Bravado may be my favorite of our alpacas, and it has nothing to do with his fiber (which I haven’t even spun yet). He’s a suri alpaca, unlike the rest of our herd, who are huacayas. Instead of being fluffy his hair is heavy, fine and drapey. We used to call him surfer dude because his scruffy top knot made him look chill. Then we got to know him better and found out his personality is anything but relaxed.
Bravado is a happy camper, he just got to play in the water.
People are always surprised to hear that I like to do all the spinning on a project within one or two days. Making yarn doesn’t seem like it should be a time sensitive endeavor. Since I’ve been in a sorta “eh” mood about spinning lately, I can actually show you why I don’t let yarn sit on a bobbin for long.
The yarn on the left has been “resting” on the bobbin for over a week. It’s gotten all rope-y and loose. The sound effect for that yarn is “wah waaaah”. The yarn on the right has the proper amount of twist. Some fibers relax quicker than others, merino tends to be more clingy while suri alpaca isn’t inclined to stay twisted. Though letting singles rest overnight is a good way to relax and even out freshly spun yarn, letting suri alpaca singles rest for 9 days is a good way to make yourself more work.
Now, we aren’t up a creek without a paddle on this project yet. I’ll end up running both bobbins of singles through the wheel again, essentially re-spinning them, to add more twist before I ply. It doesn’t take quite as long as spinning from roving, but it’s still going to add an extra couple of hours to the project. Wah waaaaah.
…have hilarious names. I couldn’t decide which was funniest, so I decided to share them all with you.
Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. The twist in yarn is originally generated by your foot pressing the treadle. My wheel only has one treadle, but some have two. Pressing down on the treadle pulls down the footman, a long piece of wood that is connected by a leather strap to the treadle and by an elbow shaped arm to the wheel itself. The bench, which is level on bigger wheels, holds the wheel and the mother-of-all (that’s everything in the white box in the diagram).
The mother-of-all is where the names start to get funny. Two maidens, the vertical posts, hold the flyer. The flyer is the part that has the hooks on it, which winds the yarn on to the bobbin. Bobbins are super-sized versions of thread bobbins.
This is also a Bobbin. That's the beagle's name, Bobbin. Awwwwww.
The tension knob controls how fast the yarn winds onto the bobbin, by tightening the Scotch brake. This piece of twine slows down the bobbin by friction. And finally, the yarn passes through the orifice before it is wound on by the flyer.
The orifice is where all the action happens. My orifice is enormous, and large things fit through it (snicker), like beads and feathers and artsy fartsy yarn. I have to start by using the orifice hook, a little iron hook that’s stored on the bench near the wheel, to thread my leader through the orifice.
I visited my local yarn store the other day to pick up a second orifice hook. There was only one, and it had no price. The saleslady and I had a heck of a time finding it in inventory, because it was listed under “threading hook”. I guess “orifice hook” was just a little too vulgar for a product name. It looks like I’m not the only one who has naming wars with marketing. 🙂
BTW: Quick shout out to Sherry Harder, for taking that beautiful photo that I covered up with a bunch of ugly callouts. Here it is in full glory,
Most crafts (and jobs for that matter) involve some repetitive motion that can take a toll on your body over time. If you take nothing else away from this post, please remember this: if it hurts, stop doing it.
Carpal tunnel is caused by inflammation in the wrists that pinches nerves. If you knit, crochet, spin, play a musical instrument, type or use a mouse, you are at risk for developing this crippling pain in your hands, or you already have experienced it.
This is not how your wrist should be when you spin. See the kink?
Last year, my Mom and I were doing so much knitting during the holidays that we both had to start wearing wrist braces to help combat carpal tunnel. Wearing them while we worked and at night while we slept seems to help, because the braces force you to hold your wrists in a natural, neutral position. To prevent it from getting bad again, I’m mindful of the angle I hold my wrists at while I’m working. I try to keep my knuckles in line with my elbow as much as possible.
Sciatica is pain that starts in your lower back and radiates down the back of your leg to your knee. It’s caused by inflammation pinching the largest nerve in your body. The first time I experienced sciatica was an hour after the first time I spun on a wheel. Marathon programming sessions at work, long spinning sessions, and curling up on the couch all seem to make it worse.
See how my right thigh is almost parallel to the floor? That's actually good.
I haven’t had as much success battling this one since I sit all day at work. Standing up often, stretching by trying to touch my toes, ice, anti-inflammatories, and whiskey all seem to help. My wheel is lower to the ground than most, so I think I need to modify my spinning chair to be shorter. I still seem to have episodes every now and then for no discernible reason. Like today.
So…long story short, take care of yourself people. It seems kind of obvious, but if it hurts, stop doing it. And if anyone has any ideas for sciatic pain, send them my way.
According to the ARI (Alpaca Registry, Inc.), an organization that tracks the lineage of American alpacas, there are a whopping 16 recognized colors of alpacas. The Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association recognizes 22, the other 6 being combinations of the solid colors like “pinto” and “pattern”.
When you register as part of the ARI, they send you actual samples of each color in this handy chart.
The white-brown spectrum on the left is fairly self-explanatory. “Bay blacks” are alpacas that are almost black, but are actually a really, really dark brown. The “silver” greys are shades of true grey, unlike the “rose” greys, which are somewhere between grey and brown.
The colors and percentage of alpacas in America registered as those colors is below. According to the ARI, our Tulip is actually a rarity, as only 0.1% of the alpacas in America are medium fawns. Crazy! Though we love all our colored alpacas, whites are by far the most common because you can dye their fiber. In South America, not-white alpacas actually got eaten!
White 25.8% (Merlin and Bravado)
Beige 5.8%
Light Fawn 9.2% (Tuscany and Morocco)
Medium Fawn 0.1% (Tulip)
Dark Fawn 5.5%
Light Brown 4.3%
Medium Brown 10.2% (Tripoli and Marcello)
Dark Brown 6.3%
Bay Black 4.3%
True Black 9.8% (Brittany)
Light Silver Grey 1%
Medium Silver Grey 2.5% (Mikayla)
Dark Silver Grey 1.3% (Marseille)
Light Rose Grey 0.9%
Medium Rose Grey 1.8%
Dark Rose Grey 1%
Unknown 0.1%
Morocco reminds me of the quiet kid in class. You know the one that sits in the back and doesn’t talk much, but you’re pretty sure he’s either the smartest kid there or a sociopath. Yeah, that’s our Mo.
I feel...judged. Don't judge me Morocco!
I swear, I’m not bipolar. I just go through these dramatic swings in interest level, commitment, and mood about spinning. At the moment, I’m not interested, committed or happy about it. I can’t even blame a “Christmas rush” like I did last year, because the work was much more evenly spaced out this year. And my current bad mood isn’t for lack of orders or interesting fiber to work with. Mom and Dad have been slaving over the carder (with glasses of red wine at the ready, for fortitude) and I just don’t wanna spin.
When I have writer’s block, I go back and look at what I’ve already written. The reading and editing get me back into the flow of creating. And when you have a grant due, getting something on paper is the first and most important step. It’s better to a have a sub-par proposal than none at all. The same concept just doesn’t seem to hold when I’m spinning. It’s most definitely NOT better to have lumpy, bad yarn than none at all.
Anyway, any ideas from the crowd on lighting the fires of passion in my cold, dead heart? What do you all do when you just aren’t inspired to craft?
Last week, our vet, Dr. Balch, came by for what she calls, a “Farm check!” (the explanation point is required). She looked at each of our alpacas, checking their body mass indexes, their teeth, and their toenails. I think of it as alpaca maintenance.
Not surprisingly, Tulip is our thinnest alpaca. She has such a light frame, she’ll probably always be the hardest one to keep weight on. But she’s looking well, with a body score of 4.5, which is nicely midrange (between 1 and 10). To help her gain a bit of weight, we’re going to wean Tripoli. He isn’t nursing much anyway, and so long as the big boys don’t pick on him, he’ll be fine in their paddock.
Dr. Balch has to reach through all that hair to feel animal underneath, and by far her favorite fleece is Morocco. His fiber has so much crimp we are going to have to alter our washing process to keep it from felting.
A picture of the teeth filing process from shearing day, not last week.
In addition to the body index check, Dr. Balch filed teeth for Tripoli, Tuscany, Morocco, and Mikayla. Only two alpacas needed their toe nails trimmed. I guess the toe nails on white alpacas grow faster than all the other colors. Weird. Anyway, Merlin and Bravado (our only true whites) needed their nails trimmed.
My brother was still at the ranch, since school doesn’t start until tomorrow. He helped out by holding the alpacas as Dr. Balch worked. Everyone was fairly calm and well-behaved, even for shots! The babies (Marsy and Trip) got their second vitamin shot of the year, and the yearlings (Morocco and Tuscany) got their only shot for this year. The vitamin A, D and E shots help them develop stronger, healthier legs.
All told, it was a long but successful day. Everyone is healthy as can be! Is anyone really surprised?
We have been very, very fortunate to have such good friends. I can’t say that often enough, from our vet to our customers, everyone we talk to about our animals and our products is or has become a friend of the family. And when you have friends like ours, sometimes all you need to do to have a banner sales year is throw a party.
Before Christmas, Grammy (that’s Mom’s Mom) had a little get together for all of our friends at Concordia, her apartment complex. I just hope I get to live somewhere that fun someday; it has a very tight-knit, party dorm sort of feel to it. Grammy had some food and drinks, and we brought the merchandise. Many of Grammy’s friends had already made a pilgrimage out to the ranch at the open house, so it was good to see them again. In addition to having a very good time, they were generous in their support of Cliff House Alpacas, and we’re very glad to have been a part of the holiday season in so many households.
So, thanks Concordia and Grammy! You all are awesome!
On a side note, I’ve decided that trunk shows are the most fun way to sell products. Which isn’t surprising, since a bottle of red wine seems to improve pretty much all activities. Well, except driving obviously.
Mom is prone to adopting animals in need of homes (as you can probably tell). So when a friend who’s moving out of her ranch needed a place for her barn kitties, Mom brought home two of them, and set them up in style.
Mom has been missing her daily quota of cat interaction since we left the barn where we used to board our horses, so she was really looking forward to some feline love. Ironically, Whisper, the grey male, immediately took to Dad. They are BFFs.
Dad’s first language was German. This is not particularly obvious, but there are some legendary stories about his occasional slight misunderstandings of the English language. For example, he and Mom were once strolling around their college campus in the summer. Knowing Mom had a particular fondness for a flower, Dad pointed them out to her, “Oh honey, look at the panties. Such beautiful panties.” Mom was mystified, until she noticed that he was looking at the PANSIES.
When I spoke to Dad on the phone about his new friend, he repeatedly referred to him as “Whiskers”, which is close enough to Whisper to be adorable.
Love you Dad!
Cliff House Alpacas 