Humble Beginnings

Lilly of the Valley scarf from Lace Knitting of Estonia. Sorry for the pic....it's hard to see all the nupps but they are there :) My alpaca/kid mohair is soft and shiney. I really luv knitting with my handspun. I see alot more lace knitting in my future.One sock down.....1/2 of second sock to go. This is gull wings pattern from Socks, socks, socks.

Plying some black alpaca on my Ashford traddy.

Grey Alpaca and a Sock Blend

Some lacey socks I am knitting from an alpaca/bamboo/merino blend. I wanted to see what kind of yardage I would get from a skein. I think I could have made the leg longer because I have quite abit left. I am already at the toe. This is some of the yarn I will be selling at Alpaca Ontario.

The finished yarn on the bottom pics is 410 yards of a handcombed grey alpaca and kid mohair. It's soft and shiney.......almost a pewter colour. I have decided to use this yarn for a pattern from Lace Knitting of Estonia. Everything in it is so beautiful but I haven't knit alot of lace so it will be challenging!

New Stuff

I wanted to show you these two staples. The longer staple is from the very first shearing (cria fleece) and the shorter staple is from the second shearing of the same animal. Interesting how it changes non?

My black cria fleece. So pretty with the feathery brown tips...the combed fibre looks a sable colour and it's so incredibly soft. I need to think of something special to make with it. I am probably getting the second shearing of this pretty girl so it will fun to see how her fleece changes.

Ah yes...what's this? Not alpaca! Some 'delectable' moorit romeldale as Becky puts it. I luv it !

What a great trade we made. A pound of my beautiful greys for a pound of this loveliness.

A close up of the romeldale and a staple I flicked open the ends.

FO....Estonian mittens (I made a few changes to the pattern) in all natural handspun alpaca. You can not go wrong with natural colours. They just seem to flow together in harmony.

Hubbert Farms

Black suri..I will be getting some of this when he's sheared. Always wanted to try the black!

Kathy McConnell hiding behind her alpacas.

Feeding some white suris.

Lots of horses around. A wild mustang and even a Belgian horse. Oh boy was he huge!

Me and some pretty nice fibre. Top is huacaya and bottom pic is a suri. Hubbert Farms is expecting 17 new crias. Wow!

Yesterday was the perfect day to spend with the alpacas. Hubbert Farms was hosting a small group of Marketing students for the day. We spent time outside with the alpacas (of course I was fondling fleeces and checking out what I might like at shearing time:) Afterwards we went inside for more fibre demonstrations. I showed some of the girls how to spin and card the raw fibre. Today it's raining :(

Preview of Fleeces

Yesterday I looked thru some of the fleeces we will have for sale at the Alpaca Ontario show. These fleeces are from Obosheen Alpacas of Peterborough. Her prices are a steal . The pics I am showing you are of the cria fleeces. There is also a white cria too I believe. Yes I was drooling. Somehow I lose all sense of time when I am fondling fleece. The crimp, long staple and feathery softness are so delicious.

Not much VM in them either. I could spin them without even washing them first. M U S T B A C K A W A Y...slowly....... before I take more then the handful you see here.

My nylon (fake cashmere? what's with that?) has arrived. No time to play now though but soon.

Finished Selbuvotter

Well almost finished. Just need to block them to even out the stitches alittle. Knit in handspun 2ply fawn and bay black alpaca. I luv the natural colours of alpaca. There is an endless variety of browns and greys!

Glorious Greys

A unique 2 toned alpaca fleece..amazing crimp and softness...I thought the bottom was dirty and would wash out but it's not :)

Hand combed top..you can see the 2 toned colours.

On the combs. I absolutely luv these combs and could not live without them! I am using the smallest hole on my ditz because I plan on spinning this very fine.

This is 'fine spinning' for me. I am spinning three fine singles of this grey in order to make a 3 ply sock yarn. Just waiting on my nylon fibre to arrive to blend with the rest.

This is another beautiful grey alpaca fleece I am lucky enough to own. This fleece has a supersoft, sparkly quality to it. Kid mohair is the perfect fibre to blend with it...they have much in common I think. Using the mini combs for this because it has a slightly shorter staple and I wanted less waste with my mohair.

A close up of this fleece. It's also quite crimpy. The yarn made from this alpaca/mohair blend is for Lilly of the Valley scarf. I luv that pattern.

These are the little kid mohair rovings. I made them using my handcarders.

Ciabatta made with rosemary and olive oil. Baked on my pizza stone.

Alpaca Ontario 2009!

Mark your calenders! Alpaca Ontario 2009 show is April 18-19. http://www.alpacaontario.ca/shows.html I will be there as a vendor, representing Hubbert Farms of Peterborough. Last year we sent more than 20 lbs of suri and huacaya fibre , some shown here http://gypsyspinner.blogspot.com/2008/06/alpaca-shearing.html to the mill. I personally decided what was blended with what. There will be only the highest quality of cria roving, huacaya/suri cria roving, bamboo/alpaca and soy/alpaca yarns, 100% alpaca yarns and custom sock yarn. Yarn weights will be fingering, lopi and 3 ply sportweight. Beautiful colours...alot of browns because that is a specialty of Hubbert Farms. There will also be raw fleece for sale too. Of course I will be entering my handspun and handspun/handknits. The competition will be tough as I know there are alot of talented spinners and knitters in this area, but that only adds to the challenge and fun! Please drop by and say 'hello' if you are in the area!

Moorit Merino and Selbuvotter

Selbuvotter mittens in black and fawn alpaca. I have used this colour combo twice before shown here http://gypsyspinner.blogspot.com/2008/11/getting-started-on-holiday-knitting.html

Selbuvotter gloves, also in handspun alpaca. My first time doing these fingers and the tops are turning out crappy I think.

This moorit merino fleece is going to take forever to wash! I still have white and dark brown to finish washing too.

Same fleece combed on mini combs. There's alot of waste because of the amount of damage on the tips. Whats left is nice and soft.

Spinning wool is so different from spinning alpaca. Alpaca can be more challenging because it doesn't stick together nicely like wool. I must learn to spin even finer with wool as it likes to pouf up after washing.