April's Here.......C'mon Warm Weather!

Chasing squirrels makes dogs tired!

I believe today the warmup is supposed to start.  Yesterday my thermometer read 17 degrees when I got up and while it warmed up to the 40's and was bright and sunny, there was a sharp wind blowing.  Brrrrrr!  This morning, it was 22 when I got up and it is forecast to be in the mid-50's today and 60's by the weekend.  I am so ready!

 




Speaking of ready, I have been working to get ready for the Knitter's Fantasy show this Saturday.  I already have my large display items in the car and have all my yarns labeled.  There are about 45 skeins of yarn in here.  I am so pleased with how they all came out.  

 There are 6 "colorways" and I did 8 skeins of each or about 2 pounds of each.  I made an "infinity scarf" out of 1 skein of the purple/green color, but I didn't take a picture of it yet.  I washed and blocked it last night.  I will probably wear it to the event and it will give people an idea of what the yarn looks like knitted up.

 
I also had to finish spinning a 2 oz sample of the wonderful roving I got back a couple weeks ago.  It is superfine baby alpaca blended with a Blue-faced leicester lamb fleece.  It is a light fawn color and it came out gorgeous.  I'll post the photo next week.  I also washed it last night and hung it to dry.  The blend is about 80% baby alpaca to 20% BFL.  I am very pleased with how it spun. I still have to weigh out and package the roving for sale.

My 3 rugs have been cut off the loom and cut apart and the fringes have been tied.  Very pleased with them as well.  They each measure 26" X 36" not including the fringes.

So I have a few things to get ready tonight and I plan to be off tomorrow around 1:30  to drive to Youngstown and set up.  The show opens Saturday morning at 8 am.  I'm looking forward to it.
Plus, I have a friend who helped me learn to spin about 13 years ago who since moved to the Youngstown area and she and I are planning to go to dinner together tomorrow night. we have a lot to catch up on.

 We are thinking of changing insurance providers for the farm and if we do, we have to reduce the size of our alpaca herd by about 10, so I have some great deals on alpacas right now.  I have decided to sell 2 of my 3 female crias from this past fall.  This is "Mayhem" to the left.  Her sire is an awesome rose grey color and her dam is our own Miracle.  We don't really breed for color, but I had bought this breeding a couple years ago at a silent "herdsire auction" at the Ohio alpaca show.  It's hard to let these little fuzzballs go.  But I can't keep them all.  Plus, one fleece this color does not make a batch of yarn!

This one is "Piper".  Yes, she is white and fits into the program, but her sire is here on the farm so I can't use him with her when she is old enough to breed.  She has great genetics and will make someone a great production female.  Plus, her fleece is wonderful.

I have decided to keep Peg's cria, Caley.  There was no question there since Peg will be 14 this summer and I do not have a daughter of hers on the farm.  Caley is also white, but I did not get a good photo of her the other day.  Maybe next week.  As the weather warms up it will be easier to sit around in the pasture waiting for good shots.

 

 I spied these daffodils  yesterday poking out of the weeds over where the old house used to be on Wayne National Forest behind our place.  I guess spring really is coming.