Christmas sweater

Mom was happy with the sweater I made for her. She wore it on Christmas day and my brother snapped this pic for me. They live in CA and it was very sunny as you can tell! 


I'm just glad it fit, and she actually is wearing it. 

Merry Christmas to all ...

We're about as prepared as we are going to be for Christmas this year! We'll be sharing the time with family - plenty of eating will take place -sweets being my favorite!

Wishing you all the merriest!

Warmest wishes, Liz

Winter Solstice

It’s a dark day in northern Indiana which somehow seems appropriate for today, December 21^st, also known as the Winter Solstice marking the first day of winter.  

According to Wikipedia, “The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.” Yeah! I have always liked the thought of the lengthening of day. Even though we’ve got plenty of winter ahead of us, for some reason I feel much more optimistic knowing that each day will be a bit brighter. The light (and certainly the sunlight!) makes the cold so much easier to bear.

Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday too. Happy birthday Ken! Check out their bike & ski shop, ProForm, located in South Bend. http://proformbike.com/

Stay warm & cozy, Liz

Here's a frosty photo from a few years back after an ice storm. I came across it while searching for a few pics and thought I'd share! It makes me shiver just looking at it! 


Stay warm ... Liz

Chicken attack!

 

A funny story ... Lee, having worked in the RV industry for 30-some years tends to build things “just big enough” to fit through. Our chicken coop being one of those things. Each morning I bring fresh water for the chickens and have to bend over to unplug the warmer and remove the waterer before I can fit inside the coop with my heavy jacket and overalls. (I sometimes feel like I’m ready for a space mission with the heavy boots and all!).

Well, this morning a few of the chickens were perched on top of the laying boxes and when I bent over, one of them jumped onto my hooded head. I couldn’t stand upright for fear that the chicken would be smashed into the ceiling, so I attempted to pry it’s claws from my hood and remove it to safe ground. Once I had her up in the air, she started flapping her wings like crazy which knocked out the warming lamp smashing the bulb. As if I needed something else to clean up … Anyway, I laugh every time I think of the picture of me bent over in my Carhartts with a chicken attached firmly to my hood!

Ain’t life a hoot?  

I love my Carhartt overalls!

After 8 winters on the farm, last winter I broke down and bought a heavy-duty Carhartt jacket. I’ve held off buying one because they are so darn heavy but Lee kept telling me they are worth their weight in gold! He was right, the thing IS warm. For the past 8 years I have been wearing flannel lined jeans along with my (scratchy) wool long-johns but still, my upper legs and knees would be so cold and achy by the time I was done with chores.

Well, its winter #9 on the farm and I broke down and bought some Carhartt overalls this year. OMG, they are wonderful! So far I’ve been out in single digit weather and my legs are nice and warm the entire time. I have not had the chronic aches and pains like the past few years either. I’m thinking of being buried in these overalls. LOL! Kidding. 

I finally finished the Christmas sweater I knit for my mom. It’s not actually a “Christmas sweater” but rather a sweater for Christmas. J I had it finished (the first time) back in early November. It’s one of those knit-in-one-piece patterns – knit from one arm through the body and ending with the opposite arm. Apparently I missed a few inches of knitting about 1/3rd into the pattern and didn’t notice it until I had completely finished it, ends tucked in an all. Needless to say, it was a bit off! I had to rip back 2/3rds of the sweater and start again.

Mom is nearing 86 years old and has shrunk down to a petite small (and just barely) so to rip it back and remake such a tiny garment only took a few evenings. It does not fall into the usual type of clothing she wears, but I think she’ll like it. In case you're wondering, that's not her in the photo!

The pattern is from the spring issue of Interweave Knits. I loved making it (twice!) and may make another for the shop.

Stay warm & happy knitting!

Liz

Vintage buttons

*Vintage Buttons*

2 lovely words, aren’t they? 

My passion for buttons started early on when my grandmother gave me a box of buttons she’d saved through the years. She wasn’t much for sewing but always clipped buttons from worn-out clothing. Unfortunately I lost those buttons during a move from Florida to Indiana. :(

While recently visiting my parents, my mom pulled out her sewing kit and dug out all the buttons she had saved over the years. And this past summer my Lee’s mom gave me a bag of buttons she had collected over the years. These buttons will eventually find a place in one of my many projects—a little decorative touch to a sweater or poncho, perhaps the cuff of a glove, and many buttons are used for eyes and noses on my critter hats – each one different!

Cheddar Head!

This little "cheddar head" is our vet's little boy. He's wearing one of my critter hat creations. Looks like he'll have room to grow! :D

Stay warm, Liz

Thankful for our life

I grew up thinking the stork dropped me into the wrong family. I’m sure I was meant to be raised on a farm, out of doors, with animals surrounding me. The fact is I resemble my dad quite a bit and have inherited his endless need to have several projects on the work bench.

Having spent the majority of my life in the city, this farmgirl-at-heart felt like she’d finally come home the day we moved to the country to inhabit our “new” log home. Nearing our 11^th year, I can’t help but reminisce how our small piece of paradise has transformed over the years. Covered porches, flowering shrubs and trees, gardens with giant vegetables, treed pastures, and colorful alpacas dotting the landscape.

Our lives have been defined and enriched by our surroundings. We have so much to be thankful for all started with a thoughtful comment from Lee on a warm June afternoon, “we should put something out there …”

Happy Thanksgiving ... happy fall!

While the Autumn leaves still dance around our pastures, there is a definite chill is in the air and tell-tale signs that the holidays are just around the corner. We have enjoyed an unusually long, mild fall this year. The alpacas enjoyed long naps in the sun and still manage to find something to nibble in the pasture. But weather predictions are for a brutally cold winter and our winter preparations are in place. Our barns have been buttoned down and bales of straw are ready to be stuffed in drafty corners and strewn on the hard ground floor. The chicken coop has been winterized with a warm lamp, plastic covering their windows and door and a heated waterer. Did I mention that we stuffed the coop walls with unusable alpaca fiber for warmth? How lucky are those chickens?!

I visited family in California over Thanksgiving; a nice diversion to life on the farm, not to mention it’s a completely different existence than we know in Indiana. A trip to a nearby shopping center with my parents put a smile on my face as we passed racks of heavy coats, hats and scarves! J The prices of the scarves were not much less (and in fact some were more!) than our natural Alpaca scarves. I can’t help myself, I stop to read the fabric content as we pass by – I saw quite a bit of acrylic, polyester, viscose and one scarf even contained 2% rubber on its label! That was the first time I’ve ever see “rubber” listed in clothing contents!

I enjoy perusing L.L. Bean, Talbot, J. Jill and other various winter catalogs to get ideas for this year’s fashion style, the latest in fabrics, and how they justify their pricing on so many variations of man-made fabrics. Time after time I come away feeling pleased about our product offering. Luxuriously soft, sumptuous fabrics in pure, natural colors in fashionable styles, unsurpassed warmth, and long-lasting quality.

Our local mini-mill decided to close to the public this year so we shopped around for another option. We chose a small mill in Kentucky and received our first 5 batches of yarn back last week. It’s very pretty and I’m excited to offer it for sale in our farm shop. We have a few batches still coming and quite a bit more that still needs to be processed. A shortage of time keeps us from catching up and undoubtedly we will have another year’s clip before we get through all we have on hand (not such a bad problem to have!). Take a peek at our Preferred Herd line of yarn. It’s the ultimate in comfort and warmth!

Speaking of processing, we will have a “micro-mini-mill” at the farm. Plans are in the works for a fiber processing room complete with washer, fiber tumbler, a skirting area, carder, spinning wheel and project work area. I’m so excited to finally have a place to dabble with various blends of fibers, textured yarns, and fun and artsy rovings. Watch for more details and photos this winter!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Warmly, Liz

First cria of 2010

Again we start this year out with a little male cria. He's got pretty nice genetics behind him and was so vibrant and strong right from the start so we'll keep him around for awhile! We've named him Chavin which was a civilizatin of the northern Andean highlands from 900 BC to 200 BC. I basically just like the name. And here he is ... shown with mom, Maya.

The chicks have arrived!

The post office called at 7:00 AM this morning with a message "they're here!". I rushed right over there at 9:30 to pick them up. We ordered 15 pullets (confirmed females) so it was surprising how much chatter there was in our small post office coming from that small box. By the noise I heard as I opened the door, I thought there must more than one box! But my tiny box (~10x12") of chicks was, in fact, the source of the racket.

I rushed them home and popped them into the brooder box under the warm heat lamp, and there was instant silence. Ahhh!

This being my first chicken-raising experience, will be a day-to-day learning experince. I've been warned by several "don't give them names" but I can see that it will be hard not to. We've already come up with Egburt, Foghorn Leghorn (of course he's a rooster), Ethel, Spot and many others. I can't see myself eating something that I've spend time feeding, watering and caring for. Nope, that's not my thing!

Lee is still contemplating the chicken coop but I think he's decided to convert half of a rarely-used alpaca shed with a new door and chicken run out under our fruit trees. They'll have many fine hours of chicken-scratching and we'll be able to keep an eye on them from the backyard. The only downside to that location is the forest critters will be keeping an eye on them too.

That'll make for an interesting spring and summer I guess, which is "eggs-actly" what look forward to in Indiana!

Liz

Aliens at Beer Run!

A few days ago Jaxson and I made our way across the road to Beer Run to let the girls into the front pasture. When we arrived, the girls were already out in the back pasture. How did that happen?? There were no gates open - all were latched just as I had left them. There was no hole or tear in the fence. No way at all for them to get out, and yet there they were, all 11 of them in the wrong pasture. ???

After pondering it for a day, Lee decided that some cock-eyed aliens must've beamed them up for a probing and dropped them back on the wrong side of the fence! :D It hasn't happened again and the alpacas aren't talking ...

The moon will be full starting tonight. What might that bring?

Our first spring show!

We just returned from the Indiana Alpaca Invitational show in Ft. Wayne and had a smashing time! Typically we focus on raising the best fleeces to provide luxurious yarn and wearables for our shop. We don’t put too much into fancy topknots or fleece down to their toes! Showing is something we do for fun and it's a great way to network with other alpaca-holics. Sure, we take our best offspring with the intent of showing them off but love them all the same if they take the gate instead of a ribbon!

And having said all of that, HOLY COW! Our animals made us proud!! We took 6 animals and came home with 5 ribbons. Read about our wins below and watch for us at the National show!

Alaska’s Cicely – this was one of my favorites! We registered Cicely at the last minute submission and she blew our socks off! She was the youngest one in the class and she came home with 6th place in a class of 14 white juvenile females!! For those of you who aren’t familiar, white alpacas typically have the most elite fleeces and white classes are very competitive! Cicely is heading to the National show in May!

Leprecan’s Wee Bonnie Lass – I’ll admit, Bonnie is one of our favorites; she’s too cute for words and full of mischievous personality. Despite several weeks of halter training prior to the show, standing still was just not on her agenda in the show ring. And yet she managed to bring home a 2nd place ribbon and was also awarded the nickname “spunky” by the judge. Bonnie is heading to the National show!

Goldie Fawne – a daughter of our oldest dam, ChiChi who came to us just last year. Fawnie has outstanding fleece and still a soft handle with consistent crimp! We were ecstatic when she passed along those qualities to Fawne along with flawless conformation. Now Fawnie doesn’t sport a fancy topknot, her front legs don’t have much coverage, and her nose is on the longer side (not really what most would consider a “show animal”) but we thought her fleece and conformation were pretty nice so we decided to bring her along. I even joked with the gate-keeper asking which gate we should use upon our quick exit! AND GUESS WHAT?! She took 3rd in a class of 8!! It just goes to show you …. A fancy hair-do isn’t everything! While Fawnie will be staying home during Nationals, her fleece will be making the trip with us. Wish her luck!

Sheeza Looker – And she really is! Sheeza has absolutely beautiful soft fleece, but is on the smaller side for her age group. She was also less than thrilled to be a part of this fun-filled weekend and made her point repeatedly while in the ring. Well, the judge recognized me right off ... and luckily he’s a great guy! Sheeza took home 4th place because of that outstanding fleece. Watch for Sheeza at the National show!

Spirit of Don Quijote – Last but certainly not least is our boy Spirit. Nearly lost at birth and what a loss that would have been! Our first vet-assist in 18 birthing seasons, Spirit jumped to his feet and took a few steps just moments after the vet delivered him. He’s a handsome sizeable male with numerous qualities and was awarded 4th place of 8 against a tough class! Spirit gave me a few challenges during training but made me very proud with his ring presence. Spirit is on his way to becoming our first “home grown” junior herd sire (he’s already lined up a harem!). Watch for Spirit at Nationals!

Sweet Liberty Belle was eventually directed to the gate in a very large white class, which didn’t really surprise us. Don’t get me wrong, she’s lovely with her compact frame, pretty head, and soft bright fleece; her fleece lacks that “elite” quality required of a white animal in the show ring. Belle was quite a good sport about it and happily skipped back to her pen-mates. She’ll make someone a wonderful dam and produce bundles of luxuriously soft fiber each spring!

More weaving!!

Hello,
I know I'm being overly proud of my first weaving projects but I can't help it! I spent so many years working on things that were so utterly boring (called "a job") that I'm blowing my own socks off by what's coming off my loom!

This time I warped the loom for 2 scarves. The first one shown here is about 8" woven. The papers you see right up front (actually cheap toilet paper) is used to pack the warp to bring the yarn together before starting to weave.

By warping with a pattern of 4 blue and 4 cream (and so on), and weaving with 4 blue, then 4 cream, it creates this beautiful pattern called "Houndstooth". It's one of my favorite patterns, I think.

The 2nd scarf was created using the same warp, but only weaving with cream which creates the striping over the 2-color warp. I love them both.

These scarves were woven slightly tighter than the Herringbone but are still very soft. The blue is 100% Baby Alpaca commercial yarn, and the cream is from our herd.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my "works of art" as much as I've enjoyed sharing them. I've got a shawl in the planning stage right now. Stay tuned ...

and stay warm,

Liz

Weaving bliss!

Hi,

I finally carved out some time to get a project on my loom. It took awhile to figure out exactly what I was doing and to plan my project. It took even longer to get the yarn ready and dress the loom. And once it was all dressed I realized it was completely backwards! (And that is why I shouldn't do these things in the evening!)

No worries ... I rolled with it and wove it backwards.

The scarf turned out beautifully! I'm very happy with it (can you tell?). I wove it loosely making it very pliable and drapey. This scarf if from our herd yarn and it's incredibly soft!!

Well, Onto the next project ...

Stay warm, Liz

Mavic cable sweater

Hi,
I know I promised to share my finished Mavic sweater. Somehow that never happened so here it is! Cookie is my model. The sweater fits me like a glove but I'm not much at modeling!

This sweater is the most scrumptious in the shop and for sale!! ;)

Warmly, Liz

Winter at Turkey Creek Alpacas

This gorgeous creek runs along our farm. It's fast flowing like a river so doesn't freeze over. The running water can be heard any time of year and is a lovely sound after dark when we sit in front of a campfire along the creek.

Lee and I were lucky to take a 9-day vacation to visit my family in California right after Christmas this year. Unbelievably we hit a perfect week in the 70's with 2 days in the low 80's. We came back to low temps, ice, and blustery conditions to find our alpacas, dogs and barn cat doing well in the care of our farm sitter. Bless him for the wonderful care he takes of our home and critters allowing us some much-needed time away.

Now heading into February we are hoping for an early spring and once again starting to plan our shearing event, some spring shows and a few camping trips! We have no crias (baby alpacas) due until fall so we are foot loose and fancy free (as long as we have our trusty farm sitter, that is).

We decided to raise some chickens this year so I just ordered a late April delivery for a mix of 15 pullets. I never thought I'd be raising chickens but something this year tells me to diversify. With that thought in mind, Lee and I are also attending a bee keeping school in Indianapolis at the end of February. Just another project for future pondering.

I leave you tonight with a photo of Spirit last summer in front of the house. It's one of my favorites!

Stay warm, Liz