A Day at the Farm

I had a lovely day visiting the Jacob's reward farm in Parker, Texas.  I learned to hand spin wool on a high-whorl spindle. 

 This is my first encounter with alpacas.  They were smaller than I had thought they'd be.  The lady who runs the farm, Cindy, said they are kind of like cats.  They seem to know how long your arms are and stay just out of reach.  The second from the left decided to get pretty close to me and I would slowly reach for him but alas, he'd move slightly away.

 This is Gale, she came along later to visit and spin.  She took the hose and cooled off their underside.  Then they promptly went to lay in the mud. 

 This is one of the newer members of the farm.  An "accidental" lamb as it were.  There were two actually.  This little guy was certainly not shy.

 Gale had saved this turtle from the road and had brought it to put in the creek.  Apparently she is known for saving turtles.  She has rescued many from the road and taken them to a safer neighborhood.

 This is a great Pyrenees named Ruth.  She is one of the shepherding dogs on the farm.  I was amazed at how gentle and attentive they are.

I don't really have words for this one.  It makes me smile.













Here is me spinning, lol, it actually went quite well.

I had so much fun and Cindy and Gale were the best hosts you could imagine!!!

Blocking the Swathe

I haven't really spent much time blocking anything.  I blocked a baby hat on a balloon.  That was fun and it turned out nice.  You can't really block acrylic, at least not like natural fibers. Wool on the other hand is amazing when blocked. This is my first large project to block: my Swathe (Rowan Winter Drift) sweater. It was curled up because it is all reverse stockinette.  It didn't seem possible that the pieces could lie flat.  Well, guess what?  They do!!!

Now if I could only get the thing put together right...