Category: Alpaca

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Fiber Arts Friday – Preparing for Shows

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday!

What a crazy week!  I’ll try to keep things short and to the point and in some sort of order without too much babbling.  Hope you can keep up.

1. We have yet another new cria!  Last Friday I got a call around 4pm saying there was another cria bouncing around the pasture.  Sure enough I came home to a very strong 17lb fawn girl who was already dry, up, nursing, and running around with her half sister.  I present to you Dutch Hollow’s Fontia.

2. Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival.  I did manage to sneak over to the fiber show for only an hour.  Next year I want to take classes and stay for a whole day.  It was the first time I’ve ever been to a fiber show and WOW, I so wish I could spend more time. 

I went for the purpose of talking to my local mill which I did.  I’ve got about 30lbs of fiber heading their way to be made into rug yarn.  

While I was there I ended up finding another tannery that captured my interest.  They claim they can process sheep/alpaca hides and make them washable! I’ll have to contact them when I have more time and learn more.  I was under the impression that the chemicals needed to make a fleece washable were illegal in the US but apparently they have another way?

3. This weekend is not only National Alpaca Farm Days but is also National Hunting and Fishing Days.  Since my neighbor happens to be the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and hosts the oldest DEC Days in the country I piggy back off them.  My farm is not able to handle the thousands of people that come for the DEC show so I set up a booth and bring a couple of my boys over to them.  This will be me 2nd year participating in DEC Days and it is a whole bunch of fun with the exception of hunters constantly asking me if they can eat them.  I tell them no but they do give you great fiber to keep feet warm while in tree stands!

4. Inventory!  With vendor shows comes the need for inventory.  Here are some of the hats/scarfs that I’ve been making all week. 

That about wraps it up what did you do this week?

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Fiber Arts Friday – New Fiber

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday Folks.

I haven’t been overly fibery this week because of some big projects and unexpected surprises.

Let me start off with what I did manage to do. I got 2 skeins spun up of my alpaca/merino. Nice bulky 2 ply ready for a hat or thick scarf.
If you saw my post earlier this week about our Labor Day projects you’ll know why I haven’t been able to keep up with my usual Fiber ADD self. Sometimes even I have to get down and to “real” farm work.

The other surprise this week was the arrival of a new cria. I had come home on Wednesday to meet up with the UPS freight guy and noticed an extra body in the girls pasture! Vanilla had her cria 2 weeks early. I rushed inside, got towels and of course my camera and went out into the field to meet our newest member. I got to work drying off the cria and about 2-3 minutes later it dawned on me I didn’t check the sex. IT”S A GIRL! I was totally thrilled that A) I was home B) the cria, though early, was healthy and strong and C) it’s a girl! D) I got the color I wanted! Yippy!

At 13.6lbs she was a bit small but stood up within the hour and started to nurse and mom had LOTS of good milk/colostrum ready to go. Since she was a bit early one of her ears is a bit folded still but it should correct itself in a few days. Otherwise she’s beautiful in every way and I can already feel the superior density in her fleece which is exactly what I was breeding for.

Well if I think about it, maybe I was fibery this week by welcoming new fiber animals into this world.

Lastly name.  I think we decided on Dutch Hollow’s Parcella D’oro  (Parcel of Gold) Play on the fact the only reason I was home was because of a UPS delivery 🙂

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Fiber Arts Friday – Roving Yarn and Hats Oh My!

Hello Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday folks!

What a wonderful week of fiber surprises.  When you send your shearing clip off to the mill often it seems like you’re sending it into oblivion.  Initially you talk to the mill, making sure they know exactly what you want and then you wait.  Depending on the backlog the mill may have you could be waiting 4 weeks or 4-6 months. 

After 5 weeks I came home to find a box on the porch.  I assumed it was my alpaca sock order and brought it in and set it to the side to “deal” with it in the morning.  (Inventory is not my favorite thing in the world)  Come morning I opened up the box and what a great surprise!  13 glorious pounds of alpaca/merino pin drafted roving greeted me though a clear plastic bag.  Yippy!  I have plenty of roving to spin, dye, and sell.  

Immediately I took a small 6oz bump and started to spin to get a feel for the roving.  Well I kept spinning morning and that night and plied it up.  Remembering my Wonder Roving that I spun up during the Tour de Fleece I decided to tackle a hat.  I haven’t finished it yet but here’s how far I got. 

I should have the roving up for sale in our Shop this afternoon as well as our new shippment of socks!

AlpacaMerinoRoving

AlpacaMerinoYarn

AlpacaHat

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New Alpaca Run-In Shed/Barn

The sight was cleared in time with just 2 days to spare.  I got a call last night that our new shed was on it’s way up from PA and scheduled to be delivered at 8am Tuesday morning.  Here is is 8:29am and I’m already writing to say I have my shed!  It still needs some pushing around to get it exactly where I wanted it and lined up but it’s here!

I got my shed from a young Amish guy named Sam.  Really really nice guy who had a lot of questions about alpacas.  Anyway here’s his contact information if you are in the market for a shed or full size barn.  He and his crew cover all of NY and PA and can build anything from this little shed to Montior style barns.  I’m keeping his card for when I need a new barn 🙂

SSR Contracting
84 Billman Lane
Mill Hall, PA 17751
Wood and Steel Construction

Sam Stolzfus
Phone:  814-280-7099
Fax:  814-625-0010

Photos of our new shed with a few of the views the alpaca boys have from the top of the new pasture.  I can see why they like it up here soo much.

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Alpaca Boys New Home

This weekend has been spent working on the alpaca boys new home. Right now I have temporary fence and a redneck shelter for them to use.

M. has been working on leveling the new area where the amish will put the new run-in shed. Since there isn’t so much as 1 area on the property that is level he’s been having to bring in lots of dirt. It’s still a work in progress but he’s doing a great job of making sure the rain water will run away from both the run-in and his workshop.

I’m so glad to have the boys at this new site. Finally the horses no longer have to do a 50/50 time share on their big pasture.   The alpacas are loving the big hill.  This used to be our sledding hill it’s that steep.  They enjoy running full speed up to the top and survey their surroundings.