Recent Fiber Projects

I've been busy today (driving 5 hours to get organic chicken feed!), and really couldn't think of anything to write about for this post.

Luckily I had taken some pictures of my recent fiber projects, so I'll give a quick update.

First up is some 50:50 yak/silk from Abstract Fibers.  It is the "Rockstar" colorway.

To be honest, I don't like spinning yak.  I love the Abstract Fibers merino/yak blend, but I think that is only 20% yak or so.  50% is way too much for me!  But a Ravelry group I follow (A Spinner's Study) had yak as one of their "fibers of the month" for July, so I decided to spin up the one braid I had stashed away.

I started out spinning the braid however it wanted to be spun.  I don't spin fingering/lace weight very well, so I was shooting for a 2-ply sport weight or so.

After I finished the first half (1 bobbin- 2 oz), I decided to keep the yarn as a single, so that it would be lace weight.  I'm going to leave the single on the bobbin for a few weeks to get rid of most of the excess twist, and then wind it onto the niddy-noddy and set the twist with hot water and some weight.  Hopefully I can find a worthy lace project to use it with!

My recent knitting project is a bit of a secret, so I'll just share this little snippet.  It is being knit with a gorgeous 50:50 wool/alpaca blend.  I'll share more pictures later.

Flower Garden Update

I'm going to try and be good this year, and not spend too much $$ on new flowers!  It is so tempting, especially when places like Lowes put their already-flowered plants on sale!

I planted a ton of new flowers last year (some I purchased, but most were from my mom and grandmother), so I think this year I just need to split and rearrange some things.

This big garden gets sun on the front edge but shade in the middle.  My lamb's ear died here, but the short sedum (front center) is doing great.  I might either split that, or transplant some of the short purple stuff from another garden.  There's a nice hosta in the center, and 2 huge sedums in the back.  I think I need to do something with the tall sedums, probably remove one and split it.  I still want a few more tall shade plants for the center, not sure what to put here.

Next is my favorite garden, but a hard one to plant (it gets very little sun).  The lamb's ear died here too, but the short sedum and purple stuff are both doing great.  I think I will split them and spread them out to fill the front edge.  The tall sedum (front left) needs to be moved, it is too tall.  There are daffodils here, daisies, day lilies, and tons of hostas.

This is more of the same garden.  I'm thinking the huge tall sedum in the back center needs to be moved too, but I'm not sure where.  I also need to fill in the patch in the center (right behind the short sedum).

This is a cute little garden that I think just needs time to fill out.  It is almost complete shade.  It has 3 hostas, sedum, chives, and columbine.

This is my "project" garden for the year.  I started it last year but expanded it this year.  Plus all 3 of the plants I put here last year died!  Now I have a clematis in the center, bee balm on the right, day lilies in the back, and some gladiolas.  I think the bee balm needs to move to a more sunny spot (not easy to find around here!).  The gladiolas are being devoured by something, so they need to go too.  And I need short stuff along the front, maybe some sedum.

And last but not least, another part sun/part shade garden.  This one has lots of day lilies, which is fine with me!  The spot in the center of this picture needs more stuff to fill in.

The area right next to the tree could use some tall stuff too.  There were a bunch of weeds which I finally pulled out this spring.

NY State Fair, Here We Come!!

The show season is finally getting closer...I just filled out the entry forms for the NY State Fair!

The NY State Fair is held in Syracuse (about 1.5 hours from us) August 20-23 (the llama show at least).

I always feel funny going to shows when I have such a small herd, as I tend to bring more than half of my animals!  This year, T, Kara, and Ralph are all going to be in my show string.  I really didn't plan on showing T, but he is so close to his ALSA Halter Champion, and is showing a lot of promise in performance, so he gets to go too.  Plus I figure if I'm taking 2, it isn't that much work (or money) to take 3!

Ralph and Kara at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

So for this first show, T will be my showmanship buddy, in addition to showing in halter (non-breeder adult) and all 3 novice performance classes (obstacle, public relations, and pack).  As an adult, he has to carry weight (25 lbs) in pack!  That should be interesting, I should start training him for that soon!

T in halter at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

As usual, Ralph is also just doing novice performance.  He has to show against all the llamas, but that's okay since he can definitely hold his own!  Unfortunately the state fair doesn't have alpaca halter classes, and he can't show with the llamas in theirs.

Ralph in novice pack at the 2012 Hoosier Llama Show.

And last but not least, Kara.  I debated about showing her in adult showmanship, as she is currently better looking than T, but she is a lot harder to get squared up.  So she'll just be in halter (medium wool 2-yr-old female) and bred and owned female, in addition to the 3 novice performance classes.  She probably doesn't stand a chance in performance, but I want to see how she does in the ring.

Kara in halter at the 2012 North American International Livestock Expo.

Overall it should be a great show, I'm so excited!!

Corespinning Llama Fiber

Well I have no excuse, I plumb forgot about posting yesterday!

And honestly I had no idea what to write about, even today, but luckily I found some cool pictures on my camera and thought I would share!

A few weeks before the CNY Fiber Fest back in June, I set out to corespin some of the baby llama fiber I bought from a friend.  I had washed 2 baby llama fleeces back in May, but hadn't done anything with them yet.

The dark brown fleece I tried just lockspinning (without a core).  It turned out pretty cool, but I wanted the added strength of a core.

So for the white/brown fleece, I decided to corespin it!

First up is to pre-spin the core.  This is actually optional, and honestly I'm not sure it did me any good.

My starting "ingredients"

Next you attach your spinning fiber and spin it with the core (however it happens to twist together) for a few feet to fully attach the fiber to the core.

Finally you start to get the fiber to cover the core.  For me, it works best to hold the fiber at an angle to the core (some say 90 degrees, but mine is more 50-60 degrees).  I sort of cheat, and try to use a core that is a similar color to the fiber so that it isn't terribly obvious if the core peeks out here and there.

There is a lot of trial and error in corespinning...figuring out the right angle, how much fiber to draft, etc.  But it is fun to play with!

Corespinning!

Corespun yarn on the bobbin.

The nice thing about corespun yarn is that it has less twist than a typical single, so it tends to be a lot softer.

Finished yarn!

More Pests, Wind Damage, and an Update!

Well I couldn't pick just one topic for my post today, so I decided to use up all my pictures and talk about 3!

First off is another pest problem...squash bugs!  This isn't the best picture, but in the center, just to the right of the closed flower, is a big squash bug.  Luckily I haven't had too many of them, but I keep squishing them all the same.  Also, on the underside of the lead at the bottom, are some eggs, either from the squash bugs or cucumber beetles.  Either way, I squish those too!  The squash bugs haven't gotten very numerous yet, but the cucumber beetles are getting out of hand once again!  I think I'm going to pick up some neem oil at TSC tomorrow and see if it will work.

Next up, wind damage!  We got several good storms last week, totaling about 3" of rain for the week!  It was nuts!  After the first storm (which was actually quite short, but apparently very windy), I went out to find all my broccoli plants knocked over!  Luckily they weren't uprooted, so I stood them back up, braced the stems with rocks, and placed some foldable tomato cages around them for added support.  And I'm happy to announce that the cages withstood the other 2 storms!

The reason I was so concerned is that I had just started to get decent heads on my broccoli!  This is the biggest one, about 3" across.  Hopefully it will be ready to pick tomorrow or Monday.

And what blog update would be complete without a picture of baby tomatoes?  This is one of the heirloom varieties that I planted.

Last but not least, my HUGE squash plants!  They seem to be doing great, despite the cucumber beetle and squash bug attacks.  Hopefully they won't succumb to the virus that the bugs carry!  Once they get a bit taller I hope I can start getting them to climb the trellis.  They seem a bit overgrown now (as I did plant them too close together technically), but once they start to climb they should be okay.

Llamas: the "Green" Lawn Mowers!

I don't really consider myself lazy, but I guess in some respects I am.  Or maybe I'm smart!

Last year when the lamas grazed their pasture too low, I started letting them graze in other areas, inside a pen made from stall panels.  It was a lot of work to move the panels and walk the lamas out there every day, but they really enjoyed being able to graze.

The gang grazing late last fall.  I'm a firm believer in grazing for as long as possible!

Early this spring I continued the practice, before I would let the lamas back on their own pasture.  I moved them to a different spot though...around my garden!  We'd been having problems with groundhogs, so I wanted to keep the grass low around the garden fence.  Originally I set up the pen on the outside of the garden, but occasionally I moved it to the inside.

The gang in their pen next to the garden fence (on the outside).

Duque and T in their pen on the inside of the fence.

Over time I've begun to realize that it is fairly easy to bush-hog the grass on the outside of the fence, but the inside is much more difficult.  The ground is so uneven that it has to be mown with the push mower (it is also too narrow for the tractor in some spots), which is a lot of work!  Last week I set up the pen on one side of the garden (on the inside), so that the lamas could eat some of the really tall grass.  It has been too hot recently to let them out there, but tomorrow they're going back!  Hopefully they can graze during the day this weekend too.

Kara and T grazing inside the garden fence (within a pen too).

Before we moved to a place that had 2 unruly dogs, we used to stake the llamas out in the front yard to graze.  It is great training, and less to mow!

Duque staked in the front yard back in Indiana.  It is also a great way to dry llamas after washing, but without them getting dirty!

I did start stake training T and Kara this spring, but within the confines of the garden.  If a llama hasn't been stake trained before, you can't simply tie them out and leave them, they must be supervised.  T did really well, and Kara only twisted herself once!  Unfortunately it isn't safe to let them graze on a stake outside of the garden here, too many stupid dogs!

T and Kara grazing while staked in the garden.

Rhinebeck Projects!

I realize it is only July, but I decided to start planning my Rhinebeck projects for this year!

Rhinebeck (NY Sheep and Wool Festival) is an amazing fiber fest held in October.  I'd visited once while I was at Hartwick, and had to go back last year.  I took a class last year, which was a bit of a waste of money, but the festival is always worth the trip.

Disc dog exhibit at Rhinebeck last year.

Last year I entered 2 skeins and 2 finished projects.  One skein got disqualified because I didn't have the fiber labeled (the website didn't tell you to do that!), and one project got disqualified because it contained bamboo (which apparently isn't a natural fiber).  But of the remaining 2 items, I got a 3rd with the skein (2-ply Polwarth) and a 2nd with the felted bag.

My disqualified cowl and the Polwarth skein that got judged.

My Rhinebeck winnings!

I'm still not going to go crazy this year, but I wanted to do a few more projects and skeins to enter.

Luckily one project is already done!  I made my sister a pair of socks for her birthday, which isn't until November, so they're going to Rhinebeck first!

Next up is a surprise project, as it is another gift that the recipient doesn't know about!

The third project is going to be a pair of gorgeous color work mittens.  I'm hoping that I have some Knit Picks Palette at home in suitable colors, so I don't have to buy 8 balls of yarn!

And last but not least is a gorgeous cowl.  It will be knit with handspun camel/silk.

Camel/silk yarn.

I may or may not enter my handspun sweater as well...can't decide!

My handspun sweater.