Haven't Given Up Yet

What do you do when you have a Drama Mama who doesn't want to feed her baby???

You find a new nice Mama.

I am not sure if the pair is going to work out, but it is the last step from little baby Coco being a bottle baby and it is worth the shot!  Geneva gets all the treats she wants from now on for at least showing a lot of love to the baby.

Yarn Along

I've been charging away on my Fingering version of my Standing Stone's Pattern.

 

 

I am using Miss Bab's Katahdin Hand-Painted 4 ply BFL yarn in the color way "One Way". I am loving this yarn. The skein is 1750 yards! I had to break in down into two cakes. I really love the color of it and I love how the skein is so big and I don't have to worry about the color changing by switching skeins of yarn. I'm a big fan of the BIG hand-painted skein.

 

In exciting news on the farm.

 

It's another GIRL!

 

 

Meet Arrow Acres Wenge! She was named after the type of wood wenge. Pronounced (wen gay). My parents have been naming a lot of there alpacas after types of wood and she is the exact color of wenge.

 

 

She had a scary birth. She was stuck, but thankfully my sister Liz was able to deliver her safely. We are pretty sure she had a lack of oxygen from the very difficult birth and she was very weak at first. They gave her oxygen and watched her closely. I got to the farm about an hour and a half after she was born and when I got there she perked her head up and even tried to stand. It went from a huge worry to smiles! She was just waiting for her Aunt Andee to get there.  From there she just got better and better and she was up and walking all over the place! Leaving us standing jaw dropped and in amazement at her transformation. Since then she has been doing excellent. You'd never know there was a problem.

 

As for Bootiful she was so excited to have another girl around she was sprinting all over the field. It was adorable.  Sorry I didn't take any videos.

 

 

For reading I am on the second book in the Outlander Series "Dragonflies in Amber". I am loving these books and they are getting me through a lot of knitting!

 

I have a Fall Collection of knits designed and I can't wait to get them on my needles. I am not sure when I'll have the patterns ready, but I know what I'll be wearing this Fall. Now I have to go finish up my Standing Stones!

 

Happy Knitting

~Andee

 

 

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along

 

Can They Fly?

There are good days and then there are GREAT days. Today was a great day at Arrow Acres Farm.

We welcomed a new member of the herd! 

 

Arrow Acres Sacagawea "Wea" gave birth to a healthy baby GIRL! Yes after 7 grandsons and 7 male crias in a row my parents have been blessed with a girl. Not only is she a girl she is a gray girl!

 

Obviously the rest of the herd was just as excited as we were!

 

When my parents started with their alpaca venture my grandmother "Mommom" was going through a difficult time with her health. She was spending a lot of time in the hospital and then to rehab and then back to the hospital. Old age wasn't kind to her body, but her Spirit never grew old. Unfortunately they didn't age at the same rate.

 

So while she was spending all this time in the hospital my mom was by her side. They talked about my mom's alpacas and it was a great thing to focus on during such a difficult time. My grandmother told all the nurses and doctors about the alpacas. If you ever met my grandmother you would instantly love her and know she had a thing about her that glowed. It was infectious.

 

As her health declined and she was put on more and more pain medications she asked my mother one day in the hospital "Dee Dee do the alpacas fly?"  This brought my mother to tears she was laughing so hard. Her response was, "No they don't fly!!!"

Realizing that my grandmother had never actually seen an alpaca, despite all the conversations she had about them, my mom realized she had to do something about that. So she brought her a small alpaca toy.  She kept that alpaca with her until her last day. 

 

Before my grandmother passed away she asked to have the first cria to be named Sacajawea. My grandmother was a girl scout leader and that is the name of our local girl scout camp. Of course her request was granted and the first born cria on the farm was named in her honor.

 

So now that it was Sacajawea's turn to give birth we prayed and prayed and prayed for a gray female.  My parents are working on a gray breeding program with their alpacas. To make that program successful they need gray alpacas.  So they have been selecting just the right alpacas and making just the right matches and today they got just what they ordered!

 

 

The gestation time for an alpaca is 11-1/2 months. To me that is just about a forever wait!

 



 

There isn't anything wrong or bad about having boys. But having girls means you can breed them and make more alpacas.  In other words make and sell more alpacas.

 

Since the last 7 crias have been boys they all need some girl friends.

But not this guy.

 

Well at least for this little girl. This is her half brother. Their light rose gray father CCNF Smoke Ring has really outdone himself with these two!

He is a whole 3 weeks and already being a pesty big brother to his one and a half hour old little sister.

In a few weeks they will be able to keep up with each other and I know they will be running a muck all over the farm.

 

Geneva is also due with a CCNF Smoke Ring baby and of course our fingers are crossed for another gray girl. I told her to take a good look at the baby and make one just like her.

 

Anna you too.

 

 

If alpacas could hold and cuddle a new born I think it looks like this.

 

So Arrow Acres Bootiful made her grand entrance today and we love her!  I also enjoyed thinking of my Mommom so much today :) I thank her for Wea who was born 6/2/11 and now for her baby who was born 6/1/14. I'll make sure Wea gets a few extra carrots tomorrow for her birthday :) 

Shearing Day 2014

Joel Mariacher and his shearing team showed up at the farm last night to turn the big fluffy alpacas into funny skinning looking creatures. We started shearing last night and finished up today.

Didn't I tell you it is so hard not to laugh at them!

 

Little baby Sapele was as good as gold getting his hair cut.

 

Remember this guy? We kept insisting he was gray.

 

People didn't believe us.....but

 

Look at him now!!!!

 

That is a gray alpaca if I've ever seen one!

 

CCNF Smoke Ring got extra treatment for his hair cut since he is and needs to look like the macho herdsire that he is.

 

Of course Blue was very well behaved for his hair cut too.

 

 

Look at all that gray fleece!!!!

 

 

Although I didn't think I worked too hard this year. Apparently I did because I fell asleep at the bus stop waiting for Brady! As soon as I stopped moving I crashed!  Now it is time to get all those fleeces ready to be spun into yarn!