Here is a randomly chosen message from this week's e-mail:
Hi,
I just found your website on the internet. I am a weaver and want to weave with Alpaca - specifically throws and scarves. Can you direct to a link for this yarn produced in the United States?
Thanks so much.
Any current alpaca breeders who are know about weaving, or weavers who use a U.S. produced alpaca yarn want to answer this question please? I am not a weaver.
The person asking lives in Sarasota Florida.
You can use the "contact me" link at upper left.
thanks!
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my latest hand knit Calorimetry
So last week I was Magic-Linked in a Ravelry discussion. If you don't know about Ravelry, the online community (like Facebook) for Knitters, you can see my article explaining it here:
Article Explaining Ravelry - Fiber People's Facebook
"Magic-Linked" is when one of the 599,615 (as of today) registered members of Ravelry mentions you in an online posting.
Ravelry sends you a message when this happens, and the message begins, "Are your ears burning?" It then goes on to tell you where to find the message that was talking about you. How cool would it be if in REAL LIFE you got a message every time someone talked about you behind your back?
Yeah, maybe not.
Anyway, my Magic-Linked message came from the Ravelry forum of a Florida yarn store, and the author of the message was planning to go to the Florida Alpaca Breeders Show in Jacksonville this February.
I blogged about that show last year here:, FABA Alpaca Show
This person wondered if -I- would be at the show this year. However, the really interesting part of this person's post came earlier when she wrote this about the Florida Breeders alpaca show:
There is usually fiber to be given away… if you find a breeder that just doesn’t know anything about the fiber end of the industry, they are glad to be rid of it (shameful for them, but a great opportunity for you spinners!).
ETA: Look for animal booths with nothing made from fiber…just little samples or nothing at all. That’s a good clue that they only are into the breeding.
Shameful indeed - but right on sister! If alpaca breeders are "glad to be rid of" their alpaca fleece, and making that obvious to their own potential customers, then why expect the customers to be eager to pay good money for it?
This person then goes on to say that she wonders if -I- will be at the show because I had said last year that someone should get a booth there and sell the alpaca fleeces and fiber that the breeders didn't seem interested in selling.
I did talk about this to some of the show's organizers, but they weren't too interested, so there you are. They told me that they have an alpaca fiber show IN AUGUST IN FLORIDA!
Oh, yeah, that's a lot better than having an alpaca fiber show and sale in February in Jacksonville.
Maybe I'll sneak in to this show wearing dark glasses and an alpaca fur mustache, and try out this idea of just asking for free alpaca fleece from the alpaca breeders with no fibery things at their booths. If I do, I'll definitely sneak the camera in with me and report back to you all.
Not that I really NEED more fleece to spin. I still haven't gotten around to spinning the two llama tops I bought in Christmas, Florida at the Cracker Christmas Craft Show in December. I would bet my best spinning wheel that the gray llama top shown here is a 15 micron or less, and it wasn't for sale until I stood there, basically stalking the owner, who was processing it in front of an audience. She had to sell it to get rid of me. Poor thing.
llama top for hand spinning - gray
llama top for hand spinning - fawn color
But now that I have gotten a call from the editor of Camelid Quarterly asking me if I was planning to enter their Camelid Fiber Contest, I may have to just jump on that llama top and get to spinning after all. The deadline is Jan. 31st!!!
Meanwhile, here in lonely, little Scottsmoor, Florida, we had an entire week of actual cold weather, and even a little - okay, a minuscule amount, - of snow!!!
It was really just rain with a (very)few tiny pellets of ice in it, but we're counting it. I had a chance to wear all of my hand knit alpaca and wool socks!
The wicked witch color alpaca socks
The aloe-infused wool socks
I also used the cold as an excuse to knit two more Calorimetrys (see previous post). I changed the pattern though, so that I could use that huge, slubby yarn that I love so much. This one is Wool / Cashmere from the "Queensland Collection" and it's called Big Wave. I found it here:
Big Wave yarn
Big Wave yarn
One of these was for me and I have loved wearing it! No itch, and stays in place without smashing the hair against your head. Wish I'd know about these years ago. The button and the oblong shape are the key I think. I'll get around to posting my changed version of the pattern on Ravelry any day now.
hand knit Calorimetry showing button
So, back to real life, but to all of those people on Facebook who are asking me to "adopt an alpaca" from your virtual, Facebook Farms, please stop! It's cruel! You're making me miss my alpacas more than ever. Get a real farm if you want one so badly!
shut up!
Speaking of missing alpacas, Thank you, Thank you to my ever-faithful-friend Sue from Wildwood Alpacas for sending me this photo of Francesca, daughter of my girl, Glad.
beautiful daughter of alpaca Galadriel
Can I have her fleece if you're not using it Sue?
Just kidding!
PS>
Donate to Haiti using your Paypal account. I did it and it was easy.
Give to Haitian Earthquake Victims
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plying alpaca on the Kiwi wheel
Is there a special Dante-esque level of Hell for people who write too
much about alpaca fleece, where they are forced to read e-mail after
e-mail written by persons who want to be alpaca breeders but don't
want to take even the slightest interest in their own "end product"?
They would rather e-mail someone else in very large numbers?
If so, I am certainly destined to end up there. If..... I'm not there already.
Here is my featured, alpaca fleece e-mail question of the week:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hi my name is NAME REMOVED FOR OBVIOUS REASONS and we just purchased an alpaca farm and found 4 bags of hair. I was wondering if it is still good and if it is how do I sell it. If you could please let me know either way. You can contact me at CONTACT INFO.REMOVED FOR OBVIOUS REASONS."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 bags of HAIR?!!!
I know, I know, you're thinking, "Gad, you're so mean Kate! Why do you have to make fun of these people on your blog?"
Forget about the fleece, this kind of e-mail always makes me nervous about whether this person has educated herself about the proper care and feeding of alpacas. After all, you can be mean by talking straight with people, but you can also be mean because you just think some living thing is sooooo cute, but you have not tried hard enough to figure out how to take care of that living thing.
Hopefully, that is not the case with this person. I did answer her politely.
Meanwhile, in that same alpaca fleece person Hell, there would be an old, banged-up spinning wheel that stops working just when you are about to finish plying the alpaca skein that you were dying to knit with.
Sort of like this one:
my poor, broken Kiwi spinning wheel
The conrod joint of my Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel broke when I was approximately halfway through plying my last two bobbins of the huacaya /suri blend alpaca fleece. This part is hard rubber or soft plastic or something like that, but mine, very old, had dried out and cracked.
Speaking of crack, a non-fiber addict person (I know very few of these) would just stop spinning and arrange to replace the part.
Hah! I decided to just use one of the two treadles. This would have worked, albeit awkwardly, but the loose conrod blocked the treadle with each turn, stopping the wheel from turning.
conrod blocks treadle
If you have never spun a few skeins with a wheel that is held together with elastic hair bands and paper clips, are you even a REAL hand spinner?
Nah. Here is my solution - rubber band holds the conrod out of the way.
spinning on broken wheel
In this clumsy way, I managed to finish plying the skein. Meanwhile, another spinner had sworn to me that fish tank tubing is just the thing to replace the rubbery, Ashford conrod joints. So, I tried it.
It worked for about 3 turns of the wheel and then broke again.
Grrrrrrr!
Working on the assumption that the old-fashioned ways were probably the most sensible when it comes to fibery things, I finally used the traditional method of joining the conrods to the treadles, the strip of flexible leather.
Success at last!
Yes, I feel badly about the cow, but when it comes to building materials, it's pretty hard to beat Mother Nature. I actually wish I'd done this a long time ago, as the wheel turns even more smoothly now. Thank goodness we didn't have to give up the spinning
Is there a Heaven for former alpaca breeders? If there is, it is knowing that your former alpacas are well cared for, loved and happy with their new owners. Here is a photo of one of my old girl, Pinka 's, offspring, winning big in a Virginia show for his owners at Wildwood Alpacas. He looks just like his Mommy!
Back to Christmas present knitting for me. I finished this Calorimetry for my sister. This is more a functional thing than a fancy one, it keeps your ears warm without messing up your hair
Calorimetry
Pattern Here:
Calorimetry Pattern on Knitty
This crazy Christmas scarf for my Mother-in-law (She wanted it!)
Christmas scarf for the monster-in-law
and this capelet for my Church's Christmas Bazaar.
lacey capelet
Doesn't my daughter look thrilled to be modeling it? I made up this pattern myself because I was too lazy to follow the one I had printed out.
Important Philosophical Question:
If I kept the 70% Alpaca/ 20% Silk/ 10% Cashmere, hand-dyed, lace weight, 100g skein for myself, even though I bought it to make a Christmas gift for someone else, would I end up on Santa's Bad Girl List?
alpaca blend hand dyed yarn ball
PS. Buy that yarn here if you are needing it:
Turtle Cove Farm in Cape Canaveral, FL
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Just when I think that I have moved on from getting apoplectic about the many people who are ignorant about the specifics of alpaca fleece & yarn, - and yet - want to expound on this topic anyway, I see something that makes me crazy again and I'm off and ranting. Here I am, spinning alpaca fleece (more on that later) and doing my humble best to educate myself about alpaca yarn and fleeces, when I read another (or two other) nutty proclamation about alpaca.
People, PLEASE do your research!
The first offender is Debbie Macomber, bestselling-author of various romance novels and romance/knitting hybrid novels. Some of my knitting friends like this author, and one of my knitting pals adores Debbie Macomber! She even went so far as to buy me an autographed book by Ms. Macomber. I did not have the heart to tell her that this author is not my favorite. Luckily, my dear friend hates computers and never reads blogs.
Being thusly confused about why Debbie Macomber is a best-selling author, and why so many knitters just love Debbie Macomber, I picked up her autobiographical book, "Knit Together: Discover God's Pattern For Your Life" - about how she became a best-selling author. It turned out to be an unispiring mix of feelgood, never-give-up cheeriness and religion. Despite the title, any mention of knitting was restricted to clunky metaphors such as the following from page 100,
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Would that be Huacaya alpaca yarn? Suri alpaca yarn? Peruvian alpaca yarn? Woolen processed alpaca yarn? Worsted processed alpaca yarn? And which wool should we blend it with? Not Lincoln or any other hair breed of sheep right? That wouldn't help.
Here's an idea, if you are a best-selling author and, therefore, super-rich, try buying alpaca yarn from someone who can sell you yarn that won't stretch! You could have the yarn you want, and your readers could have accurate information. Maybe your relationships aren't as frustrating and stretchy as you think. Maybe YOU are the problem.
OK, maybe I should calm down now. If you DO happen to be a big fan of Debbie Macomber, you can go ahead and send me the hate e-mails now, but please use the Subject line, "Alpaca yarn does NOT have to strech" so that I don't leave your e-mails in the spam filter.
Meanwhile, back at Cranky Alpaca Lady central, despite having way too many alpaca and llama-related things in my house, I was inexplicably drawn to a display of llama toys at the import store in Daytona Beach. How cute and fluffy they were! I smiled and felt a warm glow, but then I saw IT! - a small sign with "information" about llamas and alpacas.
crazy sign about llamas with alpaca fleece
If you cannot read the sign above (photo taken with my cellphone) it says,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Llamas live high in the Andes of Peru and grow thick soft wool called alpaca, as protection against the cold.
The Incas prized llamas as transport, food and clothing, and alpaca is still treasured all over the world for its warmth and softness.
This item is entirely handmade using alpaca wooll (sic) that is gathered from the llamas."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whaaaaa?
Is "wooll" a euphemism for skin? Because I'm pretty sure that you can't "gather" a pelt from a llama that is living, and those toys are not made from gluing alpaca fur to a cloth body. The fur is attached to skin and the skin is sewn onto a toy llama. My understanding has always been that the alpacas and llamas used for toys are still births, so my issue is not with the idea of animal skin on toys but, rather, the labeling. Why have an informational label on something if you have so little interest in providing accurate information? If you happen to be Bolivian, Chilean or Ecuadoran, you may share my surprise at the fact that only Peru is located in the high Andes and produces alpacas and llamas.
As for the idea that Llamas grow "alpaca" on them - whatever. Maybe we need a romance novel about a great looking, buxom (this is FICTION people!) alpaca breeder who also happens to be a handspinner and keeps a guard llama, a mean horse named, "Sweetie" and a dumb dog named "Blair." Oh and, what the heck, let's make her an expert at knitting the 'Cardigan for Arwen' while we're hallucinating.
Lest you think that I spend all of my time raging about inaccurate alpaca information gentle reader, please know that I recently did a handspinning demo at an event in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Not the most fibery of destinations but people were really into it. I had a lot of questions including the usual, "Do you teach handspinning?" Maybe I shouldn't have sold off my 5 other spinning wheels before moving south. So, I do make my own, valiant effort to educate the public about fiber and alpaca-ish topics.
kate - handspinning demo alpaca with alpaca fleece
This particular spinning demo was not at an alpaca show, or even a fleece or fiber festival but at a Pagan Pride celebration. If you are thinking Wiccan or devil worship, think more like Earth Day and hippies. The only devil here was the fire ant that viciously bit my foot while I spun. My own presence there was due to an error whereby I thought this event was advertising a handspinning class. When I called for more information, it turned out that the "spinning class" was actually about "Poi Spinning." Until that moment I had always thought Poi was a food staple of the Hawaiian people but, luckily, I was not writing about that topic, so I did not mis-inform thousands of people. But, I digress.
The event producer and I had the predictable conversation, "What kind of spinning were YOU talking about?" Huh? Then two things happened, she asked me to do a handspinning demo at the event, and my daughter, now 17 and dying to go to an actual RAVE party, (forget it kid) begged to be allowed to sign up for the Poi Spinning class. Apparently, the spinning of two, lighted, ball-shaped objects attached to long, thin ropes is an important skill for young persons who attend Raves. Cassandra enjoyed herself spinning the practice poi, two tennis balls attached to plastic twine and I had fun spinning up my alpaca roving and talking about fiber. I, also, gamely tried the poi spinning but immediately whacked myself hard on the nose with one of the tennis balls in front of a large group of onlookers, so I don't plan on moving up to the flaming poi spinning, demonstrated by our instructor any time soon. I may just stick to fleece spinning.
my little girl, happily spinning pretend poi
If any of you were wondering how the Huacaya / Suri mix roving that I bought at the Florida Alpaca Show and mentioned in this post:
POST ABOUT BUYING THE HUACAYA SURI ALPACA FLEECE
turned out, here is the answer: a little hairy but otherwise, perfect. Can't wait to knit with this yarn!
skein handspun alpaca - huacaya / suri blend
More on the process of spinning up the Suri / Huacaya blend roving later but, if you haven't had enough obsessing about spinning for one day, try clicking the link below to see how the pros do it,
SHAWL MADE FROM SPIDER'S SILK!
Wow.
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