Read about the latest happenings at the Misty Haven Farm, where I raise alpaca, try to live a creative life and enjoy living on this beautiful land. I've made the unlikely transition from a 20 year IT career to a life of farming and creativity. I hope you like my photos and musings.
"Trailers for sale or rent
Rooms to let...fifty cents...."
Remember that song 'King of the Road' by Roger Miller? I remember listening to the parents Country Cowboy album.
Well, it's my new theme song for the trailer by the lake.
YES, LADIES...the snake was back when we went out to the trailer on Saturday.
Curled up under my pillow.
And even though hubby had said he would "take care" of the snake, it wasn't to my satisfaction. I envisioned that "taking care" of a snake would mean something that required a parental warning to view...kind of like a scene from The Sopranos. I did not think "taking care" of a snake meant kindly guiding it to the trailer door and letting it slither back under the trailer (where it could find it's regular entry to its luxury home).
Arrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!
On a brighter note, we've been eating out of our garden. Yes, we've had our battles with bugs, groundhogs, and drought. The weeds also got the better of us. We have a greater appreciation for our grandparents who grew most of what they ate out of necessity.
More on our vegetable garden experience in another post.
A friend gave me some rhubarb, so I tried a new recipe that I found on Nancy Guppy's facebook site. Nancy runs the Chapman Landing Cooking Studio in Nipissing, Ontario. She's all about local food that's good for you and tastes fantastic. I wanted to link to the recipe on her facebook page, but I can't find it on her facebook page now!
I found out lately that rhubarb is packed full of calcium. Good stuff.
I finished weaving my alpaca rugs and cut them off the loom. I'm happy with them. I will make a hem on one and just knot the fringe ends on the other.
He's still very much a shy mama's boy, but he's getting a little more curious.
30 lbs of adorable. (and yes, he does have ears... they are just tucked back.)
I'm currently calling him Joey...short for Copper Joe. I say currently because I'm not sure if it suits, but I wanted the Copper part in there for his colour.
I'm beating the heat at Ralph Johnston's basement weaving studio these days.
I've woven a couple of alpaca rugs in plain weave. These are the first alpaca rugs I have woven. The thick rug yarn has a jute cord in the centre and weaves up very quickly. I'm anxious to get some more rug yarn milled so I can experiment with different patterns.
I've also been using the heat as an excuse to lay around and watch some TV series from the library. Laying around is a new art form for me...and I must say, I am learning to enjoy it.
Are you familiar with Downton Abbey? I work part-time in the Audio Visual department of the city library and was quite bewildered by the obsession over the Downton Abbey series. But now, I'm hooked into the characters and story line.
And, ER has George Clooney. Need I say more? The library owns fifteen seasons of ER...I'm only up to season four. I do hope George Clooney is in all fifteen seasons.
Speaking of obsession.
Ahhhhhhh.
The eyes!
Maybe I should call the cria George. Or Copper George.
Snow tires with studs...worth every penny when you drive a little car. This past week has brought freezing rain, high winds and snow.
Looking outside the kitchen window, I don't relish venturing outside for chores.
Even the herd doesn't want to go outside these days.
But the hay is outside.
My 'good life' fitness program includes lugging these 40 lb bales out to each hay feeder.
When I bundle up against the cold, it's actually a good way to start the morning. My cheeks are rosy red from the biting wind, though.
I went to my local spinning and weaving guild meeting the other day. We have "show and tell" after the meeting. It's supposed to be about fibre arts, but I showed my new e-book reader. I didn't think my recent spinning project would dazzle anyone.
Guild member Rosalynn had this beautiful jacket in an undulating weave structure using funky coloured yarns.
Gorgeous!
And these colourful woven teatowels. What a piece of art.
I've been writing previously about the black alpaca jackets that my friend, Suzanne Philbin, was weaving and tailoring for us.
We modelled them in the fashion show at the Wasoon 2010 conference in Kapuskasing. Wasoon stands for Weavers and Spinners of Ontario North and is an excellent conference that takes place every two years in a different location in Northern Ontario, Canada.
It felt like we were the stars of the show in these jackets. Even walking into the conference hotel with the jacket on a hanger, I was surrounded by conference delegates wanting a closer look and touch. I kept explaining that I couldn't take credit for my jacket, my true talent lies in ensuring that I have a gifted and generous friend like Suzanne.
How these jackets came to be...
I was in possession of a surplus of 100% natural black alpaca yarn. This yarn was fairly coarse alpaca, with no loft and spun fairly tightly. I knew it wouldn't suit a knitting project. One day, I showed it to Suzanne to ask her opinion of using it to weave a jacket "some day". Suzanne is a very experienced weaver and seamstress.
Suzanne said that we should each weave a jacket. Now, this conversation probably took place in 2007.
The yarn went back into the great yarn and fibre bin that used to be our family basement.
Every once in a while, Suzanne would ask "When are we going to start those jackets"?
And is usually my reply..."Oh, in a couple months I'll have time to start...after (the alpaca show, shearing, school starts, fall sales events finish, etc. - you can fill in the blank with an excuse at any time of the year!)"
The Wasoon 2010 conference date was looming and Suzanne wanted to wear that alpaca jacket at the conference.
Finally, in early 2010, Suzanne announced that we were starting the jackets. Realizing that it was going to be impossible to get me to commit to weaving half the warp on a loom sitting in North Bay and understanding that I didn't sew well enough to tailor my own jacket, Suzanne agreed to do the bulk of the work.
Suzanne and I collaborated on the warp, deciding on the on-loom width of 28” and putting a random length of Noro Blossom (wool, silk, mohair, nylon) yarn that I found in my stash.
We spent most of a Sunday at Ralph Johnston's studio, designing the warp and winding the warp.
Suzanne's experience really showed in the warp design - it's so important where the random strands of colour would go...I wouldn't call them random after all. It's in the planning of the material that consideration needs to ensure such things like there wouldn't be a stripe running centre of the jacket back.
Suzanne wove the whole 7 yards in over a week and several excited phonecalls.
I learned just how focussed Suzanne can be over a project...that's probably why she can create so many masterpieces, while I don't.
The project took 22 skeins of black alpaca and 2 skeins of the Noro. Then she handed me the heavy bundle and said simply..."I wove it, you wash it."
Yikes! What pressure that was.
Keep in mind the whole weaving studio community and Suzanne's friends and family were watching this project unfold.
Keep in mind that I've been known to destroy at least one handwoven article in my washing machine!
What pressure indeed. I contemplated how I might recover from a potential laundry disaster of this magnitude.
Happy to say that the material was washed and pressed, with almost 0% shrinkage in the width.
I brought the washed textile back to the studio, gladly announcing to Suzanne "I did it! I washed it!"....
From another weaver came "Well, really, I think it's the least you could do!"
I smiled.
Suzanne tailored the two jackets.Suzanne’s jacket is from Simplicity # 4045. Suzanne made a pattern for the second jacket from an old jacket of mine. In fact, Suzanne made 4 mock jackets out of sheeting before she was happy enough with the fit for my jacket to begin sewing it. What can I say...I'm a big girl with big shoulders.
For both jackets, the trim around the front and neck was knit from fingering weight 80% alpaca and 20% merino. A single strand of the Noro Blossom was woven into the trim to create a finishing touch.Suzanne’s jacket has this trim around the wrist openings as well.
I did knit my front finishing edge myself...which ended up being somewhere around 64 inches of very fine knitting. (Applause here)
See, that's another thing I did on this project!
Suzanne completed her jacket with hand-felted buttons with a knit alpaca clasp. I decided to leave mine without buttons, as it hangs so beautifully at the front and I never button my jacket anyway.
The jackets are important to me and Suzanne not only as one-of-a-kind quality hand woven alpaca garments. They symbolize a very valued friendship which began through fibre arts, our continuing inspiration and knowledge shared through this creative experience.
The 2010 Olympics open in Vancouver today. Project and screen are ready in the family room for start of the family couch-potato event. Go CANADA!!!
I have the vet coming this afternoon to draw blood for routine testing for some young alpacas. I get to hold while he attempts to stick a needle in them. Doesn't that sound like fun? I'll probably earn some quality couch-potato time.
Suzanne has finished weaving our black alpaca textile for our jackets. Look!
If you have a dog in your house, you know the wonderful feeling of being loved when your pet runs to greet you at the door when you come home from work. Your dog loves you unconditionally. Well, my alpacas watch for me in the morning. When they see me leave the house and walk towards the barn, they stop what they are doing and make a mad dash to meet me at the barn.
I am under no illusion. They could care less whether it's me, my husband or someone else. They know it's time for their pellets (that's the stuff they get twice a day that gives them their vitamins and minerals that our native forage doesn't give them). And they might likely run me over if I get in between them and the barn door.
Here's a picture of my two weanlings vacuuming up their pellets. I feed them in a separate area, so they don't have to compete with the big ones for their pellets. Look at the beautiful tulips that I was given this week. Makes me feel like spring has arrived. (And since is was -32C this morning at our house, I need to be reminded that it is coming!)
And another sign that spring is around the corner... I took this shot just before noon yesterday. And before you all go "Huh?". This is inside my uninsulated 3-season solarium. The sun was shining in and it was warm enough to sit in there and spin or read (well, if time had permitted...) in the warm sunniness. And to those American friends who might still be thinking "Huh?" It's in Celcius...it's nice and warm at 22C!
Sunday is Valentine's Day, and Monday is the Family Day holiday. Hope you Feel The Love!
It's February! More sunny days and longer daylight hours are noticeable. I notice in Facebook that many friends are posting spring and summer pictures to give us all hope. I was listening to the CBC radio program about gardening the other day. The expert was telling us how to plan your garden, so that even the 'winter bones' of your garden are appealing. Well, I'll have to work on that. However, it did make me look at things differently while walking back from the barn.
Sumac in the winter is quite lovely. My sumac study didn't last long before I noticed that some wild critter (either a fox or a martin, likely) had dug up a dead muskrat that had been buried in the snow. Ahhhh, the 'winter bones' of my rural garden need some refining, for sure.
I have been busy with all things and accomplishing nothing, it seems. I hope to have some finished projects to show you soon.
I was invited to give a presentation at the Powassan Public Library at the end of January. The topic began as 'yarn', but soon transformed into an evening to expose new or previous knitters to many possibilities of knitting with the new fibres and colours available. A couple friends really helped out by bringing their great sample garments. Obviously, I am biased with my alpaca yarn, but I did want to showcase all the possibilities. We also explored some of the environmental and fair trade considerations when buying yarn. Thanks to a friend made through Ravelry.com, I was able to show slides of some very funky wearable art made with novelty art yarn. I was pleased with the large turnout and hope that the evening helped the library to start a knitting program in this community.
I shared a few pictures of harvesting alpaca for my yarn. The audience loved these "before, during and after" pictures, as usual.
A good friend, Suzanne, and I have been planning a project for well over a year. I had some black alpaca yarn that was more suitable for weaving material than knitting. Suzanne and I had decided that there was probably enough there to weave two black jackets if we put them on one loom. We've talked a lot about this over many months. Suzanne grew tired of talking about it. So, we've picked out patterns. We've consulted with Ralph, our weaving guru. We've gone shopping for some colour accent yarn (of course, after shopping, I discovered the perfect Noro novelty yarn in my stash). We've planned the warp (apparently in a garment, even random colour needs to be planned carefully). We made the warp. Suzanne is weaving the material at her apartment. I am really looking forward to having something made from alpaca handcrafted by my friend Suzanne. Besides being an accomplished weaver/artist, Suzanne is a very special person in my life. Alpaca are a huge part of my life. This garment will be so special.
Suzanne is very focussed on this project. I think it might be consuming her! We have already discussed hand-crafted buttons for this garment.
Here's a picture of Aurelia. I've shown you pictures of her beautiful fleece before. She actually is a brilliant white although the picture looks like she is fawn. I'm sure it is just the overcast lighting, because she couldn't possibly be that dirty.
This morning, at the barn, I got SPIT ON! Full face, gobbed on glasses, spit on by Daewoo the Llama. This has me particularly offended because I am forever trying to dispell the bad publicity that llamas suffer from.
I often have people here at my open houses that ask of the alpacas, "Do they spit like llamas?" and then continue to tell me of the nasty, cantankerous beast that they met.
To which I start my well-rehearsed speech about llamas having a bad reputation in North America because most people have only met them in petting zoos where they are confined to a small pen or have been improperly socialized. Llamas and alpacas both spit at each other in competition for food, sex or for a first line of defense. Pregnant females will spit at an amorous male to tell him to 'Go take a cold shower, Buddy!'. A stressed alpaca - getting examined by the vet - may spit up in the air or at the wall she is facing to express her concern. During these times, we caretakers may get caught in the cross-fire. However, properly socialized and cared for llamas or alpacas should never spit at humans.
I would like to believe that Daewoo looked a bit sheepish listening to me rant at him while wiping my face and cleaning off my glasses. And I would like to believe that he was aiming at the female alpaca that was near to me. Even after I reminded him that he was not a llama of particular endearing qualities, that he had a lot of guard hair and bad teeth and that I wasn't sure that he was earning his keep around here, he didn't look too concerned. Llamas are a bit like cats...they think we are lesser beings than their 'royal selves' and could live without all of our emotional drama.
Here's a picture of Frankie the llama. He's quite large and currently, more appreciated than Daewoo, at least today. Here's one of our male alpaca, Striker.
Llamas and alpacas are in the same family - camelid. The most obvious difference between the alpaca and llama in the pictures are the size, the shape of the ears (see Frankie's telltale banana shaped ears?), and the shape of the head. In person, you would notice an obvious difference in the fleece. Although llama fibre can be used for textiles, llamas were originally bred for pack animals and meat. Alpacas have been bred for their fleece quality for thousands of years. Both are extraordinary, intelligent animals.
Being larger, llamas take on a guardian role with the alpaca. If we pasture a llama with our weanling alpacas, the llama will bond with weanlings. This is particularly useful with the male weanlings - as the llama will protect the young male from the older male alpacas when they are moved to the boys pasture. Our llamas are gelded males - otherwise, they could impregnate an alpaca and thus produce a poorly fleeced cross-breed.
In this picture, you can see the difference in the size between the alpaca and the llama. This particular alpaca, Carmel, is our largest alpaca but you can see that Frankie the Llama is quite a bit taller and is likely double his weight.
Happy Day! New books arrived at the library...and since I received the courier package...I got to open the box. It's like Christmas at the library!!! I am probably the world's slowest-reading library clerk but I can still dream of having time to read all the interesting ones!!!
I'm back at the weaving studio. I've put a warp on for a couple scarves. The warp is a handdyed 2 ply of 100% alpaca with some stripes of my handspun, handdyed alpaca\merino blend from my stash. I am weaving the first scarf with a black alpaca\merino blend milled from my own black alpacas. The colours are beautiful and the warp feels incredibly soft.
I wove and undid the first 5 inches three times before finally hoping that I have the proper tension.
Weavers will note by the pin on the woven part and the little bowtie on the back view that I broke a warp thread. Another one happened shortly after.
I'm sure things will go smoother in the studio next time....
