What should this blog be about?

Posted on August 19, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

I’ve done over 40 posts now and I’m wondering, what do you think? I’ve posted in all the categories I could think of…but which do you like? What else do you want to know about ranch life, alpacas, crafting? Be sure to comment as well; I’d love details. Two polls after the jump!

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Artist show recap

Posted on August 18, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Sooooo. Here are the long-promised pictures from the Cimarron Sky Dog Artist Benefit Show.

The scarves display, which Aunt Geri master-minded.

Nice, right? We had over 100 products, all hand-made at some level, all done this summer. We most definitely pulled out all the stops.

The yarn portfolio, showing my different work, and my felting and handspun behind it.

It was tough, but worth it. The show brought in nearly $6000 in total, a large portion of which will go straight to the reserve to help secure land, and to feed the horses during the drought.

We hung some scarves on coats to give people an idea how they might look, you know, not all wadded up.

Thanks to everyone for supporting us and the show, and for your comments here! It’s been fun. Not that I’m stopping, I just want you to know how much I’m enjoying keeping this blog.

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On letting go

Posted on August 17, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

You all remember the prayer shawl I just finished? The one I crocheted from my own handspun yarn?

The back, draped over a dress.

Here’s what happened when Mom, Aunt Geri, and I went to put a price on it for the show:

I’d just driven down from Fort Collins on Friday, my last day at my old job. I had to get my products ready for the big show the next day, and the day after that, I had to be on a plane. I was, as you might suspect, a bit stressed out.

Enter the rest of the family. We price the skeins of yarn, a hat I found floating around in a box, a little neck warmer thing. All good. Then we get to the shawl. It is, apparently, too small. An awkward size. Not worth as much as previously discussed.

I burst into tears, accept the suggested price and try to escape the room before I have to talk about it any more. Because the fact of the matter is this: I actually like this piece. Much of what I make, I have to settle with “Eh, not terrible”. But this shawl is one of the best things I’ve ever made. And even though I know I’ll seldom wear it, I can’t let it go.

We never put a price on it.

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And now for something completely different: Aloha Kauai

Posted on August 16, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

One of these days I’ll figure out how to get pictures from my camera to my tablet. Or even, how to use my tablet to navigate the internet. But today was not that day, and neither were any of the days last week. I was on Kauai all of last week, on my first ever solo vacation.

Yeah, I took that picture of the Na Pali coast. With a rainbow. In real life. I barely believe it myself.

I had an awesome time. I alternated between laying on the beach in the sun and hiking up mountains. It. Was. Wonderful.

THAT is my favorite color. The green blue that I can't quite name. Maybe...aqua? Tee hee.

 

Uh. Something fiber related. So, believe it or not, Hawaiians used to dye fiber blue by crushing this berry:

Beautiful color.

They really didn’t have much in the way of fiber, no cotton or any of our animal fibers, so I’m thinking grass, like flax? Must have been plant fiber of some sort.

Me on the Na Pali coast, the north side. The wind was ripping, which is why I have that handkerchief tied down so rigorously.

The strange thing about being on a vacation by yourself is without someone to talk to, to process the events of the day with, it’s kind of like it never even happened. I have tan lines and photos, but I felt strangely dissociated from life the whole time. Not that I’m complaining.

I started a new job today, so things may wiggle around a bit on the schedule as I try to figure stuff out, but I’ll try to get back to your regularly scheduled alpaca entertainment.

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How-to: hand card alpaca fiber

Posted on August 15, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Note: I’m out-of-town this week, so this post is going up automatically.

A long time ago, in a small apartment in northern Colorado, I processed four alpaca fleeces without a drum carder. It was…time consuming. I often spun from the lock, right off the fleece with no processing. But Tulip had very short staples last year, and I had to card her fiber.

[picture of Tulip’s fiber]

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Retroactive post: In which Tulip scares us silly

Posted on August 10, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Note: I’m out-of-town this week, so this post is going up automatically.

I remember it like it was yesterday, but it was actually almost a year ago. It was the morning after we brought the girls home. After months of preparation, endless hours of fencing and levelling ground, and much worry, we had our alpacas on the ranch with us. The horses weren’t yet, but they were so close to being home we could taste them…or something.

The horses arrived a few months after the alpacas. This is one of their first meetings, always through a fence.

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Alpaca bio: Tulip

Posted on August 8, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Note: I’m out-of-town this week, so this post is going up automatically.

Timid Tulip was my least favorite alpaca, until I got to know her. And getting to know her wasn’t easy, since she is so shy and quiet. But having had her at the ranch now for almost a year, we’ve accumulated enough stories to know that she’s a sweetie (with a stubborn streak).

She has such a sweet face.

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The Cimarron Sky Dog art show

Posted on August 7, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Phew. The crew here at Cliff House is exhausted. We participated in an art show yesterday, and worked our little fannies off setting up and breaking down. I’d love to post pictures, but the camera accidentally went home with a different artist.

I’m headed out-of-town for all of next week, so posts may be erratic.

Finally, here’s a picture of Tripoli being cute, because, well, why not?

 

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“Going Out” prayer shawl

Posted on August 6, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

It is done. My first ever crochet project with yarn I made myself. The pictures are a little iffy, but have a look!

The back, draped over a dress.

We have so much time invested in this shawl. Mom designed the fiber blend. She washed Brittany’s fiber (4 washes total) and mixed it in with garnet colored glitz while carding. She and Dad made 6 batts for me. Their work had to total more than 5 hours.

Detail of the edging. I totally made that pattern up as I went.

Then I spun 300 yards of two ply yarn out of it, probably another 8 hours of work in that step.

The front, or most of it.

Finally, I crocheted the shawl in three pieces. The main piece is a super simple triangle, but the two edges took forever to design. I did a 10 inch sample of about half a dozen different patterns before I settled on one. At least 9 hours went into designing and crocheting, and another hour into assembly.

Total = 23 hours. And now I have to put a price on it.

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A funny story about alpacas in the rain

Posted on August 5, 2011 by cliffhousealpacas

Heee heee. Yesterday morning I got a voicemail from Dad that went something like, “Last night was…interesting.” I called the family to find out what happened, and I had to chuckle too.

The big boys still haven’t quite figured out their turnout situation. They were out in the larger “exercise area” Wednesday afternoon when an enormous thunderstorm came through. Rain began to pour down by the bucket load; it was raining bobcats and coyotes, folks. The driveway succumbed to the deluge and was carried off the cliff in a few places.

Now, alpacas don’t like rain. They do like sprinklers, but not rain. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

I think I may have mentioned that Marcello isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed? Well, I retract that statement: Marcello is the dullest tool in the shed. Like, fence post stupid. And he is fascinated by Heidi-horse and Boogie-man, the horses. So he was standing all the way on the other side of his lean-to, in the narrow space between it and the horses’ paddock, staring at them when it began to rain.

Marcello found this quite distressing. He was getting wet. And the horses were absolutely no help! And so it was Dad happened upon this scene on his way down the drive after work: Merlin, savvy little bugger, calmly standing in his paddock under the lean-to, Bravado on the wrong side of the paddock, but in the lean-to, and Marcello, soaked to the bone, humming, and pacing on the wrong side of it, all while Heidi and Boogie watched from under their porch. They really don’t understand what’s up with these alpaca things.

We don’t close them out of their paddock at any time, and it really isn’t that hard to walk around the lean-to to the front, but Marcello just couldn’t handle it. Dad had to jump out of the truck (into the rain) and show him and Bravado how to get under cover.

Silly bucket-heads. 😀 😛

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