Alpaca Yarn and Paying it Forward

This post has some serious eye candy on it! Here is the skein of Alpaca named Joaquin that I spun for Squire Creek Ranch. This skein is 3 oz-382 yards(approx). It's a slightly off white color.

This photo is of both the Emilio skein and the Joaquin skein swirled together. They really compliment each other.

And then there is this....how do you not pet her?!

For some reason, If I pull out the black background and turn on the light...she's all over it wanting to help model the yarn. I loved this picture and had to share it with you.

So that's another finished object for the posting! I currently have nothing on the wheel as I can't decide which bag o stuff to spin next and I've cast on for a pair of fuzzy feet slippers which I should be able to complete this week.

Paying it forward

We all know how sloooow I am at completing stuff sometimes, but even I thought I could complete this. I mean really......I have 365 days! I'm stealing this word for word from Cindy's blog, hence the quotes.

"I will send a handmade gift to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do if you like, is in return pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

PS...that's 365 days from you leaving the comment on this blog. Ready? Set? Comment!( ahem, meaning....let me know if you want to be a part of the exchange!)

Emilio Skein

It is time.

I've had this completed for over a week now and it's time to share it with you all. This is the first completed skein of Alpaca fiber from Squire Creek Ranch. The fiber for this skein is 100% Emilio*. It is 3 5/8 ounces (I forgot to weigh the fiber out for this before spinning due to complete and utter ignorance as to how far this stuff goes otherwise it would have been 4 ounces.) and is approximately 444 yds and a two ply yarn. This was an absolute dream to spin up and was probably the easiest and most pleasant spinning I've ever done. This fiber just wants to be a fine yarn and screams for a lace weight spinning. I cannot tell you what the WPI is but I believe this is the finest spinning I've done as of yet. What the picture does not show you is how utterly soft and lustrous this fiber is. It's all I can to to keep it in the bag so I don't pet it every day. To be honest.....if it weren't for the fact that I have more of this delicious fiber to use for myself, I'd have a hard time handing this over. (I do believe I see lace knitting in my future with some skeins of hand spun alpaca!drool.)

The next skein will be of Joaquin*. That fiber has been weighed out, combed and is awaiting a trip through the carder. It is slated as the first project for the Tour de Fleece for me and I can't wait to dive in. For this skein, I plan on adjusting my wheel ratio, which in theory will make it go faster. However, we all know that when I make changes strange things happen, so we'll see. I was sorely tempted to change it during the spinning of Emilio, but wanted to make sure the skein came out balanced and was afraid of messing things up by changing anything. It's all a learning experience, so we'll see.

** To see pictures of Emilio and Joaquin, click on the Squire Creek Ranch link above and then chose "Herd sires" from the menu on the left hand side. Both are pictured there....just scroll down a bit.

Gluttony

Ok, I didn't leave Squire Creek empty handed. No....I didn't steal an Alpaca! Goodness, can't you just see Tucker with one of those? lol No thank you lol. They are wonderful animals, but I do believe the association I live in would not believe that it was a dog.

This is what I came home with.....

....it's also my current obsession!

Yep, you're seeing it correctly. 9 full alpaca fleece. Sorted even...lol. (Please ignore the two black bags at the top of the picture. They are sheepy fleece waiting to be skirted, picked and washed. I do believe they'll be waiting a bit longer now.)

Michael and Alan were interested in seeing how two specific animals fiber spins up, so those two are the first ones I've dug into. I weighed out approximately a pound of each, bagged it up and took it in to work on it. (This should show you what a complete novice in the Alpaca department I am! A pound of each?!! If I'd only known what that would turn into!!! lol) This one is out of a bag labeled J1 which I believe belonged to Joaquin.

This is some of the fiber from Emilio. I was too excited to get a ruler and show you the exact measurement, but take into consideration that I don't really have petite girly hands. Anyway, I've been working with this off and on all week. I read online that you get a better carding if you comb out the locks with a dog comb before starting the carding process. This seems to open up the locks and release any vegetable matter in them as well as knocking loose a majority of the dust or dirt that may be there. It's working wonders and I managed to fill a plastic grocery sack with combed out locks. I was planning on combing out the whole pound and then carding it all at once, but the process was becoming a bit slow....and the carder was calling me.

It's a good thing too. I had absolutely no idea how much this stuff was going to fluff up in the carding process. I was completely amazed at the fullness of the batts I pulled off the carder and how far that small amount of fiber was going. Thanks to hubby's upgrade on the carder, the process was easy going and last night I was able to get some carding done.

Look at how nicely this carded up....and only one pass through the carder! I could have put it all through again to blend a bit better, but to be honest I wanted to start spinning it up. There are a total of 4 batts stacked there. At this point I rolled them up and pulled them into roving. I did start spinning last night, but wanted to be able to concentrate on the spinning to try to achieve some evenness in these skeins, so I put it off until today.

Today I worked on it some more. This does like to be spun fine for sure! The coloring in the picture is not very accurate at all. As you can tell here it looks grey, on the wheel it's more of a caramel color, but I think that once washed it will be more of a cream color or off white. There's still quite a bit of dirt on the fiber but it's spinning up beautifully. I'm completely enamored with Alpaca to be sure!
I can not thank Michael and Alan enough for giving me this opportunity. This is such a great experience for me and one I don't think I'll be able to repay them for. I'll be contacting you guys when I get the first skeins done!

Squire Creek Ranch Alpacas

Last Sunday DH and I took a drive up to Squire Creek Ranch to check out the Alpacas there. Squire Creek Ranch is owned and operated by Alan Pickard and Michael DeDear who are members at the Co-Op I work at. I'd never been close to an Alpaca before and really know very little about them, but the spinner in me gets curious about these things and I was very glad to get a chance to see the ranch.

When we arrived we were greeted by some energetic Pyrenees dogs. These dogs are great livestock guardians and, having Tucker at home, the size thing didn't even faze us. This farm is so very lovely! I can completely understand why they live where they do! (Personally, I'd never want to leave home if it were me.)Not only is the view wonderful, but they have all these wonderful critters around!

Alan walked us through the fields and explained all about their breeding program, pointing out the traits in the animals that they were aiming for. We talked about their recent successes during this last show season. He showed us each and every animal there and answered about a million questions from us. lol We were also able to "feel the fiber on the animal" so to speak. I never expected to be able to pet one...let alone several.


The day before had been sheering day for some of the them so we were able to see Alpacas with and without their fuzziness. It's amazing how much difference in size that covering of hair can make. These guys were hanging out, but definitely were denying me the pleasure of petting them.he he


Isn't he a regal looking thing?! He certainly knows he's special, that's for sure. Really the pictures will do a much better job of showing you how adorable these critters are than me just blathering on. It was just a very nice visit and their love of the animals really shows through. While this is a business venture for them, it's not just a business venture and it shows.





I've added a sidebar button with their logo on it. (Thanks DH!) As soon as I can I'll figure out the code that will make it a functioning "click-on-the-button-and-it-takes-you-to-their-website" button. In the mean time, the link to their website is at the side as well. If you have ANY interest in Alpacas, check them out. They are wonderful people to deal with and they truly care about their animals.






Wait until the next post.....you get to see what I got while I was there!!!! hehehehe Totally shocked me!