Woolly Cuteness

I grew up on a farm and always wished for sheep. Instead we had stinky, wool-less cows and pigs. Today I found these lamb pictures and almost died from the cuteness. I hope the good people over at Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm and Hudson Valley Fiber Farm don’t mind us slurping these adorable pictures of their new lambs—I just couldn’t resist!

This little guy just seems to have so much personality.

Animal affection is sooooo sweet.

They even wear sweaters to keep warm! (Look closely below—they are camouflaged).

Head on over and look at their photos for more cuteness. While you are there, you can also drool over their beautiful yarns, which come in lovely rich colors.

Knitting Travels: Brier Run Alpaca Farm

Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada

My parents and I drove through the fog and melting snow to visit Brier Run Alpaca Farm this morning.

The owners, Heather Blanchard and Norris McAuslan, opened the store for us and then gave us a tour of the processing facilities.

The store includes many kinds of yarn and roving, most of them made from a single alpaca and named after that animal (i.e. McDermot, Glen Fiddich, Tukie). Some are blended with silk for extra softness. Heather and Norris currently sell hand-knit products on their website, but soon they’ll be opening an online store for their yarn as well.

They also sell roving and raw fibre for spinning. It was fun to manhandle the bumps to compare the color and softness of each alpaca.

In the processing plant, their friendly cat showed us this wonderfully soft roving from one of the cria (baby alpacas)—it felt like air.

Later this will be spun into yarn in their machines:

They also spin lower-grade alpaca fibres around a twine core to make yarn that will be woven into rugs:

Or batting for alpaca duvets:

The alpacas were hiding out from the rain and mud, so we only got to see a few of the 75 or so that live on their farm:

Thanks to Heather and Norris for the tour! I can’t wait to get some of this yarn on my needles. Oh, and did I mention that I really really really want an alpaca of my own??? Look how cute they are!!!

Desdemona Write-Up

Knitting blog Lime & Violet's Daily Chum did a feature on Desdemona. You can read it here. Thanks, L & V.

Ravelry "Friends"

By the way, I'm not "fiber smarts" in Ravelry. I'm "krgp," like my author's name here.

Yes, those are my initials. Yes, I have four names, because I'm stubborn and easily swayed by society's dictates at the same time.

Yes, I'm a gemini.

Ravelry Rocks!

I finally received my invite to Ravelry.com, and boy is that my new addiction (that, and the Urban Vest from the latest issue of Knitter's Magazine).

Mostly I'm entering in my WIPs and FOs into my "notebook" and putting in the books I own into my "library." What fun! I highly recommend it.

Yay! Soul-mate! (She just doesn't know it yet...)

Right after my free-form rant of my last post I watched a rerun of Knitty-Gritty and the guest was Lisa Shobhana Mason. Her blog is My Life in Stitches. At first I loved her because she was hot and had awesome hair and very cool glasses. (As a four-eyes myself I can appreciate her selection.) Then she mentioned something about there being two types of knitters (correct if I'm misquoting horribly)--those who are interested in patterns, and those who are interested in colors. And SHE is interested in colors.

When I saw her sample work at the end of the show, fabulously shaped and structured yet free-spirited sweaters, I knew I had found my soul-mate. (Lisa, if you are reading this, I promise I am not scary. I'm an English professor. I'm like the least scary person in the world. Okay, that's actually a lie, I can be scary sometimes especially if you are a slacker in my class, but I believe in nonviolence. So much for reassurances.)

In short, support this V.C.P.!! (very cool person) Go buy her books! Now!