Saturday, March 3, 2012

We have roving! Finally!

After a long wait, mostly due to me procrastinating on skirting fleeces all summer, I finally got my roving back from the mill!  It actually came in January, but I haven't gotten around to taking pictures til now.

The fleeces came back in 3 batches of roving: a reddish-brown huacaya alpaca, a tan/grey llama, and a black llama/suri alpaca blend.

The red-brown huacaya alpaca roving is from Ralph.  Ralph is my pathetic little alpaca with all sorts of problems (scoliosis, short tail, etc.), but he has a great personality and pretty nice fiber.  He doesn't produce as much as most alpacas seem to though, I normally only get 2-3lbs of prime fiber.  His roving is extremely crimpy and soft, with absolutely no vegetable matter!  Priced at $3.00/oz.




Ralph in full fleece. 
Ralph winning costume at the Indiana State Fair.

The tan/grey llama blend is from Sedona, Bluff, and Duque.  Sedona was a friend's llama who has beautiful silky tan fleece.  Bluff of course is our main (now only!) breeding female, who is due with another fine-fibered beauty in April!  Bluff is mostly white with some red spots.  And Duque is our old retired show gelding.  He was dark brown when he was born, but has faded to a gorgeous silver grey.  This blend is a very nice silky llama- not as much crimp as huacaya alpaca, but very fine and has a lot of luster.  It is also very clean.  Priced at $3.50/oz.





Duque going grey.

Duque on a hiking trip with my sister and her friend.

Beautiful Bluff.

Bluff and her first baby, Rainier.
The last batch of roving is a black silky llama/suri alpaca blend.  It is absolutely stunning!  It is extremely fine, completely clean, and so lustrous!  The fiber for this blend came from a suri alpaca from a friend's farm, plus our very own Annie and Ridge.  Annie is our only remaining cria, although she's leaving for a new home this month!  She definitely has the nicest fiber we've every produced- extremely fine and with gorgeous lock structure.  Ridge is actually Annie's dad, and she gets her fiber from him!  He has the finest fiber I've ever felt on a llama, even as an adult.  And he produces a ton of it!  He was our fabulous show boy and breeding male for a short while, but went to a new home when we decided to quit breeding.  He is the dad to Bluff's cria.  Priced at $5.00/oz.

Shows the luster but the color is much darker. 
This is a more accurate color representation.

Baby Annie.

Look at those locks!

Our big boy Ridge.

The curls!
All of this fiber is available on our Etsy store.  It is sure to spin like a dream!

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