More Stuff From a Very Hot Farm

It's 102F today. Whew! We got the chores done early and ran to the house where we've been hunkered down in the air conditioning. The irrigation water will run all on its own until it cools off this evening and the animals all have plenty of shade and water, so we're fiddling with our own little projects.

Yesterday, a nice thunderstorm rolled in around 3:00. We're hoping for the same today.

Did I mention that I'm spinning dog hair for a woman from the Boulder area? She's saved the hair from her four dogs for 13 years. I'm working on just over 8 ounces of Golden Retriever undercoat and will start on a blend of black standard poodle and black alpaca next week. There is also a white poodle and something called a labradoodle (?). Interesting stuff. It's coming along well, but the stink--even after washing--is something else. It all smells like old dog, which will probably be a great comfort to the owner, but is just stinky to me. The black poodle died just after I collected the hair from the owner, so she's looking forward to having something from that animal. I don't blame her. I'm pretty attached to my animals as well.

My Abby is again creating cupcakes and cookies with her decorating skills and once again I'm impressed with this youngster's ability and eye. She worked with a recipe this time instead of just a boxed mix, so they taste good this time.



This is the latest bear in our growing collection. It's turned out to be a girl. Since I haven't gotten around to knitting any clothes for it, we used my daughter's doll clothes to cover the "bearness". No name for it yet, as it's gender could change with a simple change of garb. This one is made of handspun alpaca mohair blend, silver gray alpaca, and some bits of gray angora bunny. The ears and paws should fuzz up significantly with time and handling. However, I think it's time for something a little more traditional in the bear department. Jean Greenhowe has some very nice bear patterns and so does Debbie Bliss. I'll start there.





The summer cold finally caught me. The rest of the family had it last week as I gloated over being more hardy and vigorous than they. I've been fighting with a sore throat for three days, although I wouldn't admit it was actually sore--just a little tight is all--and today I have the running nose, slight fever and puffy eyes. Yuck. I hate that feeling when you're not sleepy, but your eyes and head say to lay down and sleep. As I lay there, my mind says, "The windows need washed. The weeds need sprayed. The website needs updated. The floors need scrubbing. What about the painting project? When are you going to clean the carpets? Weren't you going to sort through the storage shed?" Oh my. Why can't I remember all those things when I'm feeling good?

It's a good thing it's HOT today and I have a good excuse to give myself to neglecting all of those things, eh?

First Baby of the Summer

Our first baby alpaca (cria) of the season was born this week. He's beautiful and oh so energetic. He likes chest butting his mother and jumping on her back when she's laying down. He's quite the trouble maker in the female herd. Without any other babies arriving until fall, I'm afraid he'll find lots of ways to play and amuse himself that won't exactly endear him to the big girls.

He needs a name! His sire's name is Jumpin' Jack Flash and his mother is Odyssey's Morning Star. We've been calling him Cowboy since he sports a nice saddle on his back and we have to call him something, but we need some help! The last time we just called an animal something out of necessity, we ended up calling her Little Sister and it's stuck! Not quite an elegant or memorable name for registered breeding stock.

Suggestions? Should we have a contest?

Circular Shawl Knit Along and News From the Farm

I've been working on a circular shawl this summer. To be honest, I just started last week, but it's coming along nicely and will be done by the end of the summer. I attended a conference for 4 days and had lots and lots of time to work on it during the break out sessions, so it's further along than I anticipated. I did my first one three years ago and it's by far my favorite knitting project. I knit a lot in the car, at swim meets, and such, and a circular shawl is so convenient to take along. You can't lose your a needle because you use a circular needle for most of the work, the knitting forms a nice little sack for the ball of yarn and the project offers a nice balance between mindless knitting and mild challenge. I learned this pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann's book, A Knitter's Almanac. For anyone who would like to knit along, I'll give some detail of how it progresses.

The pattern is based on the principle that the diameter of a circle doubles as the circumference doubles. If you're not mathematically inclined, don't be intimidated. It's very simple once you've been through the first few increases. In fact, it's so simple that I think it's a much better beginner's project than the scores of cell phone covers and fingerless mitts that are seen in the beginner's pattern books.

You'll need a set of 5 dpn's, although you'll start on 4, increase to 5 dpn's and then transfer to a circular. It sounds complicated, but it's really not at all.

I cast on 9 sts. and joined them on 3 dp needles, 3 sts. on each needle. Be careful not to twist the sts. Knit one round. This first round is frustrating, what with the needles sliding around and only a few stitches. It can be the undoing of a new or easily frustrated knitter, but stick with it and the rewards will be worth it. I had to start over twice myself. Just be sure to rest the needles on your lap while you get through this first round so your needles don't drop to the floor and roll under the table or slide down the couch cushions. (The voice of experience...)

After knitting the first round, the stitches should be firmer on the needles. Double your sts. by (yo, k1) around - 18 sts., 6 on each needle. Don't forget that yo at the beginning of each dpn. It's easy to forget, so keep that in your mind as you increase. That's the first increase round and this is where we begin the geometry of the thing.

Knit 3 rounds straight and then double your sts. again by (yo, k1) around - 36 sts. Arrange the sts. on 4 dpn's so that you have 9 sts. on each needle. Knit 6 rounds straight and double your sts. again to 72 sts. Do you see the increasing pattern? Double your sts. and double the number of knit rounds. You'll go on to double your sts. to 144 and knit 12 rounds, 288 sts. and 24 rounds, and 576 sts. and 48 rounds. You shouldn't need to knit more than these 48 rounds, which would mean increasing to 1152 sts. and 96 rounds, but I suppose it's possible. You're creating a perfect circle and I suppose the size of that circle is only limited by the supply of yarn and patience. When the shawl is the size you want it to be, stop.

Transfer your work to a circular needle whenever it gets big enough. I transferred mine onto a 12 inch circular at 72 sts.

About the time you are knitting the 12 rounds you'll be thinking how plain the knitting looks, unless you've chosen an interesting novelty or painted yarn, of course. This is the time to start a stitch pattern. Any stitch pattern that is divisible by 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18 or 24 will do. Look in your stitch pattern books or look online at some of the stitch libraries. Most will give directions for flat knitting and will say that a pattern is worked over a certain number of stitches + 1, or +2. When knitting in the round, you can eliminate those extra stitches (+1, +2) and just concentrate on the main pattern. The repeats will follow one another very neatly as you go around. As a challenge, choose more than one pattern and place a different pattern in each space between the increase rows.

You may also choose to play with color during the knitting. Again, look at some resources or come up with your own patterns and choose something that will fit into the stitch count with no stitches left over.

If you like, choose no patterns at all and knit calmly along in stocking st. until the very end. You will have a lovely piece when you finish with concentric circles of yo's that will make it look lacy and beautiful. If you don't like the look of yo's, you can double your stitches by (m1, k1) or by (kfb, k1). However you choose to do it, just remember to double your sts. and then double the rounds beginning on the very next round.

For my piece I chose a raspberry alpaca in sport weight. I tried a lace weight, but it was much too flimsy for me, as I'm a little heavy handed. Best to know your limitations, I think. I'm using size 6 needles and a 12 inch circular. I'll have to move up to a 16 inch circular as the thing grows, but I don't think I'll need more than that. You may want to use a longer circular so you can see your pattern more clearly as it grows. I'm estimating that I'll use between 1000 and 1250 yards of yarn so I have five 250 yd. balls of the same dye lot.

After I had 36 sts., 9 on each dp, I started a variation of a simple razor shell lace pattern. I adjusted the pattern to fit one repeat on each needle. [ k3, yo, slip 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k3] This gives 6 sts. of plain stocking stitch between the yo's, which is not ideal, but it worked for me. It's a 2 round repeat, with the second round being plain knit. I continued the same pattern after the next increase round and the transfer to the circular needle. I adjusted the placement of the pattern to line up with the previous yo's. You don't have to do that. You can just begin knitting the pattern as you did before the increase round, but know that the yo's will be offset, rather than in a neat column.

After the increase to 144 sts., I started the Old Shale pattern. Since it's an 18 st. and 4 round repeat, it fit in perfectly. Keep in mind that if a pattern doesn't fit you can adjust it to fit or increase one or two sts. in each pattern repeat to accommodate it and no one's the wiser. This shawl pattern is very forgiving and blocking works absolute wonders in the end.

So here I am, at the end of my 24 rounds and right at the point of increasing to 288 stitches. And here it is again after the increase to 576 stitches and things are moving along really well.

After the final rounds, we'll be putting on a sideways edge so that we don't have to cast off all of those stitches. I'll wait to post about that as we get to that point. So get busy on that circular shawl and we'll compare notes soon. You have some sticky bits to get through and then the knitting just sails along.

As a side note, Bethy is working on her next doll. She chose Jean Greenhowe's most famous doll, Sam Scarecrow, to go with her baby scarecrow. I'm also working on writing down my pattern for the amigurumi alpaca. There've been lots of requests for that.

I've just acquired a new book featuring toy designer Alan Dart. I stumbled across the one and only copy at the local Borders store by accident. I'd never heard of him before, but his knitted toys are to die for. It's such a great book that I searched the internet for another to give as a gift, and it's quite hard to get a copy of. Hopefully, we'll be turning out some of his designs soon.

Finally, this is my latest teddy bear. He's kind of a "bear in the buff" for now, as I've not gotten around knitting him, or her, some clothes. Good thing it's summer. We've been planning a teddy bear knit along and I think we'll do one of these little guys.


















Finally, more cupcakes are appearing almost daily. Abigail made these little gems in honor of her sister's return from a week at camp. I think she missed her just a little bit...

Just a summer's day

The weather is hotter today. It's been such a cool spring that it's nice to have the sun pound us now and then. It was hot enough that we ended our work early and came in to enjoy the cool of the house. My oldest daughter Bethy finished her little scarecrow baby from one of Jean Greenhowe's books. Bethy isn't all that happy with the results but I think he's very cute for her first try at this kind of pattern. On to greater challenges and the bigger dolls for her.












Younger daughter, Abigail, tried her hand at decorating cupcakes--also her first try at the tender age of 11. We found a website all about baking and decorating cupcakes. They have a monthly challenge and the first one is making flower cupcakes. Here's her entry. I think they turned out really good, although the cake is just from a mix. I'm sure she'll get better at the baking part, but for now, she's very excited about the decorating.















As usual, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in around 3:30.












During the storm and through the rain and hail, the sun shone brightly through the clouds and the rainbow seemed to end right at our house. We searched and searched for the pot of gold, but with no luck. Alas, all we got was a picture and a cool and windless summer evening. Good trade if you ask me.

Sheared, shaved, shorn

Well, we've reached the other side of the shearing mountain. I now have a barn full of alpaca fiber in clear plastic trash bags, forming yet another mountain for me to scale.

We shear our animals using ropes and pulleys that stretch the animal out on the floor.



This is how the shearers from New Zealand do it and they're the absolute best. Because alpacas' instincts tell them that their heads, bellies and legs should never be touched lest they become a quick meal for a predator, this method of shearing incapacitates them so we can get the job done in 20 minutes or less. It's also much safer for the animal. Sheep shears can cut the skin wide open in a split second and a jumpy and nervous animal like an alpaca is especially at risk for this. I've heard of people shearing their animals standing up, but I can't imagine getting a safe, thorough and clean cut with the animal fussing and jumping around. It's also difficult to get all of the fiber off of the animal in the belly area, back end and the arm pits when the animal is standing. Not removing that fiber is an invitation for skin parasites and an opportunity to overlook areas that may harbor infection or wounds from the previous year.

Contrary to the concerns of those who believe that this method of shearing is cruel, I believe it is the most humane, the safest, the most efficient, and best option in terms of the long term health and comfort of the animal. The ropes allow me to put my hands and my eyes on every part of the animal, which gives me a chance to discover any previously unseen injuries or conditions that have developed. I think this is important for the overall health of the animal. 20-30 minutes stretched out on the ropes is much better than living 24/7 with the discomfort and long term effects of a chronic infection or infestation.

OK, enough of the preaching. This is our set up and here is an animal on the floor ready to shear. Most of the animals are not stretched tightly unless they struggle and fight. Pregnant females are not stretched fully and are not put on their bellies for any long than it takes to turn them over.

We take the blanket off first.


If we can get it in one piece, so much the better, but if an animal is having a hard time of it or if the female is within 30 days of delivery, we'll do one side at a time. The blanket is the main section of fleece, from the shoulder to the hip, possible including the neck if the fiber is of high quality. This is the prime fiber and the most valuable.



After the blanket, I shear the belly, the back leg and the neck and head--in that order. The animal is then raised upright and I shear the back end, the tail and the other side of the neck and head.



The animal is turned over to the opposite side and the last of the belly, the back leg, the front leg and the chest area are finished. The animal is completely sheared in an average of 20 minutes. We take the opportunity to trim toe nails, give vaccinations, vitamin injections and wormer paste. At the end of 30 minutes, the animal is back in the pen with the herd wondering what just happened.



I'd love to say I'm as good as the NZ guys, but that will never happen. With a full crew, those guys can shear an alpaca in 10 minutes and they can do 50-60 animals in one day. Sheesh! I'm not that fast, that tough, that young, or that focused. I do 10-12 on a good day, and I never have a full crew--just me and my two girls. I'm always afraid I'll get too tired and cut the animals by accident just because I wasn't on top of my game. Also, my shearing helpers are my two young girls who don't need to be wearing their backs out by trying to be heroic.

So that part of the year is over. We sheared our own animals and sheared for several other farms. I don't know how many we did altogether, but I'm glad it's done. We'll shear goats again in the fall and we'll be sorting, cleaning, and combing fiber for the rest of the summer. After that, the knitting starts again--hurrah!!

Gearing up for Shearing

It's time. It's time to strip those animals of their worldly coverings and harvest their wool. It's time for all fiber producing animals to pay up for a year's board and care. Yes, it's time to shear.

However, the spring has been slow in coming and the temperature's still only hovering around 50F today with threats of freezing rain in the evenings. So, we've had lots of time to piddle around and "get ready". We've already sheared our goats, thankfully, because they needed it so badly. They were shivering in their little shelters immediately after the denuding, so we opened up the west side of the chicken house for them to huddle into. It's helped them a lot and when the pasture gate is open, they hardly complain at all while they barge out toward the greens. As soon as the rain starts to fall, though, they all run, lickety split, to the shelters again as if they'll melt in the rain.




















We're sharpening our own blades this year. We purchased the sharpening stone in partnership with another alpaca farm, trading a portion of an animal for our part of the purchase price. Last year, I spent over $300 getting my blades sharpened throughout the shearing season. We figure that this will pay for itself within 2 seasons even if we don't take in any outside sharpening work.

So here it is, our nifty DIY blade sharpener. Like most things, there's a trick to it and being the visual learner that I am, I had to have our partnering farmer come over and show me how to do it right. I had sharpened several sets the week before to do some shearing out near the Nebraska line and the blades that I sharpened wouldn't cut. As it turns out, they were sharpened just fine, but didn't get completely demagnetized. Go figure. It's a good thing I had two sets of brand new blades with me or I'd have lost the job altogether.

This is how it works. You charge the stone with oil and grit, not too much of each or you'll pretty much make mud. Hold the blade with the magnet so that you don't touch the stone as it turns clockwise. Press the blade to the stone and repeatedly move the blade from center to outside edge in a straight line. There should be an even shower of sparks and you should be able to see the worn parts clear away little by little. It takes just a few seconds to sharpen a blade, but it takes a keen eye to make sure it's done correctly. Blades are used in sets--a comb and a cutter. Both are sharpened exactly the same way, but the combs take a little longer and little more attention because they're larger. This is a group of 10 combs waiting to be sharpened. You can see the magnet in the next picture and the word "demagnetizer" is a strong clue to the last one.








After sharpening, you must pass them over a demagnetizer. I had done this previously, but I didn't know that if you turn off the demagnetizer while the blade is still on it, it will re-magnetize the blade. So...I pass the blades over the demagnetizer, take them at least three feet away and then I can turn off the demagnetizer. After that, you wash the blades in a degreaser solution, blow dry with an air compressor and then oil them so they're ready for use. I did my 16 sets of sheep blades and 6 sets of goat blades in under an hour, from beginning to end.

The girls and I have a shearing job this Saturday for 4 alpacas and 9 angora goats. We'll start shearing our alpacas as soon as the weather calms and the nights are slightly warmer. I'll be moaning about my sore back and knees by then, just so you know. It's better to know what to expect, I think.





See you on the other side...

A Mother's Day Tribute

Well, we're back!! After what seems like ages, we're finally catching up on the spring work (more on that later) and have time for sharing once again. So how are all of you? I've missed reading blogs and staying in the loop of everyone's lives and interests. I hope this finds everyone healthy, happy and eager to meet tomorrow.

Today is Mother's Day and I want to share my mother with you. She passed away on November 22, 2006 after a 5 year battle with ovarian cancer.

Phyllis Hoecher was born to dry land farmers in northern Colorado in 1933. She was the youngest of 6 children and a product of the Great Depression, which molded her character and outlook for the rest of her life. When we were growing up, she told us such stories of hard times and making the best of what they had. My grandpa was an Austrian immigrant who came to America at the age of 9. After marrying my grandma, he lost his first farm for $17 tax money and his second farm for $49 tax. To feed his children, he operated a still during Prohibition, making and selling moonshine on a small farm just one mile across the section from where we live now. When the revenuers came to raid his place, he buried the still and forgot where he put it. It's buried somewhere on that farm yet today.

My grandpa walked 8 miles every night to the nearby settlement of Cornish to play poker to bring in money during the Depression. He played at the saloon--yes the saloon--just like in the cowboy movies, although it wasn't glamorous in the least. He would play poker until the wee hours of the morning, walk the 8 miles home and go to work in the fields during the day. The family was lucky not to have starved. The stories of eating baking powder biscuits with small bits of sorghum and boiled turnips for days on end are still fresh in my mind.

She attended schools right near where we live now and met and married my father in this area as well. The Depression was probably the single most influential era in my mother's life. The scarcity of money, food, clothing, housing, jobs, and everything else necessary for daily living took its toll. She emerged, as so many did, wary of government and bankers, distrusting of everyone, including some of her own family, and tight fisted with her money. Her father told her, "Don't you EVER trust ANYONE," and she pretty much never did. She never threw anything away, but saved it all because "everything has a use and you'll be sorry if you don't have it later." This is a picture of the students in Mama's one room school on the Colorado prairie near Pierce, Colorado in 1939. She's in the front row on the right end.

After marrying my father, they farmed various farms as tenants and then finally bought the home place, right here, in 1964. It was a miracle for them to get it, with no money down and small annual payments. They bought it for $22,500.00, less than an average new car costs today. I've lived here my whole life and hope I never leave. My mother hoped the same, and God was merciful to her in that she was able to live here until she went on to heaven. This is my mom and dad's wedding picture with my grandparents, Gustav and Mildred Hoecher.

My mother was a registered nurse for 50 years. She worked at the local hospital at night and farmed with Papa during the day. They struggled. They had four girls within the first 7 years of marriage, dealt with health problems, fought to make the farm payment every year, faced weather and falling prices, and wrangled with marital issues. Throughout every challenge, Mama always reminded us that she was blessed because she always had more than she ever had as a child. I believed her--most of the time. She always told us that being happy is a choice you make, not an experience that happens. I believed her. This is one of my favorite pictures of all of us girls. I'm the one in the front with the fat belly. My sister Kathleen, of A Bag of Olives, is holding our baby sister.

Mama was a strong willed woman with a bigger than life personality. Standing only 5'4" at her peak, she wielded great influence. She was opinionated and passionate about the things that were important to her--her family, her land and home, her nursing career, her community. I remember her standing toe to toe more than once with the ditch rider arguing about why he wouldn't give us our full measure of water for irrigation. I remember her getting in a doctor's face about his lack of compassion towards an ailing patient. I remember her fighting for my opportunity to audition for a sports scholarship at the local university, even thought I wasn't on "the list". (I got the scholarship, by the way, to Mama's everlasting satisfaction.) She was competent, confident, intelligent, well researched, fearless and prepared to do battle. How do you stand up to that? Very few could.

I always felt overwhelmed by Mama's personality. She was more than I could ever imagine being. In a way, I was afraid of her--afraid of her disapproval and anger, afraid of falling short of her expectations. I rarely said "No" to her, even as an adult, due to that fear. She had a wicked and sharp tongue when riled and her sarcasm cut deeply. It would hurt her to know that.

But as we both grew older, we became friends. She was no longer the rescuer and the teacher to me. She relaxed and seemed to enjoy my company and thus, I was able to relax. We spent weekends camping with the grandchildren. We took road trips to out of the way places like Mesa Verde for exploring, Red Mountain Pass for the amazing beauty, South Fork for fishing, and Pawnee Buttes for the ever changing prairie. We canned vegetables, butchered chickens, learned to work her very first video camera and communicate by email. We talked about life, love, the future, ideals, hopes and dreams. Mama revealed more of herself to me during that period than I ever thought possible. She didn't try to make a point. She just seemed to want to share herself with someone that she finally felt she could trust. I was glad to be the keeper of her secrets.

No one was more shocked than I was when she came home from the doctor crying. The woman who had always been physically, emotionally and mentally strong was broken. The doctor didn't make a diagnosis, but she knew she had cancer. She knew the signs and symptoms and read it all. She fought for 5 long years and during that time, my girls grew from primary schoolers into young women and my boys into adults. Despite all my rantings about chemotherapy and the incompetence of doctors, they gave us 5 precious years that we wouldn't have had otherwise.

Mama passed away the day before Thanksgiving and we thanked God for her life and her passing. It was a relief and a release to let her go, even though I miss her terribly. She is now walking the streets of glory with her Savior and reaping the rewards of a life well lived.

Thanks for letting me share her with you. There are loads of details that I could include, but those will come up in due time as life continues on.










Mama and her brother in 1945.


















Mama and her family in 1945.












Papa and Mama with my Abby in 2000.