I’ve already waxed poetic on my love for my spinning wheel, but what are the pros and cons of owning the Kromski Prelude? Well, not surprisingly, it depends on who you are as a spinner. I’ve written at length about choosing your first wheel. And it remains true that the things that make this wheel great for me would seriously trip up other spinners. So I guess I’m saying my pros and cons are not your pros and cons.
Me at the wheel.
I finally made it to the craft store yesterday! I’m kind of a color addict, so I’ve never used white beads in my beaded yarn before. Silly, right?
Mom suggested them for the white silk/Mikayla blend I’ve been spinning. The two fibers aren’t mixed completely so it has a nice variegated look.
To add the beads, I first string them on a strong embroidery thread, leaving it attached to the spool. When I ply, I hold the two singles and the thread in my left hand, using my thumb to hold the top bead. As the three twist together, I periodically let one of the beads through my fingers. The silk thread runs through all the other beads as the thread unspools.
These are silver beads on black silk thread. I use the bowls to hold the beads and a special needle to string them. Then I put the spool in one of the squares to hold it (bottom row, second from right) as I ply.
I still haven’t decided what color of silk thread I’ll use in this particular yarn. The obvious choices are black or white. Any opinions? Let me know in the comments!
“Kushing” or “Cushing” is the alpaca word for laying down on your belly, with all four legs tucked under you. No one on the internet seems to know which spelling is preferred, and it’s also apparently potent strain of marijuana and a mountain range. Our babes kush when they are relaxed or tired, and also when they don’t want to be led where you are trying to take them. They also kush during transport, which is great because they can’t hurt themselves falling all over :P.
It's an old picture, and dark, but this is how the 'pacas tend to end the day, kushing and watching the sun set.
Part two in our “From start to finish” series is skirting. Some people break this step into two, skirting and sorting, but they seem pretty insepperable to me. Skirting sounds like what you’re doing when you dance around an awkward topic during a polite conversation, or wearing a floppy skirt and spinning around in circles, but we’re talking about the process of removing the sub-par fiber from the prime fleece. Sorting is just what it sounds like: sorting the keepable fiber into different grades.
The wildflowers have finished blooming, and the pastures have gone from green to gold. Which, apparently, makes them much less tasty. Mikayla and Tulip don’t waste their time on not-tasty grasses, so when Mom turned them out the other day they wandered back into the barn fairly soon. Marsy did not approve.
Marsy does not approve.
She wanted to be outside playing! The babies don’t really eat grass yet, so they don’t see any reason not to be in the pasture. Marsy’s solution to this problem was to annoy Mikayla into leaving the barn. By chewing on her tail.
Marseille and Tripoli try to talk their moms into leaving the barn.
Trip picked up on her technique pretty much immediately, and soon they were both pulling on their moms’ tails. Every now and then, Mikayla and Tulip would flick their tails, as if swatting away a fly, but otherwise completely ignored Frick and Frack’s antics.
Marseille eventually gave up on her mom and went out without the adults. Trip, displaying his remarkable ability to copy Marsy, followed suit. What brave, big boys and girls our babes have become!
We seem to have a lot of bird life, eh? Well, we also have a serious number of broad-tailed hummingbirds.
Mom often jokes that we need to get an air traffic controller out there. Sometimes the beagle gets into snapping fights with them as they buzz around her face.
We have two feeders. Above, you can see two females sitting on the one. Once, two males got into a fight, and one was collapsed on the deck, and Mom had to run out and shoo the other away. Then she picked up the stunned male and took him to the other side of the house. He recuperated and flew away.
They empty both feeders every single day.
This post is the first in our “From start to finish” series, in which I’ll take you through our 12 step program for fiber addicts. Actually, it’s more like 6 steps, but that’s not as catchy. These posts take a while to put together so they’ll be dispersed over the next few weeks, mixed in with the usual antics from the ranch. And I have to give a shout out to a reader for suggesting it, so thanks Audrey! Today we’re talking about shearing.
This is Morocco, the morning of the shearing. He needs a trim! It gets hot under all that.
It may surprise you that Brittany, after nearly a year living next to the horses, did not really understand that they were living, breathing creatures. Especially since the stock tank at the end of the horse paddock is used by the alpacas as well.
See the stock tank there? The alpacas stick their heads in the horse paddock to drink from it.
Tulip was quite proud of herself for figuring out how to stick her head into the horse paddock so she could drink from their super sized water bucket, and the rest followed her example. Mikayla and Heidi even got in a spit fight over who controlled it! It wasn’t much of a fight. Heidi went to bite Mikayla for daring to drink her water, and Mikayla spit green goo in her face. Heidi backed off with this “Well! How rude!” look on her face.
But Brittany hadn’t shown much interest in the horses at all, until a few weeks ago. Mom was standing in the horse paddock, filling the stock tank. Boogie, our sorrel (red) was playing in the water as she filled it. Now, I’ve never really considered him the sharpest tool in the shed, but he is inquisitive, so maybe I’m wrong. And he’s a total water bug, much like the alpacas.
Aww. Another sweet face!
Brittany heard the splashing and stuck her head through the fence to investigate, coming nose to nose with Boogie. And then, being Brittany, she actually began nibbling on his nose. But the truly surprising thing is that Boogie, instead of snorting in her face and backing up, began to nibble her nose back! The two of them stood there for quite a while, necks stretched out and noses meeting over the water tank, lipping at each other’s faces. And by the time they were finished, Brittany clearly understood that the horses weren’t furniture, but part of the herd.
First, you should know that everyone is alright. Now, here’s the story.
My big little-bro is home from his summer job, and not yet back in college. He and a buddy were hanging out at the ranch one evening last week, before heading out to another rabble-rousing night at the Village Inn. The sun had just set, and the evening light was fading as they came out of the garage. Across the arena, both boys could see something big and wrong standing on the cement pad on the north side of the barn. “Dude. What is that thing?” “Dude. That’s a bear.” And just like that they were running at it, screaming their heads off and waving their arms, climbing over the arena fences like orangutans.
The bear, an adult black bear, turned and just looked at them. He calmly evaluated the situation (bro says “I could see his eyes in his big fuzzy face. He was just staring at me.”). Then he turned and loped off down the ravine.
Bear. Big bear. Big black bear. (From Wikipedia)
My brother is hard to scare. He’s even keel about things like bears, tornadoes, allergic reactions, car accidents….but when he and his buddy came back inside after their bear altercation, he was shaken. “Dude. Big bear. I don’t know man.” It’s no wonder really. The alpaca paddock, where the babies are, is on the north side of the barn, not 15 steps from where the bear was standing, looking into the breezeway. We’re pretty sure he was actually investigating the ‘smell-ables’ in the barn, you know, fly spray and such, but still. Scary.
Our place seems to sit on a wildlife corridor of sorts, the only property between two multi-thousand acre ranch plots. We see all sorts of predators: coyotes, bobcats, and bears. But this is the first time any of them have seemed interested in the barn. Mom and Dad cleared out anything with an interesting smell, so hopefully it’s the last time as well.
Marsy holds her own with Trip these days; she doesn’t let him get away with anything. She’s a cutie, but I love his little black nose.
Marsy gives Trip plenty of trouble; she's a diva.
Trip still doesn’t like water, but Marsy is being a brave girl about it.
What is that thing? Why does everyone like it so much?
Dad is so cute with his ‘pacas.
Being a baby alpaca is, indeed, exhausting.
Mom says it’s like they run out of energy, and then they just plop down. It’s probably a baby thing; I doubt it is species-dependent 🙂 .
Cliff House Alpacas 