WEEK 19 OF YEAR 10

 

Yes, here we are again.  Sunday morning and I am ready to sit down and tell you about my progress this week on my projects.

First up are the socks.

The second sock now has the heel completed and I have just begun to work on the foot.  Hubby is anxiously awaiting the completion of this sock.  The first sock is laying on his dresser patiently awaiting it's mate.  I think I hear it sigh once in a while too LOL.

Then, there is the shawl, Reyna.

I know it looks the same as last week but believe me this is all new.  By that I mean, on Sunday afternoon, I frogged what I had accomplished .  I found a couple of mistakes and was not happy with the tension I was getting.  So, I ripped the entire thing out and restarted it.  This is not something you want to work on if you are not going to pay attention to your stitch makers and what they mean.

Then, because I did not have enough WIPs, I started another one.

This small little thing is going to end up being a hat for Josie.  The pattern is Percussion.  I will be learning how to do jogless stripes in this hat.  A new to me, technique.  The yarn is from the alpaca farm Josie and I visited last Monday.  Once again, I started this on Tuesday and by the time I was ready for the first stripe, I found several mistakes I could not live with and frogged it and restarted it.  It seems, most of my projects lately, have to be started twice before I 'get' a pattern.

Here are the colors Josie chose for her hat.

The white is from the alpaca 'Dolomite' and he really loved it when you fed him.  He was a bit rough while eating out of your hand but it made quite the impression on us.  Hence the reason we bought his yarn.  The brown is from one of the momma alpacas we were not allowed to feed because of the babies that were still nursing.  

Of course, I could not leave the alpaca farm without getting some yarn for myself.

I am in love with this color.  The proprietor of the farm has all these yarns labeled as 'sport weight'.  Nope, I held it up to my sport weight yarn and it is much finer than that.  I held it up to my fingering and it is spot on.  This yarn is destined to be a shawlette for me.  Not sure what pattern yet.   There is  400 yards of yarn to work with though.

Here is a photo of the alpaca my yarn came from.

Hello Lilliana!  She is a beauty.  Did you know, alpacas only have bottom teeth? The teeth need to be trimmed each year when they are sheared.  Their hooves are also trimmed at that time.  Most alpacas only weight about 100 - 150 pounds and are around 12-15 pounds when born.  In the wild, alpacas only live about 7 years because when their teeth get too large to eat and they starve to death.  On farms, like the one we visited, they will live up to 20 years.

One of the things I liked about this farm is they keep breeding records.  There is no inbreeding of their animals.  The other thing is, how clean the farm was.  There was 20 acres of land and they know just how many alpacas they can keep on that much land.  They do not overcrowd at all.  

Here is Josie with my favorite alpaca.

This is Blarney Stone.  His fleece has already won first place in his first alpaca show.  I spotted him when we were 3 corrals away.  I might have given a little squeal when I saw him too.  He is not a year old yet so he still has some growing to do.  What a beauty he was.

All their alpaca fleece is grade 2.  Grade 1 is the best grade but it takes years to get to that.  Blarney Stone will be a good one to start trying to improve on their fleece.

How close were we allowed to get to the alpacas?

Pretty darn close, wouldn't you say?  And yes, they do spit but we were fortunate not to have anyone do it to us.  They also kick, which is why we were told to keep our backs to the fences so they could not get behind us.

This coming week I have the privilege to be dog sitting and teen watching.  There is one more week this year to do this and then I will be free until next year.  These weeks are kind of fun for me.  There is so much down time and I am able to get quite a bit of crafting done.  

Today, I am finishing up some laundry, making bread, baking a cake, making some Chex Mix (nuts and bolts), and enjoying some nice cool fall like weather.  We woke up to 50F and are only going up to 66F today.  My windows are opened, letting the breeze blow through the house.  I think we have finally moved out of summer!

I best get busy with my kitchen work so I can enjoy the afternoon of NFL football.  That makes for perfect TV knitting.  I do not need to watch it to know what is happening.  I have an arm chair quarterback that gives me plenty of feedback on the plays.  Thanks Husband!

Until Next Time......................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!