Garden Art

Lee's painting of his pumpkin patch now graces our front porch. More time for painting would be nice ....  

Talented brothers!

And brother, Scot is just as talented. He's also an architect in southern California. I'm proud of them!

Talented brothers!

Take a moment to visit my brother, Mike's website. He's an architect in southern California and very good at what he does!

Wooly Lavender

Meet Wooly Lavender named after the soft grey lavender plant that thrives in high heat. She was born on the hottest day of spring to Lotus & Spartacus. Gorgeous little thing!! 

Introducing Sheeza Looker's first cria!

Ridin' The Storm Out 

Storm arrived on Memorial Day and we tried to think of a great patriotic name for him. We had several suggestions from friends but nothing seemed to fit. On the evening of May 30th  our farm suffered another violent wind shear ripping out 9 large trees and damaging 2 more so when we heard REO Speedwagon's "Ridin' The Storm Out" on the radio we knew we had found his name. 

With parents like Sheeza and Champion's Protégé, we are quite sure his fleece will be incredible, however, we DID order a GIRL, didn't we???

Finally finished!

This was the project that spent a few months in my lap this winter. I actually finished it in mid-March except for the buttons. It took a few weeks for the capelet to make it upstairs to my project room where I keep my basket-full of buttons. I always enjoy choosing buttons —I can lose an hour or more just sifting through them. (How boring am I??) Many of the buttons were removed from old outfits and bunches were given to me by both of my moms. One of my favorite things on Earth is vintage buttons! For my Earthy capelet, I decided to use some vintage leather buttons from my mom.  I feel they compliment the capelet nicely. 

This piece is made of 100% Royal Baby-fine Alpaca from our Preferred Herd Yarn Collection making it soooo sumptuous!

On-site tour of our micro-mini-mill

You can view how we process fiber at Turkey Creek Alpacas  http://turkeycreekalpacas.com/fiber/processing.html

Dye day!

Monday was dye day and just look at these gorgeous springy colors: rose, peach and terra cotta. They turned out so luscious. I can't wait to start carding and blending. I have some interesting fibers to blend in. Should be fun!

Introducing my Micro-Mini-Mill

 My fiber storage and processing room has finally come together this winter. For my fiber-minded friends, I know you will enjoy the tour!

The walk-in closet (at left) has shop inventory storage, an area for my antique crank sock-machine (more on that another day), and the “queue-up area” for fleeces. 

The bags shown represent about one-fifth of the fleeces we currently have on-hand to process! (… and shearing day is closing in quickly!)

Photo #2 & 3 show loading up the fiber tumbler with fleece and locking it in. I generally only load a few pounds for the best results and set my timer for 10 minutes. The tumbler works wonders knocking out sand and dirt, and those annoying little second cuts that create noils in the yarn. The tumbler has dowels that aim toward the center around the inside which work to pull the fleece apart as it tumbles. 

My tumbler is a Jiffy made by Alpaca Heights in Ubly, MI - http://www.alpacanation.com/alpaca-products/03_view_product.asp?name=108909

 Photo #4 & 5 show me unloading the tumbler. Yes, I practically have to stand on my head and get inside to reach all the fiber at the bottom. And there’s my exercise routine!

Photo #6 and 7 show the skirting table, the next step after tumbling. Now is the fun part (really kidding here). Skirting is the process where you remove debris, guard hair, inconsistent lengths, and whatever else you may find that would not look very pretty in your rovings or yarn. 

If the fleece is very fine and very dirty, I use a dog brush to help get out debris. Unfortunately this process wastes more fiber but if the fleece is that dirty, at least you are to salvage some of it. Brushing also removes the “Velcro” ends from an unshorn cria fleece.

After skirting, the fiber is placed loosely into laundry bags and washed. I purchased an old washing machine from craigslist.com and Lee removed the agitator. Fleece condition will determine how many washes are required to clean it up. Once the fleece has been cleaned, if you are going to dye, this is the best time for that.

In photo #8, I’m feeding raw cleaned fiber into the drum carder.

 #9 & 10 shows me pulling the batt from the carder and rolling the finished batt up for storage.

Another nice way to display it is to braid it together which looks really pretty with dyed rovings.

Next up … fun with dye! J Stay tuned …. 

Crazy Cute Creatures!

I know … I know … I said I wasn’t going to buy any more books, but how could I resist this one? Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh is full of crazy critters created from bits and pieces of left-over yarn. 

The patterns are colorful, so very creative and utterly adorable! What child could resist a red octopus, striped spider or the Loch Ness monster made out of soft alpaca??

My favorite though is the praying mantis knit in bright green yarn with incredible detail. Often thought of as good luck, we always cherish them when we discover one on a bush or tree on the farm. (… off on a tangent …) Last summer at the farmers market, I bought a 2’ high mantis made from old shovels and bits of junk metal. “Manny” as we dubbed him, has a place in the garden off the deck overlooking a bird bath.

I’m always looking for interesting patterns to knit or crochet and was excited to find one for a small llama purse. I’ve seen the purses for sale on various sites but have not run across a pattern until now. It looks like a fun diversion and would be a really cute gift for a little girl.

I’ll share the results of some of my creatures as they come to life.

Stay warm! Liz