I'm Not the Only Crazy One!

(There are many more crazy people out there who are fiber addicts. I'm not alone!)

This past weekend we went to the SAFF (Southeast Animal Fiber Fair) in Fletcher NC. I took four classes and loved all of them. This is Esther. She taught the drum carding class. I am saving my pennies (many, many, pennies) to purchase a drum carder so I can process our alpaca fiber myself.
From Melissa Gray we learned how to take sheep's wool and create amazing designs using the needle felt technique.

Before After

(The person taking this picture had too much coffee...)

Julie Wilson taught the spinning class. A Lendrum spinning wheel is the next purchase on the horizon... (more pennies)

Geri Forkner taught the Nuno Felting class. I now have a beautiful felted scarf and hope to make many more.
This is an angora bunny getting a hair cut. Oh the self control that was needed to help me not come home with that animal!! My Christmas wish list this year is getting bigger and bigger. :)

Alpaca Lab Highlights

October was our first annual Alpaca Science Lab here on the farm. (no we do not have a windmill on our farm or tulips either but I liked the Dutch ambiance)

It will not be our last as we all had so much fun and learned so much, especially me.
We learned all about those great dogs, the Great Pyrenees, and how they came from Siberia or Northern Asia to France where they were used to guard the large estates of the French nobility. We have two and they are worth their weight in gold (almost). One of ours is a chicken eater though so we have to keep her far from the chicken coop.
This little Suri alpaca is called Meiske. That means little girl in Dutch. She was bottle fed and is wonderful with children. Alpacas come in 22 colors. Meiske is a dark fawn color.

When she was born she looked awful and we thought we couldn't keep her alive. It was worth the effort...We learned all about alpacas and their relatives the camels, vicunas, guanaco, and llamas. We made felted soap washcloths, and learned how to dye fiber with Kool-Aid.

This is Vinny the brave. He keeps the raccoons and opossums far from the chickens and our house. He is a very useful dog. I went to Petsmart one day to purchase crickets for my lizard obsession and came home with Vinny. It was one of the best things I ever did!

(No that is not a coke bottle under his neck. He is an escape artist so we keep him at home with a wireless fence system)

This suri alpaca is Ed. He is banished to the "goat pen" since we do not use him for breeding and need to keep him far from the girls.

Alpacas were carefully tended by the Incas and bred for centuries to create their amazing fiber. The Spanish conquistadors brutally destroyed most of them when they conquered the Inca nation. Some of the alpacas were hidden in the upper Andes and survived. I feel very fortunate to be the benefactor of that mysterious culture that lived long ago.