Blah!

Well nothing has been done the last few days as our a/c has been out. It's been hot and humid and with three kids (two heat sensitive) nothing was getting done. The kids are going to grandma's to spend the night tomorrow and will be leaving around noon, so I will have seven and a half hours to do with as I please before Dh comes home from work. ;)

What ever in the world am I going to do with that time? LOL!

Flip it!

Well I dropped my hand spindle yesterday while spinning and the worl popped off. LOL! So on a whim I popped it right back onto the top instead of the bottom where is had been loosely glued. I'm liking it. I *think* I'm getting a better spin.

Still want a spinning wheel though. ;)

Back from a long weekend

Well, I'm sore and worn out so today is looking like a spinning day, maybe some knitting will wend it's way in there too. It all just depends on how well the pain killers work out. ;)

It was a good weekend despite all three of the kids trying to drown themselves, there's action for you when you are moving before the lifeguard can respond! We are all alive and well if not a bit tired and sore, and the trauma of near drowning experiences wore off pretty quickly.

Life is good is it not? :)

Kitting away!

Alrighty I got the top done for my littlest Dd now to get her to take it off for long enough that I can finish the seaming on the ruffle and weave the ends in. Maybe even wash it. LOL! I'll get pictures of it posted as soon as she'll hold still for pics. It's cuter then all get out though. ;)

I already have coachella OTN, from the newest knitty mag! (for those who don't know about knitty you can find it here) I'm eyeballing the grow with me top for both of my girls. Still pondering that so we'll see what happens. :)

Need to get back on a move on with the alpaca but I'm thinking that that can wait until next week after we are back from our trip.

Mish mash mosh

Well I did some brushing, spinning and knitting today. I have come to the conclusion that the next batch of alpaca I wash I'm not going to us soap on. I just can't seem to get it all rinsed off and it leaves a sticky residue that makes spinning interesting. Coats my fingers as well.

Things are kind of tight for a bit so I'm starting up a second knitting project since the blanket for my Dd1 is going to have to go on a short hibernation until finances straighten out. Plus I have to get rid of some of the current stash before I'm up to my eyeballs in spun alpaca to start playing with. ;)

So I am starting this.

I am doing one for my littlest first with the main color being white and the contrast color being a yarn that is kind of shiny and will look kind of mottled once knitted up with white, light blue and a light green in it. The yarns aren't anything spectacular, just some acrylic I have laying around but I think that it will look cute and if I can get it done before our trip (not holding my breath but a girl can hope right?) it might work for a nice top for Dd2 to wear in the *big* family pictures that will be done on the first evening of the trip with all of the extended step family.

I'll work on getting pictures of the yarns up tomorrow and maybe I will get a picture of how the brown alpaca is spinning up so far. :)

No freezer drying....

OK half of the first batch of alpaca dried like a charm. I had it hanging on a clothes line in the basement. The second half I couldn't hang up since I figures Dh would get a little peeved if he went to lay down on the futon and plopped into a puddle. ;)
So, I figured if a normal screen is said to be a good drying rack for wool then why wouldn't and old baby gate that is on it's last legs be a good choice for a drying rack. It's not like it has to do anything but sit there. LOL! Well it will make for a good drying rack as soon as I can find a place to put it other then on top of the chest freezer. :o Let's just say the top dried like a charm but the bottom is still wet due to condensation and not enough air flow. Ah, well there's a lesson learned.

I think I have anew place to put it, by a fan even to remedy the whole problem with really wet areas, so I'll get it moved and get it dry and I should be able to add it to the 'needs brushing' stash.

I even started spinning some of the brushed alpaca yesterday to change things up a bit. ;)

I'm seeing felted slippers for the family out of the chocolate brown. It's spinning up a bit fuzzy. It feels *wonderful* despite looking like a rough and scratchy wool. :)

Now to get some cleaning done in prep for some girl time tomorrow and momma's time off this weekend. Yay!!! :D

So much fiber!

Ok I have the pictures and here they are.....

This first one is of how big the four bags are. My son Hiro (in the picture) is about 40" at the shoulder for those who might live where these bags aren't sold. I got four of these bag about 2/3 full of fiber sorted by color.

Here is a picture of my Dd1 Brenna, who was cheesed that her brother got to be in a picture and she didn't. LOL! She is feeling the chocolate brown fiber (sorry that the picture is sideways). There is a better picture of the color below. This fiber is washed and ready to be brushed and fluffed for spinning. I have found that the dog brush that we haven't been able to use for the dog since she is deathly afraid of it. Yes, I have a weird dog. :)


Here is the white and black (kind of brown-ish black), it hasn't been washed yet.


Here is the white, again yet to be washed. :)


Here is the salt and peppery black. I can't wait to wash this to see how it looks spun. So far the color of this is my favorite. :)


Last but not least here are pictures of the very pleasant suprise. From the look and feel of these two grocery sized bags I found tucked into two of the other bags I *think* that it is baby alpaca fiber. My jaw still hurts from all the work it took to scrape my poor jaw off the ground after that find. I about had to pick up Dh when he heard about how much baby alpaca can go for and then decided that it was one hell of a deal that I was given all this fiber for free to find a couple of pots of gold in there too. :D

The first picture is of the two colors together, then a close up of each. :)

So, that is where I stand for now. I'm cleaning it all as fast as I can. ;)

First post, yea!

Ok here it goes. Since I am part of the sexy knitters club and I now have alpaca fiber coming out my ears (quite a feat let me tell you! *wink*) I figure it's high time that I start actively documenting some of the stuff that I'm doing and going to be working on in the future. What can I say like the old saying goes "if you've got it flaunt it".

So I'm going to start flaunting. ;) At least as best I can with three kids trying to help. LOL!

So off we go......