Monday, January 17, 2011

Have Wheel, Will Travel

In anticipation of alpaca shearing season, I asked for a spinning wheel for Christmas. Several family members gave me generous sums of money. The day after I returned home, I headed out to Stitches 'n Scones and purchased a recommended model: the Ashford "Traveler," which features a double treadle. That means you can use both feet to make the wheel spin, thus decreasing the one-legged fatigue that a single treadle produces.

Who would have guessed that a spinning wheel arrives in a box?


Opening the box with awe at the packaging... and some trepidation:


Look at all those parts! There are 31 steps in the directions - GULP!


Midway, several parts are together, but not connected yet:


Finished, after about 4 hours of careful work! It could have been put together faster, but I re-read each instruction many times so I wouldn't have to re-do any steps... and I didn't want to scratch that beautiful Beechwood!


And here is the "traveling" part! This is how I can transport the wheel easily to spinning lessons and group meetings. I had a great lesson with Christina Wall last Saturday. I have gushed about her knitting designs in previous posts, and she is a wonderful spinning teacher as well. (Classiccableknits.com)


I can't wait to spin on my front porch all of next summer...

Welcome, New Woolies!


(Bella, left - 'Greta, right)

Time flies when you are having fun! We welcomed our third alpaca, Bella Oak, to the farm two weekends ago. Bella came with her friend Sassafrass (or Sassy, for short), who will keep Moonstar company.

(Sassafrass)

Moonstar and Sassafrass are still young and growing which means they eat higher protein hay. These animals don't like to be alone, even if they can see each other in the next pen. So the breeders allowed us to borrow Sassafrass.

(Moonstar, left - Sassy, right)

Unfortunately, there was some bad news: Bella is no longer pregnant. Her cria was reabsorbed some time in December. The breeders did bring the ultrasound machine so we could see 'Greta's cria developing nicely. If things progress as planned, the new cria will be born mid-August.


After a few days of getting used to each other and the new environment, the alpacas and the dog have settled in to their new routine.

(Tenny)

The routine consists mostly of eating hay all day!

CHOMP!