sheep – Dutch Hollow Acres

May 11, 2011May 10, 2011

WIP: Alpaca Fan Shawl

Hi everyone. So I finally finished the green shawl (for sale and is now up on Etsy) and loved the pattern so much I wanted to make one for myself. I started one in heather gray but for the life of me I don’t remember where I put it! So I started yet another one this time in light fawn. I’m not sure if it will stay that color or end up getting dyed when finished. For some reason I have a thing for dark reds right now, we’ll see if that mood changes in a month when this one is finished.

I also stopped over to see an alpaca the humane society had acquired. They had some questions about care of an alpaca and wanted to know if I knew anyone who could give him a home. (No worries he has a home already) But, while I was there they loaded my car up with bags and bags of wool from their shearing. I’ve managed to skirt through 2 fleeces and here’s a photo of some bagged up ready to go into the washing machine to de-grease.

This is actually my first ever sheep fleece. As it turns out I’ve been so pampered with my alpacas. I’m not sure I like the lanoline at all and really don’t like how much POOP they can coat the tips with. YUCK!

Do you raise fiber animals? Don’t forget to share your photos on Fiber Wordless Wednesday!

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April 22, 2011April 22, 2011

Fiber Arts Friday: A bit of everything

Welcome back to Fiber Arts Friday!

I’ve had a case of Fiber ADD again this week. I think heading up to Jay NY for the shearing seminar got me motivated to play with everything alpaca again.

If you frequent my Fiber Wordless Wednesday you’ve seen my shearing job so I won’t bore you with that again. If you haven’t seen it check it out or think about participating next week, share anything fiber animal related from sheep to rabbits and everything in between.

With my hands on all that alpaca fiber at shearing made me want to spin so I got to work on this bobbin. I haven’t spun in a while and I’m amazed how I’m doing so poorly and getting lumps when I’m trying not to get them. Ugh.

My green shawl has stalled. I got 2 more pattern rows done since you last seen it but at least that was enough to get me onto my last skein! I’m almost there.

Lastly… Here’s the start of the heather gray alpaca shawl using the same pattern as the green shawl. See why I decided to sell the green one and keep this one?

Don’t forget to check back for Fiber Market Monday’s! Got anything to do with fiber? Post it! Etsy, OpenHerd, AlpacaNation, personal websites etc are fair game. This is a shopping market for fiber lovers of all types!

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March 25, 2011March 24, 2011

Fiber Arts Friday: Hog Island Sheep

I have been slacking in my fiber duties as of late but this past weekend brought me back into the swing of things.

Saturday I got to enjoy a day of fiber fun with my neighbor Stephanie who raises the rare breed of Hog Island Sheep. I’m told there are about 200 head left in the US but you can see them in their original home setting still at Mount Vernon.

Note: Hog Island lambs are usually born with color but 90% of them end up turning white as adults.

The most fun we had with the fiber was rug making. Using raw fibers and only hand carders we wove the raw fleece straight onto the pegloom. Stephanie really enjoyed the ease of using the loom and tells me her husband is in the works of making one for her. I can’t wait to see her first full size rug on it. I’m rather jealous since my raw alpaca doesn’t hold together even a 10^th as nicely as her Hog Island does for weaving.

One thing I learned about Hog Island fleece is that it is springy! I think a small child could use a pile of their fleece as a trampoline. BOING! She left me a small bag to play with and blend with other fibers. I think I’ll save it for the Tour de Fleece to work with.

I was a total idiot and didn’t take a single photo the entire time! ARGH. I blame it on the fact I was computer-less, the darn thing blew up on my Friday night and now I’m waiting for my new computer to come in.

Be sure to check out Stephanie’s farm. She is new to the fiber side of the business and has tons of this rare fleece. I’m sure she’ll be willing to sell some, if there are interested parties.

Stephanie Dempsey
Clover Hill Farm
2747 Bronson Hill Rd
Avon, NY 14414

Anywho, having a fiber weekend inspired me to finally finish my sock yarn shawl. I am proud to say as of Thursday I finally bound off, wove in all my ends and even got some fringe on it. All that is left is to block it. Oh and of course mail it off to its new owner.

The photo is not a true blocking, I just tacked it up to my cubicle wall at work to have a look at it. I was so proud of my last bind off stitch I could help but get a photo of it too LOL.

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PS I just read through this post and realized my thoughts are rambling with no real path. I guess that’s what 2 over night shifts this week will do to a person. I’m SO tired!