Weaving, Upcoming Show, Farm Chores and More!

As a Humane Society volunteer, sometimes I bring my work home.  This is testing Rowdy's patience!

So much has been going on since my last post, which was dedicated to remembering  Cheetah, so there is a lot to blog about this week.


First, I finally got my rug loom all warped up with help from my friend Tari.    So, now I am ready to start weaving!  And of course as soon as I started, I realized that with a 60 year old loom, it is never quite "ready".

front of loom

rear of loom

 While I got most of 2 rugs woven yesterday, I was also troubleshooting and wondering if this loom was worth the trouble.  I ended up quitting when I was almost done because I broke a warp thread and decided it was a good idea to quit before I got too frustrated.  Something I have learned in my almost 50 years of life....mostly the hard way! 

First Alpaca Rug!

Having said all that, I think I will be pleased with these 2 rugs when I get them finished, which will hopefully be this afternoon.  I put enough warp on the loom this time for only 2 rugs.  I think I could actually put enough on for 4 or 5 at a time.  Warping is the most tedious and time-consuming part of weaving, which is why weavers rarely warp for only 1 project at a time.

I do generally love the weather this time of year.  One can work outside all day in a sweatshirt and jeans and be comfortable.  Our fall has been incredibly dry.  The pond is down 3 feet, the creek is still dry and I am having to water the stud boys from the well because the spring in their pasture has been dry for about 2 months.  I have never had to water them in November!  A huge blessing seems to be that we are not getting infested with ladybugs.  We have had terrible infestations in the house every winter for the last 8 years or so.  I have to vacuum them up constantly and they stink and leave nasty little "trails" all over the walls and windows.  I think the dry weather must have affected them.  My fingers AND toes are crossed!  Usually they move in in mid-October.

I took advantage of the fine weather this past weekend to do some much needed fence repairs.  I would say this needs some work.    So I broke out the shovel, post hole digger, hammer, wire cutters and fence staples  and new fence and went to work.  Fortunately only one post needed replaced.  I haven't used the posthole digger in a while and forgot how much work it is!  Especially as dry as the ground is!

Fence before

New Fence

In just a couple of hours, I had a nice new 50 foot stretch of fence dividing the pasture!  I must say it looks a lot better.  

This weekend is the Ohio Alpaca Breeder's Association's yearly alpaca show, Alpacafest.  This year it is in Springfield, Ohio and I have decided to go and take my new stud boy, Lightning to show.  OABA, of which I am a member, also has a Member Market, which I got started about 2 years ago.  Members who are going to the show bring their Ohio alpaca products and can put them in the Market on a consignment basis.  We had very good success the first year.  I was not involved last year, due to some health problems, but have been feverishly preparing my products to take this year.  I have a selection of hand-dyed and natural colored rovings and yarns, as well as a few hand-knitted and hand-woven items.   I am also entering my recently completed hand-spun cabled sweater and my mystery shawl in the fiber arts competition.  Wish me luck!

On a somewhat humorous note, I got stranded halfway to work one morning last week when I stopped to take some photos of the mist in the valley and the car battery died!  

Gotta admit it is beautiful, even though the photos do not do it justice!