Breeding Season

Fall is here. You what that means right?! 

Yarn Along

Q: How many alpacas does it take to make a sweater?

A: None. Alpacas can't knit.

Haa haa. We might say that joke at the farm a lot. But to be honest this sweater took 9 alpacas to make! I didn't use their entire fleeces but I did use part of their fleeces.

The main gray color is from my alpaca Dom's Blue Moon of ELK "Blue".

The rose gray yarn is from: Smoke, Sooshi, Bates

 CCNF Smoke Ring "Smoke"

FDA Bisturi's Royal Rose Blush "Shoosi"

Arrow Acres Mr. Bates "Mr. Bates"

Bates gets two pictures in honor of Downton Abbey beginning back!

The white yarn is from Treasure & Lily.

 Heather's Acres Arctic Treasure "Treasure".

Glen Ridge Diplomacy's Sugarlily "Lily"

 The bay black yarn is from Ono, Bocote and Star.

Black Midnight's Ono of Arrow Acres "Ono"

 Arrow Acres Bocote "Bocote"

Cayuga Star "Star"

Put them all together and you get a Rose & Cross Pullover!  I made quite a few modifications from the pattern. Mostly for the fit. I made the notes of my modifications on my Ravelry project page.

I love how this sweater turned out! I can't complain about the colder weather because I am so excited to get to wear it. 

I do get asked many times how many things I can make from one alpacas fleece. My answer usually includes these responses. From my alpaca "Blue's" one fleece so far I have made a pull over, shawl, hat and I plan on making a second large lace shawl. I think I could easily have made two sweaters.

But it is not always practical to process a single fleece. A lot of the fiber is lost on the machines. So it is better to combine fleeces to have processed at the same time to have less loss.  Since Blue's fleece is sentimental to me I had it processed alone, but the fiber mill did add 10% silk to it and spun it as a 2 ply. I held the yarn double for this project.

So since it is rare we process a single fleece it is hard to get a solid answer. Also each alpacas fleece is different some alpacas produce more fiber than others, some is longer, some if finer and some is more dense. When we process their fleeces we take all of those things into consideration. When we are combining fleeces to be processed together one of the most important things is the staple length. That is the length of each fiber. That helps to keep a consistent yarn. It also helps to find a good fiber mill to process your yarn!

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along

The pattern for this project can be found in this book.

Alpaca Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day Wdamo gave birth today to a boy!

He is just too cute and I look forward to seeing him running around with Pomp!

Happy Mother's day to all you mother's out there!!!!

Tiny's Orange Sweater & a Standing Stones Cowl

I made another Standing Stones cowl with Miss Babs Yowza yarn. I modified my pattern to make one skein of 560 yards work. 

Modifications: 

Part II- I repeated the rows 25 times for a total of 50 rows

Part IV- I repeated the chart one full time. On the second repeat of the chart I knitted row 18 and then started the bind off.

I have had quite a few requests on modification for this pattern to make different types of yarn work (mostly people who are knitting from their stash and have a limited amount of yarn to work with). I have been suggesting the modification to Part II. The nice thing about this pattern is that you can end it at any time on Part IV. You just have to keep an eye on how much yarn you have left to make it work for your bind off.  I really love how this one came out and I loved the few cool nights we've had because I got to wear it!

And speaking of the cooler nights I've been sweater knitting!!! 

Tiny requested a hand knit sweater. I jumped at the offer and together we made it happen. He picked out the yarn. He also picked out the cable detail that goes up the front and back. The rest of it I designed for him. I just tried it on him as I went and made it up stitch by stitch.

I love how it came out. He loves it too!

Maybe asking a kid to model a hand knit sweater a few days after having his tonsils and adenoids out might not have been the best idea ...... he was a tad bit cranky.

I took it off of him while we waited for my Dad to get back to the farm with their new alpaca. I was carrying it around and taking some pictures of it.

The sleeves are really the same size. They just look off in this picture.

We went to hang out on the swings in the shade and do you know what????? 

He asked me if he could put his sweater back on!!!!

I am pretty sure I had the worlds biggest smile to that request and I quickly helped him put it back on.

I had him try it on him so many times as I was making it and I was afraid he wouldn't want to wear it once it was done. But he really does like it! 

He is so picky about his clothes. He doesn't like tight collars or buttons. He doesn't like his sweaters too big. He doesn't like tags! His list of dislikes goes on and on, but I was able to make this to fit all his wants. Especially the neckline. Not too tight and not too big.

He was having so much fun giving the alpacas some hay. 

Who know that was all he needed to cheer him up?!

I can't believe this little guy is going to be starting Kindergarten next week. I am going to miss having my little buddy around.

He made sure each of the alpacas got their fair share of hay.

Especially Blue!!!! I can't wait to get his fiber back from the fiber mill. I am having it processed into roving and I'm going to spin it and make a sweater for myself!

I hope I didn't bore you with so many pictures of Tiny's Orange Sweater, but I feel like it has been so long since I've been able to take pictures of my finished knits and share them!  I have some projects on and off my needles that I hopefully will release the patterns next year. I am going to give them a year to be worn, modified, tested and then I'll be release them.  I'm not planning on releasing the pattern for Tiny's sweater. It was just a fun simple knit that I did without a pattern (my favorite way to knit). It was so much fun to make and fun to have him be such a big part of the crafting of it!

Ravelry link- Tiny's Orange Sweater

Yarn: Berroco Vintage Chunky

Meanwhile on my needles is a fantastic sweater! I wish I could share it, but I'm keeping it on the down low.

For reading listening I have been listening to the Audiobook "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon.  I can't get enough of these books. It is the third book in the Outlander series. I enjoy listening to them and knitting. Since the books are soooooo long and there are so many books in the series I love that I know what book I am going to read next. It is a perfect companion for knitting. I am also watching "Outlander" on Starz.  I am sooooooo  happy with how they are doing the series! I was worried about the show not being as good as the books, but they really are doing and awesome job with it. Or at least I am really happy about it! I am also enjoying that it is a series Freddy and I can watch together.

Okay back to knitting!!! 

Joining with 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 :)