This beautiful girl is the first baby born at Alpaca Acres this year! And they’ve named her… Shireena :) I couldn’t be more thrilled, and I can’t wait til we can drive up to see the baby! Annie – you’re amazing! xoxox.
Posts Tagged 'alpaca'
Introducing “Shireena”
Published May 25, 2012 Uncategorized 5 CommentsTags: alpaca, alpaca acres, yarn
Photo-Take-Outter Friday #13 – Have you ever wondered where yarn comes from? A photo essay at Alpaca Acres
Published May 18, 2012 Photo-Take-Outter Friday! , Photography 4 CommentsTags: alpaca, alpaca acres, fleece, shearing, wool, yarn
Last Saturday Tito and I had the opportunity to be part of the annual shearing day at Alpaca Acres. Our friends, Anne and Dan, invited us and a bunch of their friends to come help out on this busy day, taking their herd from this:
To this:
We were so impressed by this process. The alpaca stand against a table which rotates so they’re lying down – and instantly the alpaca ‘pit crew’ gets to work. Not one second is wasted while the alpaca is being worked on. The actual shearing is done by Dan. Dan is careful, methodical and gentle with his shearing.
The others are trimming the legs, carting away the fleece for sorting and even trimming the toenails. Throughout the process other people always have their hands on the alpacas body, supporting them, petting them, comforting them, even talking to them. Everything we saw was marked by their consideration and love for their herd.
Many hands take part in sorting the enormous amount of fleece per animal. The strands that are coarse, knotted or too short are removed. The ‘first’ and ‘second’ shearings are separated by length and quality. Being newbies at this, the sorting table was where Tito and I started out.
Afterwards you have a handsome alpaca, straight from the spa!
Look at this handsome fellow, I was wondering what his fleece looked like so Annie brought it out -
Beautiful fluffy grey and white. He comes variegated!
This is Sandy, the alpaca that I bought a sweaters worth from once. Some of her fleece went to my pen-pal in Boston :) This is her before picture.
The thickness of Sandy’s fleece.
Another view of the thickness, mid shear.
Her fleece being carted off for sorting
Annie and Paula – sorting fleece is so awesome – you just want to bury your face in it!
And Sandy’s after photo – half the size she was :)
Isn’t that crazy? Here she is again:
Thank you Annie and Dan for letting us be part your shearing day! We have a whole new appreciation for where yarn comes from :)
Speaking of where yarn comes from, next weekend I’ll be taking my first spinning class at the Purple Purl – stay tuned!
The Kool-Aid experiment – dying a gradient
Published February 20, 2012 Dying Yarn 12 CommentsTags: alpaca, dying yarn, fair isle, Kool Aid
Being a designer is tough because it makes you picky. I had experimented with Kool Aid a while back and, while it was fun, I didn’t keep up with it because I had so many ideas in my head and I couldn’t make the yarn match it. I think to really have the skill and control of someone like, say, Tanis, you really have to be a colour expert and dedicate lots of time and energy to it. It’s something I definitely aspire to be better at, but in the meantime Kool Aid is a fun way to get your feet wet!
So the challenge I set myself was ‘can I dye a gradient’?. The idea of dying a gradient was inspired by the Little Fair Isle Hat from the Purl Bee. They do a great job with skeins of different colours and I was intrigued by the way the lightest colour just blends into the piece. It turns out it’s very possible to dye a gradient: here’s how I did it.
- Get some yarn (easy, right?) and some Kool Aid packets. I used 100% Alpaca from Alpaca Acres here in Ontario – the softest and most luxurious stuff you can imagine :) Natural fibre is important because the dye won’t take on acrylic or other synthetic yarns. For Kool Aid I used 3 packets of Lemon-Lime and one package of… Blue. I think it was called Ice Berry.
- Using a kitchen scale I measured my skein into 10 gram hanks, which I retied very loosely. If you don’t have a scale you can guestimate it – just divide the yarn into 5-6 equal parts.
- Pour all the Kool Aid into a pot filled with water, put it on the stove and put all the yarn hanks into it. Start bringing it to a slow simmer. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes pull out one hank – this will be your lightest one. Set the timer for 5 minutes again. As a guideline, every 5 minutes you’ll take out one more of your mini-skeins. The result was that I had a nice gradient from ones that had been in the shortest time to my last hank – which was in for a full 40 minutes. I say a guideline only, because you really need to do a visual check to see if enough dye has been absorbed, and adjust your time accordingly.
- Wash each skein gently in a mild wool wash or mild soap as it comes out, to wash away excess Kool Aid. I used Soakwash – the patron saint of all my yarn projects :)
I was very happy with my results, and set about making an adult version of the Little Fair Isle Hat. I cast on the same amount, but on 4.5 mm needles and I added quite a bit of length to it, for a slouchy hat.
For fun I wound all the leftover yarn together.
It’s colourfast, even though I didn’t use vinegar to help set it. Apparently Kool Aid is so acidic that you don’t need it.
I love the results :) Especially on the hat!
Here is a great tutorial from knitty.com if you want to read more on it, and if you take a crack at dying I’d love to see photos!
Alpaca Acres
Published October 11, 2011 Photography , Travels 31 CommentsTags: alpaca, alpaca acres, farm, Freshly Pressed, yarn
What a busy weekend! It was the perfect weekend – full of family, friends and crafty pursuits. I couldn’t have asked for a better thanksgiving.
On Saturday Tito and I drove to a an alpaca farm that he found online - Alpaca Acres in Stratford Ontario. Yes, he sleuthed out an alpaca farm for me and drove me there as a treat. I tell ya, the man is a keeper ;)
While there we were treated to a tour by the owners Ann and Dan. They are amazing, friendly folk who really love their animals and have raised award winning Alpacas. After speaking with them I had a whole new appreciation for what it takes to raise healthy, happy alpacas.
We learned lots of interesting things about how to care for Alpacas, and got to feed them some treats. They are friendly, inquisitive animals with the softest wool.
This gossipy looking Alpaca with the white stripe on her head is named Sandy. Ann sells her yarn with the name of the animal it came from (how cool is that?) so instead of matching up dye lots you match up who the wool came from. I treated myself to a sweaters worth of ‘Sandy’.
This beautiful design by Erin Harper (Ravelry ID, Project Page) is called the New York Cardigan, and I think it’s the perfect pattern for all this gorgeous Alpaca. I already swatched for it and I think it’ll be a perfect match!
We enjoyed ourselves immensely and will definitely be coming back for more yarn. I love that I can get high quality yarn that’s soft as anything, from amazing people, while supporting an Ontario farm and knowing that I’m buying sustainable yarn with a low carbon footprint. I foresee many visits to Stratford in our future :)
