My Favourite Time of Year

Fall is certainly my favourite time of year. There are no bugs. The day temperatures are moderate. The nights are cool for sleeping. The night sky is clear. The June cria are old enough to stop worrying about them. The start of the school year seems to put everything back on a schedule. Harvest vegetables are plentiful.


Here are some fall pictures of around Eau Claire and Bonfield, Ontario that I took on a drive this past weekend.





Another great thing about fall....people start thinking about wearing warm alpaca and knitting again!


I find handspinners, handweavers and handknitters to be an incredibly social and sharing group. Once a year, I try to have a "Friends on the Farm with Fibre" event. I invite lots of fellow fibre artists. Sometimes the date works out, and my house is jammed with friends and spinning wheels, fibre and yarn for the day. This year, the date I picked had a few conflicts with other events, but still we had about 14 fibre friends come for the day. While it rained outside, we had a relaxing day of spinning and knitting and friendship.


I am a member of the Country Roads Artisan group that celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year. Prior to our Fall Studio tour, we hosted a celebration at the shopping mall in North Bay. We displayed our wares, did demonstrations of our craft, shared cake and coffee and information with the public. The city mayor, and both our provincial and federal members of Parliament came to congratulate us. I always love to spin in public. People are so interested in this craft and in awe of the process. I get to meet a lot of very nice and interesting people while doing the demonstration. I found it especially satisfying spinning so relaxedly, watching others run about in our usual fast-paced, "gotta-get-the-errands-done" mode. Spinning brings me inner calm.


Our Country Roads Fall Tour was the last weekend in September. You can find more information about this tour and our group at our website http://www.countryroadstour.com/.
If you are planning to be in the area at any time, check out the information and hours of operation for the studios.

Below is an example of fellow member John Stephens' work from his studio At Wit's End Glass.

John's work is really unique. Many of the pieces feature birds or other wildlife. As well as 2D pieces, he also creates 3D works that incorporate other items such as rock, lichens, driftwood, etc.

Here are some of my recent handpainted sock yarns...

And I leave you with a fall shot of my farm....

and, of course, a recent picture of Lily for those who have followed the story of her hard little start.

For my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

End of Summer Colours

No, I didn't spell "colour" wrong...even if my blogger spell-checker tells me so.

Here are a couple new colours of my chunky yarn in my shop. It's an 80% alpaca/20%merino chunky 3 ply.

In Twilight


In Bella Donna
I almost called this one black cherry. I thought that with the dark overtones, this colour would knit into a great accessory for an otherwise all-in-black goth-girl...one who wouldn't ever wear anything named "black cherry".

This is our truck. Big, bad-ass 4x4 truck. I try not to drive this, since I am short and cannot exit it gracefully. Wearing a skirt when I have to get in is not an good option. On a winter dressy occasion, when the nasty weather forced us to take the truck, we had to haul a stepping stool for me to get out without ripping my skirt. Sometimes, I have to drive the truck to work at the little library. It's not the type of vehicle your "library lady" should have to drive to work, is it?

We bought this truck after our other navy truck got flattened by a huge pine tree that fell in our driveway during a wind storm. Red wasn't a colour we would normally buy, but this used truck was available at a good price.

I have these blossoms showing all around the sheds and on the way to the barn. When I was young, we called them snapdragons. I'm not sure if that is the correct name for them. They sure are pretty.

Who decides if something is a weed or a flower?

Mostly Pics

Seems the hint of fall is in the air here.

Misty mornings. It was a month of September that I named my farm. Here's the girls coming in from the back pasture for their breakfast pellets.

My family is taking every advantage of the last days of summer.
It's times like these when I think about the possibility of having to line up another shearing crew for the spring.
In case you were wondering...I had to hold the camera and the dog's leash. Otherwise, I'd be right in there. Honest....really....;)

I'm in denial about the approaching seasons. However, my hubby had a couple loads of wood delivered the other day. Reality approaches.

I'm all packed up for my booth at Rosseau Farmer's Market tomorrow. Market booths are a lot of work for me, but I do enjoy meeting people so much. Even on a slow market day, I get a rare opportunity to sit outside and spin on my wheel. The weather network says it will be fair weather.

I'm looking forward to fall. It's been too humid here this summer. I do look forward to the return of routine that fall brings. Not to mention getting to wear soft, warm alpaca again!

Rainy Days

Oh, my yummy shelves! I've been having fun on my dyeing days this summer. These alpaca blend skeins were yet to be labeled as I got ready for the Artist's Garden event last weekend.

The Artist's Garden brings together about 25 artists and artisans from our community onto the gardens of Ash Creek Pottery in Callander, Ontario. For two days, the public comes to see the artists in action. I was there demonstrating hand spinning, not dyeing. The ladies of St. Andrew's Church serve lunch and desserts in a great tea room. Mid-day, a bagpiper plays from across the pond. The resident ducks walk amongst the gardens and glide into the pond. People play a game of trying to count how many frogs reside in the beautiful water garden beside the pottery studio. On a lovely day, you cannot find a more peaceful venue.
Saturday was a perfect day, even with a short 15 minute rain in the morning. I saw many old friends and met many new faces. The artisans are a great, friendly bunch and we have fun while we are there.
Sunday was not a perfect day. The skies turned black, the phone rang with warning from North Bay of high winds and hail. With black, ominous clouds approaching and the winds picking up, we scrambled to cover the tables the best we could. Not even my anti-rain dance in my long skirt and plaid rubber boots could save it. The skies opened up and it rained, and rained, and rained.
I felt quite sick watching from the studio's covered porch and realizing that I had several thousand dollars worth of yarn, hand knit and hand woven articles under the plastic. My poor tent didn't stand up too well. Somebody's market tent completely collapsed.
My fellow artisans thankfully rushed over to help me secure my product as best we could under plastic.
It rained for a very long time.
The best time was had by six year old Sage, who, barefoot and covered with a blue garbage bag ran through the rain and puddles, declaring that 'This is the Best Day Ever"!
When it finally cleared, the hostess found a dry table and tent and people helped me move some of my product to a drier spot.
Like many others, I was soaked to the bone with drip dry hair.
Worse was that when I got home tired, I had to unpack everything to ensure it wasn't wet.
I was happy that I only lost one photo card and some labels.
Sunday night, I was feeling that I might have participated in my last outdoor venue. I was tired and cranky.
But Monday, the emails started flying talking about how next year's event could be even better.
I love this event and the spirit of the people involved in it.
I'm in! (well, assuming I'm invited...)
I just might have to think about a more weather-proof display system.

Here's some fibre blending that I'm working on. White alpaca and a teal blue merino...makes a batt that looks like a waterfall. I'm thinking of adding either some sparkly angelina or some more colourful silk to it....we'll see where it goes.

It hasn't all been work. Lawrence Hill's Book of Negroes has been out on a steady reserved rotation from the library, especially as it has enjoyed such wonderful reviews. I finally got a hold of it when I had time to read it. It's so hard to put this book down. I thoroughly enjoyed Hill's writing style, the story and the character, Aminata Diallo.



You may have been wondering about Lily. She's still doing fine, although she is smaller than she should be. Lily absolutely refuses the bottle, so we are weighing her often to ensure that she is still gaining. So far, so good. She is gaining, ever so slowly. Lily already has a fan base of her own rooting for her continued health.

Thanks for dropping in. I am always pleased to find comments, so please leave one if you feel inclined!

Easy Summer Living

My schedule has been varied a bit over the last 2 weeks, so it seems almost like a holiday.

I had a booth both at the farmers' market in Rosseau and in North Bay on the August long weekend.

The young cria, Lily, started refusing the bottle from us. I guess after tasting the real stuff from her adoptive alpaca mom, the kid replacer just didn't cut it. She's also eating grass now. We need to keep an eye on her weight and make sure she keeps gaining.

Without the regular bottle feeding schedule, we've been able to spend some more time out at the lake. We still have to run home to look after the animals at least twice a day. Still, it seems like a holiday to be swimming, relaxing in the shade with a good book, visiting with family, fishing, etc.

We had a good rain for most of today. Tonight, I went out to take some nice shots of the green fields and perhaps some alpaca pictures.

It's hard to sneak up on the alpacas with a camera. Either they come up to put their noses into the lens, or more often than not, you end up taking a lot of pictures of alpaca butts as they turn and move away.


I was able to take a picture of one back pasture before the girls noticed me and figured they should run in to get some pellets.


We often have deer in our back pastures, sometimes even grazing alongside our alpacas. I counted six there tonight, although I couldn't get them all in one picture.

Do you remember Mr. Lonely?
Uhmm...pretty sure it's a Miss. Isn't she pretty? I think we will call her Miss Lovely from now on.
She's not so lonely anymore. Aren't they getting big?


I've been doing a lot of hand dyeing, both yarn and rovings.

Here's my 3 ply sock yarn in "Feet on Fire" colourway.
and "In The Navy" colourway.
This coming weekend, Aug 14th & 15th, I will have a booth at The Artist's Garden on Hwy 654 in Callander, Ontario. Check out the link. 22 artists and artisans show their wares and demonstrate their craft. I'll be hand spinning....alpaca, of course!

Thanks for stopping in to read my blog. It makes my day when I see that someone has left a comment.

Gardens, berries, and Lily

Well, summer is in full swing here. It seems that it takes a rainy day and full dye pots before I get a chance to sit down and post an entry!

One good thing about living in the country is that the colour just seems to happen. My flower garden is a wild thing, designed to look that way by Jim Merrick of Commanda Country Gardens. I told him that I don't have time to fuss, so my garden is full of native perennials that are drought resistant and spread faster than the weeds can. Throw in a long, country driveway and from the road, my garden looks fantastic. The cherry trees are loaded. I'm not sure if they are ping or choke cherries - either way, I don't like the taste. However, the birds are all over these trees that surround our yards here.

It's a great year for raspberries. We've been picking quite a few.

And FRESH YARN has arrived from the mill, via a friend heading north on a kayak trip who kindly saved me shipping costs! There is always a few months turnaround from fibre to yarn at the mill, so I had best be getting my spring fleeces skirted and batched off to the mill soon. I have started dyeing this 3 ply sock yarn today.

Every livestock farm has sad stories to tell from time to time. I choose not to write about the sad stories in my blog. So, the following tale has been a while coming as I've been guarded about the outcome. Touch wood, but I think it's going to have a happy ending and wanted to share it here.

On June 26th, our Raven gave birth for the first time. She delivered in the back pasture in the early morning. When I went out to check the girls, Raven was grazing quite far away from the cria, so at first, I didn't think it was hers. Although a bit curious about the cria, she didn't stay near it like most dams do. She looked a bit bewildered when the cria started following her every move.

Things just didn't seem normal, and after watching, it was apparent that Raven had no intention of letting the cria try to nurse.

We've never encountered this on our farm, and we tried everything "in the book" to get Raven to let the cria nurse.

To make a short story out of a long one, we ended up bottle-feeding the cria. Bottle-feeding a cria is a pretty big commitment of at least 3 months.

On the second day, we noticed that another maiden alpaca, Aurelia was allowing the cria to suckle. We thought it strange, but allowed it to happen, knowing that the bonding with the herd is important to the health of a cria.

This kept on. We would bottle-feed and then it would suckle from Aurelia. Aurelia was taking on all of the normal protective instincts of a new mom, alarming at every different sight and sound and keeping the cria close to her at all times. On the off-chance, we started giving Aurelia some lactation herbs.

When the cria was 12 days old, we checked Aurelia's little teats and found that she had started to lactate a bit! The cria, who we have named Lily, had been adopted.


Over the next 2 weeks, Lily started taking less milk from the bottle.

Lily still isn't as big as she should be, but she is strong and sturdy and plays normally. We are still supplementing her with the bottle somewhat.

This is Lily as she was at 17 days of age.


She's a beauty with brilliant, white fibre. Keep your fingers crossed that this happy story continues....

July Farm Pictures

This morning, Smokey the barn cat puts action in as he retells me the story of his latest barnyard kill....(not really, this is him saying 'Hey, get rid of that camera and pet me already!").

Pepita and her baby are doing just fine, even with this oppressive heat.

With a healthy cria at side, a nice snooze in a sun-baked dust-bath is an alpaca mom's spa!


Awkward teenage chickens...

Have a great day!