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!

Craft Marketplace

Long time, no post!  June has been really busy, and thus the blog has suffered.  I'll try not to let it happen in the future!

I've spent much of the past month preparing for the Meridian Crafters' & Artisans' Marketplace, which was held today in Okemos, MI.  I had a nice display of handspun yarn, knit and woven items (bags, cowls, scarves, hats, iPod cozies), and beaded knitting stitch markers.  I didn't sell much, but supposedly the first week is the slowest.  The marketplace is held on the 4th Sunday of every month from June to August, and then the 4th Saturday in September.  If you're in the Lansing area you should definitely check it out!

So I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera, here's a reminder of what I've been up to during this spring and summer.

First is the Hillsdale Hobo show...I got some gorgeous pictures of Annie!  It's amazing how the wind can help give great fiber pictures.

Next is shearing day on the farm.  Duque is the only llama that I can really trust on a stake-out line anymore, so he got to spend the day tied in the front yard, and one of our barn cats, Autumn, decided to make a visit.  Duque and Autumn have always been close friends, it's really cute!

Annie spent a few minutes tied to a tree, learning how to stand still for the show ring!  She was not pleased...

And last but not least is handsome Ridge.  He spent a month on the farm so we could get Bluff bred, so I went ahead and sheared him as well.  Now I have 2 more beautiful bags of fleece to process!

The last set of pictures is from the Allen County Open show in June.  I was able to get some nice pictures of Annie and Ralph.

I want a baby!! (llama that is...)

I miss having baby llamas on the farm!  I keep seeing post after post on Facebook about farms that have had crias born this spring, and I'm so jealous!  I know that it isn't responsible, but sometimes I wish I could have 4-5 crias born each spring and fall...they are so much fun!

Fall 2005 crias: (L-R) Trillium, Catastrophie, April (the big female laying down), and Inali.  That was such a fun year!

Now that I'm in grad school, we've made the decision to downsize our herd and quit breeding.  I just don't have the time to train and show crias like I used to.  However, after losing my precious Lily (born in October 2010, she would've been our last cria) in January to a dog attack, I had to re-think the idea of not breeding our one remaining female llama (Bluff, Lily's mom).  It was a big more difficult logistically since I had already sold our herdsire Ridge, but with a little bit of work Ridge made it back to the farm for a short visit, and Bluff has been rebred (well, hopefully, we're still in the process of making sure the breeding took)!

Autumn Hill's Iliamna (aka Lily) at one month of age (her mom Bluff is in the background)

So even though it seems like forever from now, I will get one more llama cria of my own in mid-April next year!  I really hope Bluff has a girl, but if she has a boy I may just have to rebreed her again and keep trying...

Bluff and her first cria, Rainier.  I can't wait to see that sight again!