and posting that. it's great to see colour, and crimp! hope this helps

I'm glad you enjoy seeing the fiber stats. I will endeavor to continue marketing stats with the fleeces as well as with the animals.

I quite agree I need to have fiber pictures on the fiber sales page. It's been on the to do list for several months and hasn't happened yet. The write-up for interpretation of fiber stats is also on the list.

I'm curious about your comments on crimp. What about crimp do you find of value as a handspinner? Can you even see the crimp once the fiber has been through a carder? I know the North American alpaca show industry places a huge emphasis on crimp and I've heard all their reasons. Personally, I can't see a difference between crimpy and non-crimpy fleeces once the fleece has gone through a carder and I'm not seeing any difference in the yarn. I can see how curvature has an impact on fiber memory once yarn is made, but based on personal experience, the correlation between picture-pretty crimp and high curvature is much less than expected. I'm interested in hearing your reasons why crimp is so important and your personal experiences with different results based on crimp.

Catching Up on All the Comments

Thanks for the comments. I actually do read them. I haven't been responding as well as I would like to all the comments, so for today's post, I am going to go over the comments from the past several weeks and respond.

On July 23, I wrote about heat, fiber for sale, and alpacas for sale. Sam responded with a comment about an enjoyable morning reading my blog and thanks for tips on handling alpaca fiber.

Welcome to my blog, Sam. Thanks for the comments. I'm pleased to hear you found my blog both enjoyable and informative and I hope you continue to enjoy it. Your blog looks interesting and I have added it to my bloglines.

On July 17, I wrote a post which started as a description of a landscaping kill and removal project and turned into a digression on sustainable agriculture. I'd like to follow up that sustainable agriculture topic at length sometime, but I despair of ever finding a good definition for "sustainable" agriculture. Jen and June posted comments.

Jen is setting up a new fiber farm and struggling with the issue of whether or not to seek organic certification. I wish her luck in figuring it all out. She's already added poultry to her setup. I've been wanting to add birds to our setup, but they don't fit in our current plans. Jen, I wish you lots of luck figuring out how to get your fiber farm working. Livestock is a challenge.

June is dealing with less land, but neighbors and the lawn envy issue. I like the lawn envy issue in my day job because it really helps boost sales, but I'm reminded of a joke my father-in-law sent me. I'll have to dig it out and post it sometime. June, I wish you the best with your lawn, your neighbors, and your birds.

On July 14, we posted a less-than-cinematic-quality, but very cute video of Cailin pronking and running. Sue, Jen, and Pugknits commented on the cute video. Jen asked for a webcam. Several others e-mailed comments. Thanks for the comments. Risë has more cute cria video in this blog entry.

Sorry, Jen, but there is no webcam in our near future. I do know of several alpaca breeders with barn to house cams to monitor their alpacas. I'll post links if any of these are also webcams.

On July 13, I wrote about summer doldrums and made an offhanded comment about a landscaping project still in the kill and remove stage. Kill and remove piqued Jen's interest and she posted a comment that lead to my July 17 entry. Jen, I hope I've answered most of your questions. Please e-mail me if you have more.

On June 28, I posted a brief entry noting that four years ago, we brought our first alpacas home. Brambled Sheep posted; "Ooo was this the beginning of it all, then?"

To paraphrase Robert Jordan (and to do so poorly), bringing home
the alpacas was neither the end, nor the beginning, but
it was a beginning.

Brambled, I owe you a good answer and I apologize for not
attempting any answer sooner.

The short answer is that bringing home the alpacas certainly opened a new chapter in the adventure of life, but it cannot really be described as the start of everything. The long answer is, well, long and it involves some chicken and egg issues. Do you start with bringing the alpacas home? Does one start with purchasing the alpacas? Do I begin with buying four acres in rural Oregon and wanting to use my land? Should I start with a Wisconsin farm boy heading off to graduate school in Seattle? What about the time spent pouring over my mom's old dog book imagining the possibility of mixing breeds? Or, do I need to go all the way back to discussions around my childhood dinner table. And, how the heck do I include Pam's side of the story.

Brambled, I cannot answer your question with a single blog entry.

This is, however, another topic I can work at over time with multiple
entries.

Back on June 23 and June 25, I wrote about lavender. One the June 25 blog, I posted a question about how to remove the florets. In a recent comment, the folks at Wayward Winds Lavender (click here for their blog) suggested rolling lavender between the hands rather than individually stripping each stem. To the folks at Wayward Winds, thank you very much. I look forward to trying this technique.

Thanks for all the comments. I think I've answered most of them here. I know I owe you some stories -- gives me fodder for those dull days when I have nothing new to write. I'll try to keep up better in the future.

A Note on Fiber Statistics

I am aware of a thread on a knitting/spinning discussion board about the fact I have included fiber statistics with some of the fleeces I have for sale. Do you find this helpful? Do you know enough about alpaca fiber statistics to understand the information? Is there some background you would like I'd love to hear from you on this topic.

It is fairly common practice for alpaca breeders to have fiber samples analyzed. This is part of the process of making breeding decisions. We have chosen to take fiber samples from each of our alpacas every year so we can not only look at the fiber quality of young animals, but watch how the animals do (or don't) maintain fiber quality over time. Some breeders don't take fiber stats and many only take fiber stats from young animals. With all the fiber stats out there, I don't understand why more breeders don't advertise fiber statistics with their fleeces – or why it took me so long to do so. The stats are used to advertise the animals – why not the fleece? One must use caution to ensure the fiber statistics are for the current year's fleece. Some breeders will quote yearling statistics for a ten-year-old's fleece – which reminds me, I really must re-write that Blue Ribbon Brillo Pad story for public consumption – but I digress.

Anyhow, I'm writing this to let you know you can ask about fiber statistics when purchasing fleeces from other breeders and I'm writing this to ask if you find the fiber statistics useful and how I can educate spinners and knitters to find the fiber statistics more useful.

So Long?

Has it really been that long since I posted? It looks like I rather lost steam on the blog.

Actually, there have been a lot of things going on including competition for my computer time. My aged Windows machine started to die, so Pam bought me a new computer. Everything on my old Windows machine had to be transferred over to my new computer, and then all the archives from an even older Macintosh had to be transferred as well. Transfer involved quite a bit of fussing and sorting. The good news is I think I saved all the archives that were available to save. The bad news is a disk on the Mac died and I think I lost some pictures and some writings. I suspect I have upwards of twenty copies of certain files I don't really need or want and I'm missing a few files I really do want. Oh, well, such is life. We could be back in the days of paper where I put the archives in the attic to be eaten by mice. I'm finally at the point I feel like I can move forward with the new computer.

Hence this blog entry.

In other projects, I installed a mist system for the girls shed. It's basically a drip irrigation system strung along the roof using mist heads instead of drip heads and it hooks up to a garden hose. The total cost was under $30 using my employee discount, but then we had to purchase another garden hose -- we only have like 500 feet of garden hose around here -- so I could plug in the mist system. One local breeder suggested putting the misters on the ground pointing up to mist the bellies of the alpacas -- because that's were we hose them when they get hot. I like the idea, but there are three problems. First, we already have soaker hoses in the pastures and they don't stand over them. Second, how do you keep them from breaking the misters by stepping on them. Third, how do you prevent the system becoming a tripping hazard.

Having seen the mist system in action, I think it would work much better if one could find a clever way to install it on the ground.

Cailin is growing and changing all the time. She's now eating pellets. I'll have pictures ...

Yes, pictures ... um ... yes ... right ... someday ...

The garden is starting to produce. The lavender is starting to bloom again. The pastures are dry and cracking so badly human feet get caught and ankles get twisted. Filling cracks to prevent broken alpaca legs is a weekly chore. There are forest fires in the Umpqua National Forest so we occasionally smell smoke. In short, it's full summer in Western Oregon.

No fiber content, but at least there is a post on the blog.