Alpaca – Page 10 – Dutch Hollow Acres

August 27, 2010December 3, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Diversify

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday followers.

If you haven’t figured out from last week’s FAF title I have fiber arts ADD. I am always trying to figure out other ways of using my alpaca fiber and here are this week’s results. I’m going to let the photos do all the talking.

Bamboo/Merino blend - finished spinning!

Bamboo/Merino - bracelet from plying leftovers

I’m sure the question will come up on how I’m making the bracelets and necklaces. I have a rope machine and I’m actually making really thin rope(cord) and then making knot jewelry like you would if working with hemp. Check out Youtube and search for “how to make hemp necklace” and it’ll walk you through the steps. If you have the ability to make cord this is a great way to use up all those 6-10 foot scrap peices of yarn!

The Skinny Scarf pattern I found on Ravelry.

I actually finished 3 different loops reins with various patterns and have another 3 twisted but needing the knots to be finished.

Not to toot my own horn but I did seriously do all of these this week! No clue how I did that with a full time job, farm chores, exercising horses, a wedding, a funeral and canning 15lbs of tomatoes.

July 30, 2010July 30, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Cotton Shawl

Hello again Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday followers!

The Tour de Fleece has finally ended. It turns out I really enjoy spinning and I still find myself spending 15-30 min every night spinning something while watching a little TV before bed. I’ve got a lot of learning to do still.

Now that 100% of my free energy isn’t spent on spinning I’ve gotten back to a little crochet. I’ve never attempted to make a shawl before so why not make it my next project. Well I searched high and low for a pattern I liked. I started the shawl about 6 times and either hated the pattern or couldn’t read the pattern properly and was getting really frustrated. I eventually ended up coming up with my own pattern combination and so far I’m pleased with it enough to get about 1/2 through the shawl.

Here is my progress thus far. I’m hoping it’ll end up being a 1 skein shawl. When I finish I’ll write up the pattern I decided on and post it.

Recognize this color pattern? Yeah it’s from my Knitting Loom War post a few weeks back. I ripped the whole project off the loom. I don’t think I’ll ever attempt another loom project again. I hate that thing. So, if anyone wants a knitting loom for the cost of shipping you’re welcome to it.

July 23, 2010July 23, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Wonder Woman

I missed last week’s Fiber Arts Friday because I was on vacation but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t playing with fiber. So far I have several projects going all at once.

1. Summer Afghan – Currently making simple granny squares out of cotton to make a light afghan for a twin size bed. I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to connect all the squares yet. I figure I’ll need 60 squares total and I’ve got 20 of them made so far. Blah that’s going to be a lot of sewing when I’m done.

2. Cotton shawl – I’m a sucker for cheap yarn deals at Joann’s and I have some funky colored purple, teal, green, white cotton and decided to make my first shawl. What’s funny is I’ve already crocheted 2 shawls out of it, hated both of them and ripped them apart. I’m hoping 3rd time is the charm.

3. Tour de Fleece! Yes the Tour de France is still going on which means every day I am spinning. For the first leg of the tour I’ve been using my trusty geek spindle (dowel, rubber grommet, old CD and a hook) which is always one of my favorites. Easy to pack and spin anywhere. My most challenging spin was spinning on a floating dock, in an ADK chair with a breeze. Now that was talent.

I recently bought my first spinning wheel! A Spinolution Echo! I’ll be writing up a whole post about this wheel later but for a summary, I LOVE IT! I’ve managed to spin up 3 skeins of yarn and am working on my 4th since Monday night.

4. Speaking of spinning off my wheel, I had time to actually crochet my very first hat! Not only is this the first hat I’ve ever made but it’s 100% Dutch Hollow Alpaca! Yup, I used roving from Cokie and CW that I still had and spun it up into some bulk weight 2 ply. The hat weighs in at 9oz! That’s one heavy hat but I’m sure my head will be snug and warm this winter.

June 18, 2010June 18, 2010

Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Fur Blanket

Hello Fiber Arts Friday followers!

A while back I told you about the unfortunate passing of my alpaca Miracle. We ended up processing her hide and sent it off to be tanned and made into a lap robe. Well the good news is our Miracle Blanket is finished! I picked it up from Sivko Furs, Inc on Sunday and have had a full week to enjoy it.

Sivko Furs did an awesome job! I’m thrilled with the outcome. The fur is held tightly to the hide and has been brushed clean and is so soft. Their seamstress did a beautiful job sewing on a soft beige color fleece. She managed to hide the seam for the majority of the blanket and only a small area at the neck shows her stitching where she had to turn the blanket inside out.

Per my asking she trimmed some of the neck off A) so we didn’t have a seam in the fleece backing and B) so I had a piece of fur hide to keep and play with for my own projects. They also included all the other little scraps of hide they trimmed off while making the finished blanket. Maybe in future FAF posts I’ll show you what I plan on doing with them all.

The look and feel of this blanket really made me think of the old carriage lap robes used to stay warm with on cold winter nights. Actually the authenticity of such a lap robe isn’t too farfetched. Did you know in the late 1800’s alpaca was more popular in the US than sheep’s wool? Unfortunately it was a short lived industry since the quantity needed to keep up with demand wasn’t there and sheep ended up taking over as a preferred fiber. Check out my post on Alpaca, Fiber of the Presidents for more info.

If any of you who end up in the same situation as I did be sure to read my post on preserving your alpaca hide and I highly recommend the kind folks at Sivko Furs who had a great turnaround time and a very fair price for processing our Miracle.