Friday the 13th!

Not only is this day remarkable, being Friday the 13th...but it is also the birthday of my sister Sue. Being 2 years apart in a big family, Sue and I, at one time shared a room, a bed and even bathwater! We may not be as present in each others lives now, but we share some similar memories of where we came from and who we once were. Happy Birthday, Sue.

Here in Corbeil, we are still enjoying a very mild and sunny November, although it is frosty in the morning. This is a picture of Benecio in the barn this morning...notice the frost on his head and back.

Velma, the silkie chicken, is very eager to sit on her egg. Perhaps, she's the smartest chicken...it's a whole lot warmer in the hen house than out on the ground outside. Isn't she pretty? She won't move when you go to get the egg, she's quite protective.








I did some yarn dyeing today. I have some white alpaca\merino blend that was spun at the mill into thick singles. It wasn't what I expected to get back as it's a bit overtwisted, but, that just gives it some other possibilities. I am having fun with the dyeing though. This is what I dyed in the crock-pot last week.


Today, I tried a bit different method of crock-pot dyeing with the 3 primary colours. It's still cooking. I'm not sure if it will be to 'clownish'. I layered the skeins and the ones on the bottom got kind of muddy...but perhaps a nice muddy? We'll see when it is done.

I also did some immersion dyeing with just purple. It's still cooling in the pot, but it looks like the purple took differently at different places. This is probably because I soaked all the white yarn in vinegar, instead of soaking the immersion batch in a soap bath. The vinegar made some areas take the dye too quickly. That's my theory, anyway. I'm still learning...always learning.

16 Celcius on November 8th!!!

What a gorgeous weekend this was! All the more appreciated after having the first day of winter driving through snow and slush on Thursday.

The alpacas were taking advantage of the beautiful weather to try to get the last of the pasture goodness. It's amazing that there is actually green grass at this time of year, but all the rain and fairly warm fall has helped.

The sky was so blue today, compared to November's usual gloominess. I feel uplifted.

The spring cria don't know how good they have it. They'll get a taste of their first winter soon enough. Actually, alpaca take the winters here pretty well. They have lots of fleece to keep them warm, access to the barn and shelters with straw bedding to cuddle into.

This fellow is MHA Vivaldi. He was named by one of the fibre artists who gather at my farm on my annual 'Fibre Fun with Friends' day in June. I call him Valdy for short. He's a handsome lad with promising fibre. It's been hard to get a good picture of him...he'd rather hide behind the other cria or his momma, usually.

Having lived most of my life in Northern Ontario, we know better than to take this weather for granted. Today, we got the snow equipment ready and put away some more firewood.

This week, wear a poppy. Say thanks to a veteran. Say an extra prayer for the men and women serving our country today and for their families. Talk to your children about why we observe Remembrance Day.

Spinning Faster...

I'm spinning so fast, it's making me dizzy :)

No, not really, but...

I remember when I bought my first wheel, a Lendrum DT, my DH offered to "put a motor on that thing". I gave him a look and told him that he was missing the point of spinning.

Someone once likened spinning to the "new Yoga". Well, I have to agree. Spinning for pleasure is meditative and relaxing, as any spinner can tell you.

However, every June I have the job of turning a trailer full of fleece into dollars. Most of the farm's harvest gets taken to the mill to turn into rovings, batts, yarn or felt. However, those special 'best' fleeces or the odd-ball colour\grade fleeces are washed, carded and spun by yours truly for sale as skeins or garments.

I had been half-heartedly looking at the Roberta on the internet. An Ertoel Roberta promised more consistent yarn in a faster rate while saving my ankle joints from treadling.
But, I didn't know anyone who actually used one and the new sticker price was beyond my current gambling limit.

Then about a year and a half ago, I had the great luck to hear about someone in my region selling an electronic spinning wheel. It turned out to be an Ertoel Roberta.

And the price tag on a used one was worth the gamble. Especially, if I could process more fibre at home rather than paying mill processing costs (I can justify any expense :)).

Well, even though it has taken me a year and a half of 1) findling around with it 2) getting frustrated with it 3) swearing at it and 4) staring at it for months...my Roberta and I have finally bonded. It took some adjustments and oiling, and use to both wear it in and get comfortable with it.

The on\off switch and the speed control are hand knobs on the front of the unit. This is a bit awkward when you start out. I was going to either get a pause-switch foot pedal or have DH make one, but it never got done. Now that I'm used to it, I don't think I actually need one.

I used some Polworth from my old stash to test drive her. It ended up quite overtwisted, but I'll use it for some spare mitts.

Then, I started spinning some of my 70% alpaca\30% merino rovings. Since I don't have a 3rd bobbin for plying on my Roberta, I plied on my Lendrum.


I'm really happy with the result. It's very consistent and wasn't overspun.

I'm starting another batch of the same yarn and I'm going to track my time this round.

Mini-Vacation Ends

Slow getting this post up...I've been back for 8 days and I need another mini-vacation (warning to "the Nancy's" not to answer the phone!)

After saying my goodbyes to Nancy and Paul and leaving the Silver Cloud Alpaca farm, I drove over the beautiful countryside to Stirling to visit Marj Brady at Amazing Graze Alpacas. Boy, the sky was blue that day...a perfect day to go and check out Marj's fine herd. Just look at this shot...isn't that a perfect fall day?

Following a nice but too short visit at Amazing Graze Alpacas, I drove over to Enniskillen to Spinning Wheel Alpacas, farm of Nancy and Garth Hutchinson. For the past two years, I've joined Nancy in a booth at the CreativFestival in downtown Toronto. This year, I couldn't participate, but thought I'd pop down with Garth to the show, in time to help Nancy dismantle her booth.

The CreativFestival was a smaller footprint this year, but from my quick scoot through before closing time, it looked like there were more fibre and yarn vendors.

It was too short a visit with Nancy this time, but I did get to check out her new critters! Her alpacas (of course), angora rabbits, new LGD puppies, rescued pot-belly pigs...and ROCKY! Rocky is a young male camel that Nancy is fostering for a local zoo. Nancy is committed to training Rocky on halter and to trailer.

You might have seen Rocky and Nancy in the Toronto Star earlier in the month. It's like a love story...which is a bit twisted (but well...you have to know my friend, Nancy, to understand that:)).

Anyway...visits to the Hutchinson's farm is always interesting and always too short.

What I appreciate about the time spent with these other alpaca fibre producers, besides their warm friendship, is the information and knowledge shared about our product improvements and discoveries. (Sometimes, seeing the great things that others are doing keeps the fire under us to work harder!)

Home again, home again....jiggity-jig.

Mini-Vacation Starts...

Where does an alpaca-farmer-slash-fibre-artist go on a mini-vacation....

Friday, I started out heading east along Highway 17. I stopped at Deep River where there is a really wonderful Artisan cooperative shop where I bought a few little gifts. Then a meandering drive south-east to the Wilton Road Mill at Oddessa where I picked up my new yarns, rovings and felt. I'm loving my replenished supply of rovings and this new yarn pictured below. This lofty 2 ply yarn is a blend of several colours in my herd and blended with 30% merino.

Then I carried on to arrive at the farm of my good friend's Nancy Carr and Paul Ropp of Silver Cloud Alpacas in Elginburg. Nancy's a well-respected alpaca breeder and knitter. Paul is a serious baker of things that delight me. Here, I get to wake up in the quiet farm house bedroom to the aroma of coffee and cinnamon buns.

On Saturday, I was fortunate to be able to go to a fibre arts event in Napanee, where several talented fibre artists were have a show at the historical McPherson House. One of these talented women was Tracey Asselstine, a handspinner,knitter,weaver,fibre farmer. Tracey is also the person who I entrust with producing yarn from my fibre, as she also works at Wilton Road mill. Her work is beautiful. Even I couldn't resist picking up a little handspun hat for my daughter.



Saturday night, Paul and Nancy treated me to a the light-hearted play 'Letter from Wingfield Farm' starring Rod Beattie at Ganonoque's 1000 Island Playhouse. What a treat!

A New Hat!

Yeah, I finished my hat from my hand paint handspun. I kinda just winged a pattern. It ended up a bit big, but I'm happy with it. I like the little I-cord with tassels from the top. It's not a style that I would typically wear, but I've grown attached to the yarn and want it on my head :)


This long weekend, we all wore off some turkey and pie by clearing up some deadfall and bush from the pastures to top up the woodshed. It's the kind of work that makes you feel good physically and mentally.

We've been watching the Weather Network's report of snow in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I guess we are next!! So warm hats and stove wood are good things....

We've been watching this little industrious guy stripping the pinecones off the trees around the house lately.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a time to be thankful for all we hold dear. Have a safe weekend and hug the ones you're with.