What I'm Up To...

I finished knitting this purple shawl some time ago, but just got around to washing and blocking it.  I love the colour, although it isn't one that I would normally wear.  I've knit this simple pattern before, and it really shows off the variation in the handspun, handdyed yarn. 

I love it when people admire a handspun garment and ask me if I made it myself.  "Yes, first I tended my alpacas for a year while they grew the fleece, then I gathered the fleece as my husband sheared it, then I washed and carded the fleece, spun the yarn on my spinning wheel, then dyed the yarn, then knit the garment....yes, I did make it."  (I try not to take all the credit if the particular alpaca is nearby)

Here's my current knitting with handspun project - a very plain rectangular wrap.  I find that garments knit with very simple stitch patterns look like pieces of art, as the handspun, handdyed yarn is interesting all on it's own.



Creating handspun, handdyed garments is definitely a labour of love.

It takes me a while to turn fleece from the alpaca's back into a clean roving that I can dye, and then spin, and then knit.  I showed you the yarn for these two shawls here back in December after it was just dyed.

I picked up a book on the 'New' shelf at the library, "Culinary Intelligence" by Peter Kaminsky.  The author is a well-known food writer/restaurant reviewer.  This isn't a book I would normally pick for a bedtime read, but I am becoming more and more interested in healthy eating in a way that supports sustainable and responsible agriculture.





I'm about half way through the book.  I find it really interesting and Mr. Kaminsky has explained in terms that I can understand, ways to select food that leads to better health for yourself and your planet.  He wraps it all around a term called 'FPC' (flavour per calorie).  In short, if you make the decision to only select the best tasting food - generally, you are going to select food that has been picked when ripe (ie. regional), had less salt and chemicals added to it (less processed) and therefore with less packaging and environmental impact.  He also explains how natural food flavours are meant to be enhanced by salt, sugar, etc...not totally overwhelmed by food processing industry, as is often the case when we buy packaged or fast food.

I like books that make me smarter. 

Then It Hit Me....

I spent last weekend in Elliot Lake, Ontario at the WASOON 2012 conference.  WASOON stands for Weavers and Spinners of Ontario North.  The conference takes place every two years, with the location rotating through the member guilds in Northern Ontario.   I attended the conference as a vendor, but also as part of the community of fibre artists that gather to share knowledge, inspire each other's creativity and maintain our friendships.

The Elliot Lake area is truly beautiful in the springtime with blue sky, clean lakes and pine trees.  It displays all the beauty of Northern Ontario.  Elliot Lake was once a booming mining town.  I was there once in the 80's when I worked for a mine safety association to tour the large underground facility.  Sometime in the 90's the decreasing market value of uranium led to the closure of the area mines and very quickly the economic base of this town was gone.  In the heyday of a boom mining town, the population was 25,000, now it is closer to 11,500.  The infrastructure of a wealthy "company town" is still there set amid this beautiful Northern Ontario vista, so the city leaders have marketed Elliot Lake as a dream Northern Ontario retirement destination.

WASOON conference participants found 3 different town promotion packages in our conference package, complete with the Retirement Living pricing list for retirement rentals.  The town mayor opened our WASOON banquet, welcoming us to his town, saying he was happy we were visiting, hoping that we would visit again....and "then come and stay for the rest of your lives".

My travelmate and I got a lot of giggles out of the 'stay for the rest of your lives' comment...it would've made a good movie.  So many people moving in...nobody moves out...

And then it hit me.

Apparently as spinning and weaving conference participants, we totally fit the Retirement Living target demographic.  

If you've ever witnessed a hotel invaded by weavers and spinners...you will notice the candidates are predominately 1) women 2)  gray haired 3) wearing stunningly beautiful handspun, handwoven, beaded shawls you can't afford to buy...(often with..uhm...running shoes...and that's not because we don't have a fashion sense, but in our fibre arts world, beauty only applies to things handcrafted and not many of us can wear handcrafted shoes that you can carry or treadle a spinning wheel in.  Also, by the time we've stuffed the car with bags of fibre, our seatbelted spinning wheels, looms and 2 years of accumulated show-n-tell items we've forgotten the dress shoes). 

Anyway, I headed home inspired to finish all my UFOs (un-finished objects), including this handspun yarn that's been on my wheel since last month.

I'm plying two single strands into a balanced 2 ply yarn on my electric Eortel Roberta spinning wheel.  It does ply quicker than my treadled wheel and of course, I can work at it for a lot longer without wearing out my legs and ankles on the treadles.

The two bobbins of singles sit on what is called a Lazy Kate and ply from there onto my Roberta.  I have no idea why this equipment is called a Lazy Kate.  I did just Google it and could not find an answer.  Perhaps I'll try finding it in my old spinning books or asking some friends who are into this type of trivia.  If you know, leave a comment!

My first skein is 138g and feels lovely.  I have more to spin.  It's 100% alpaca, so it will have lovely drape but possibly not much elasticity.  I think it will knit into some lovely scarves or it might end up on my Etsy site. 

Getting back to the topic of the demographics of the spinners and weavers group.  Yes, the predominate hair colour at the conference was gray.  I've let my hair go 'au natural' for the last couple years.  I have friends and family that applaud that and say that my natural aging hair was a lovely mixture of shades.  I have other friends that frankly look at my unpampered, graying hair and say "Why?" or "What's wrong, hon?".

After last weekend, I decided I no longer wanted to appear as Elliot Lake's target market.  This box got emptied on Wednesday night.  My hubby put the colour in for me as I sat in the kitchen chair and I think he did a very nice job.

This weekend we started shearing.  My hubby actually does the shearing and my daughter and I are the crew.  We began with the female alpacas first.  As one girl was led away from the shearing table, I complimented her on her new hairdo.

Then it hit me.

I have the same hair care expert as the livestock.

I need to get off the farm more.....

 

Early Spring

If you are tuning in to this blog from Northern Ontario, it will not be a surprise that I will mention the weather.  It's like July weather, with temperatures in the 20s and people walking around in halter tops, shorts and sandals.

I've had a hard time getting time to update the blog this month.  However, I remembered to take the camera outside a few times to catch the signs of spring.  Like the alpacas venturing out into the fields for the first time, as they sense the approaching spring and search for that first blade of grass.

 

I know that I should keep them off the pastures right now, but I'm a bad farmer....I like to see their enjoyment as they kick up their heels for the first time since the winter socked them in close to the barn.  I'll give them some time to stretch their legs before I close off that pasture so that the grass has a chance to start.

 

This was another scene from a week ago.

 

Today, the only snow you can see anywhere is at the shady edge of the woods.

Warm and sunny for the last several days. Short and halter weather indeed.

Of course, spring fashion is in full swing here at the farm. 

 

I had a beautiful walk to check the fence this morning.  It feels like the earth is coming alive after being frozen and buried under snow for several months. 

I finally finished spinning up some dreadful rovings that I had accidentally semi-felted in the dyeing process.  I think if I had purchased the fibre, I would have thrown it out and not thought too much of it.  But when you watch the fleece being grown on the backs of your animals, and carefully skirt and sort the fibres, wait for months to get it back from the mill in roving form and then dye it (usually successfully)...this stuff has your heart and soul in it.

So I thought I would try to salvage some of it.  It was tough to draft so, the resulting singles were pretty uneven in diameter.  Lots of lumpy spots.  But actually, after plying and washing it, it appears to be a lovely soft, interesting yarn.  It will no doubt knit into a beautiful textured fabric.  I love the colour.  I only have about 200g, so I'm leaning towards a hat and mitt set.  I keep thinking of a little girl's jumper dress though.  Perhaps I will have to hang up the yarn in a place I can see it often.  The answer will come to me.

We've been trying to tame a homeless cat for about a month.  She's a nice little cat, but very nervous.  My daughter and I were able to cage her and bring her to the vet for shots and a checkup.  Thankfully, we think she was already spayed, is in good health and was well behaved in the vets office.  The vet and I beleive she is probably about three years old.

We think one of the renters of an old farm up the road left her when he moved out.  Another neighbour started feeding her, but when he got a dog, she was frightened away.  We suspect she's been living in our implement shed for the winter.  My daughter has named her Mittens.

Our hope was that she'd become our new barn cat, doing mouse control in return for food and lodging.

We kept playing this game where we would coax her with food into the barn, then pick her up and put her in the hot room (which has a cat door) to eat and get used to us petting her.

It did work most of the time, but it sure made chore time a lot longer.  She is very nervous of the alpacas and really tried hard to convince us to bring the food outside for her.

She is more interested in becoming a house cat.  She leads us back to the house, all the while talking to us about how she really is a princess, and not suited to the barn.  She spends a lot of time lounging on our deck.

I don`t think the barn mice are in any danger soon.

 

Top Ten Reasons for Owning (Loving) Alpacas - The Fibre!

The other day, I was thinking of starting a Top Ten list for finishing off this year 2010.  The idea came to me that I should list ten reasons why I love having alpacas on my farm.  I often get asked why I chose alpacas for my farm by people waiting for a quick, simple answer.  After answering this question for the last 8 years, I have a pretty standard answer.  But could I come up with ten distinct reasons that I could articulate to people who might know nothing about the animal, quality natural fibre, livestock farming or starting a business?  It was amazing that once I started writing, the reasons kept coming.  I didn't intend a particular order for the list, but this first reason is the most important reason for me and my business.

The Very Top Reason to Own Alpacas is -
An ultimate supply of alpaca fibre, of course!

It's soft and non-itchy, comes in many shades from brilliant white, browns and true black. It's a strong fibre with a long staple, so it can be spun into a very lightweight, fine yarn. Garments made from alpaca have incredible drape and warmth.
Like other farms in our climate, we shear our alpacas in the spring. The majority of fleece from my farm and that which I buy off other Ontario farmers gets skirted and sorted into like lots (by fineness, colour and staple length) over the summer and sent off to the mill. Specific instructions to the mill include everything that they need to know for the yarn, such as blending recipe (percentage of alpaca, merino, silk, nylon, or other), desired yardage per pound, and the amount of twist desired. Other fibre might be turned into rovings, batts or felt.

I’ve been using Wilton Road Custom Fibre Mill in Odessa, Ontario for several years. The mill operator, Tracey, is a spinner and fibre enthusiast. She loves working on my fleece, as I usually have some novel requests that she loves to try out. She usually has a few ideas in creating small lots of trial yarns. We know that if we are excited to produce the yarn, then my customers will be excited to weave or knit with it. Wilton Road has been making my 3 ply sock yarn and my fingering weight yarns for the last 3 years and I am really happy with the quality, as are my customers.

The product is returned from the mill, anywhere from 4 months to a year after they receive my raw fleece. It’s like Christmas when I receive a big shipment of yarn back from the mill! Fresh yarn! Receiving the yarn is the culmination of a long process and I still need to knit up a swatch to find out if I have a truly successful run.

I handdye much of the yarns and rovings that are returned to me from the mill. This year, for the first time, I have sent some fleece to a mill that will also return it as dyed yarn.

I will process some of the nicest fleeces myself on the farm in small lots of unique fibre blends that are bought by other spinners. These might be blended with silk, mohair, merino, angellina or other fibres into beautiful rovings on my Patrick Green SuperCard.

I sell the yarn, rovings, felts and batts through my yarn shop, online and at markets and fairs. Some of it goes into finished products I either make or have made, usually locally.

A small portion of the rovings are spun into yarn by myself, for either my use, to sell or to use in end-products. People who can appreciate the qualities that make up a high-quality, unique, natural fibre yarn will spend the money on handspun alpaca yarn. A handspinner can usually spin a yarn that has less twist, and as such, has a softer feel than commercially spun yarns. As well, a handspinner has the option of creating very unique, novelty yarns that are unlike anything created commercially.

Today is the last Saturday before Christmas.  My shop is in my house, so I believe that my family will be relieved that we won't have to have Christmas music blaring for 5 hours every Saturday after today.  I had quite a few shoppers today, preferring to drive into the country for their last minute gifts than to tackle the mall parking lot.  Alpaca socks make an appreciated gift for almost anyone on your list.

O Tannenbaum!

O Christmas Tree! It's fake - can you tell? I promise I will never buy another one...well, maybe if it comes with the lights already installed. 10 more days until Christmas. Our community public school had their Christmas concert tonight. The countdown is on.

Here's a spinning project that I've been wanting to try for some time now. I handspun the alpaca\merino blend singles and now I am plying them together with a polyester thread strung with beads. I'm finding it kind of tricky to hold the beaded thread in one hand to pop a bead off into the yarn while plying. The tendency is to hold back on the thread itself, so it is much tighter than the singles yarn. I'm thinking that the colour beads on the white yarn looks kind of clownish, but perhaps it will make a nice edging on a scarf or shawl someday. Come to think of it, it looks a little Christmas-sy itself.






Our chickens are not loving the winter...although they do venture out of the chicken house to get fresh air.

















The rooster Big Red is a handsome devil, isn't he?
The hen's name is Elsie.

People ask me whether alpacas like the Northern Ontario winters. Well, they do like the cold weather of December better than the heat and humidity of our typical August. They need shelter from the wind and from getting too wet, but other than that, they do very well in our climate. Today was a mild winter day, but when the sun started going down, it got cooler. In the twilight - which now happens about 5:30pm - I could see this 6 month old weanling and another running about playing and pronking. It's fun to watch.