Fiber, lovely fiber

So today I spent all day outside in 90+ degree weather with a Ryobi sander and a bag full of alpaca fiber doing some wet felting. I'm a sucker for punishment I guess. I've got all of this beautiful fiber from a studly alpaca named Suede (Charmed Alpacas) and this crazy notion that I can felt it thin and light enough to line with some silk and make a wearable item of some sort with it. I'll let you know how it goes. Right now I have three flat pieces of felted fiber and enough fiber to make one more piece. But that will have to wait till tomorrow because I didn't drink enough water today and I've got an enormous headache. But the pieces are lovely and I can't wait to see what I come up with!

Meanwhile, I ordered a digital postal scale so I can weigh my fiber (for various reasons) and I thought I'd weigh the chunky "novelty" yarn I created with my first attempts at spinning.

This is what it looks like:

Not the prettiest yarn in the world, but I'm sure

I'll find something to do with it. And I'm getting

better with the wheel so I should have some nice

alpaca yarn before long that I can crochet with.

At least that's the hope.

Oh, and the chicken coop is almost finished, take a look below. Not too shabby huh?

My hubby is pretty handy after all! And he worked on that after he went over to the farm and helped out with monthly herd health day. With the heat right now that has to start at 7 am so he's been up and at 'em since early this morning. All in preparation for when we actually get a farm! So that's the latest installment in our alpaca adventure. Till next time!

Chickens too!

Okay, so the latest project for my husband has been to build a chicken coop. Most of the alpaca farmers we know have chickens and/or ducks as well. They help keep the bugs down and the eggs and sometimes meat are a great benefit. We've been assured they are easy to care for so off he goes to buy and read books, look at coop plans and different types of chickens and dive in with both feet. Never mind that we don't have an actual farm yet and we'll have to keep the chickens in our back yard in our subdivision! So, he's building the coop and educating our children on chickens. He figures they've got the alpaca stuff down pat now so it's time to move on to the next animal. By the time we get a physical farm our kids should be great farmhands! I don't have pictures of the coop yet, but rest assured I will post as soon as I do!

On a totally seperate note, I'm trying to find accessories for my spinning wheel. I've watched enough you tube videos to make me crazy and I've been practicing my spinning for a while now. The problem is that my wheel doesn't have a jumbo flyer or bobbins for plying. And it's a Hitchhiker wheel made by The Merlin Tree in Vermont. The guy there doesn't mass produce those items and doesn't check his email that often so I'm left in the cold right now. I need extra bobbins and/or a jumbo flyer and bobbin. It's frustrating to say the least. So, the hunt continues and hopefully I can get him to answer his phone! Till next time.

This is Charmed Princess Curiosity, our first alpaca. Isn't she beautiful? She's just over a year old and quite the sweetheart. Right now she boards on the farm we bought her from until we can find our own place.

You're going to do what?

That's the typical response we get when we tell people we want to be alpaca farmers. It's not what you would usually hear when you ask a couple with four kids what they're going to be when they grow up (the parents, not the kids). It's not what we though either until a couple of years ago. It's all my husbands fault. He was bored and surfing the internet one day and came across a picture of alpacas. Next thing you know we're reading up on them, visiting farms in the area and volunteering to help out at one of the local farms. Sooo, a couple of alpaca purchases later and we're on our way. No physical location yet, barely a virtual presence and a whole lot of unanswered questions. Lots of lovely fiber for me to play with and lots of hard work for the hubby. It's just the beginning! I hope to use this blog to chronicle our journey into the world of alpaca farming, expose some people to what can be done with the fiber and generally try to make sense of this decision we've made! Wish me luck!