Instruction Reading & Checking Out the Alpacas

I learned a lesson, or was reminded of a lesson, yesterday. I was all happy to be finished knitting the drape front sweater, and thinking about blocking it. But I laid it out, and twisted the front, and thought to myself, my, how awkward this is. Then I looked at the pattern again. Well, would you look at that? The body width of the back is 19", while the body width of the FRONT is 28". No wonder I'd ended up with almost two full skeins of the yarn left over! What a doofus I am! The pattern is so simple; I just knit the front to match the back and didn't actually read the instructions. Yes, those very instructions would have made it clear that I needed to keep a-going on that endless stockinette section until it was much longer!

I have undone the second sleeve and am back to knitting plain ole stockinette for another long bit.

Lesson learned: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

And Now for Fun

I enjoyed some of that stockinette knitting in the car today, as my knitting friend and I, along with her two young daughters, made the trek out to Old Oaks Ranch to see how the alpacas are doing, and what kind of stuff they have in stock. If you've been reading this blog a really long time, you might recall that I went there with Lee in 2009. Three years later they still have most of the same alpacas. There have been changes there, but everyone is still very friendly, and we had some good conversations.  We took the paid tour, just the four of us. We got to watch two of the boys get shorn. Here is one in progress.

Sorry about the fence, but you can see all the people holding down an alpaca while a very strong woman shears him.

And here is one fellow just after being shorn and spitting in a guy's face. He seems quite pleased with himself.

Look at me! I spit in the face of the guy on the far right!

The girls had a complete blast. They got to pet and feed the females, who had all been shorn earlier in the morning. The alpacas were nervous, but settled down pretty well. So nice to see some of the same ladies as last time!

Getting ready to feed the Big Mama, Mariposa. The little boy is the grandson of the owners, and he was really "helpful" in the tour. The lady is the daughter-in-law of the owners. The is demonstrating proper alpaca handling technique.

I do love looking at and petting alpacas. However, the folks at Old Oaks did remind me that they would prefer to be by themselves, and are only happy in groups of three or more. That can run one up into big bucks!

Luckily, llamas are a different story. Their llama had also just been shorn, and I found him especially fetching, since he was spotted in the same way as my donkey, Oscar, America's Cutest Donkey. They also had a fine donkey, and the girls got to feed her carrots, vaguely successfully.

I admit these are also cute animals.

The donkey and llama serve as guard animals and keep coyotes away from the alpacas and chickens. They also have a big guard dog, who was very friendly (unlike the previous guard dog they had). He is also a Great Pyrenees, so huge and fluffy! The girls want a pet dog, so they began to lobby for one of those, but it will not be happening.

The last stop was at the hen house. I wish I had taken photos of it. They really did a cute job on it, and it was quite the palace, for a chicken abode. Each child got one egg, so that is good (the little boy family member broke his--he was quite enthusiastic).

After the tour, the folks in the family patiently went through a fiber demo with the girls, who really seemed to enjoy it. That gave me time to look at the yarn and other merchandise. I ended up getting this Auracania Huasco yarn, a fingering weight merino. I hope I can make a second Hitchhiker shawl from this. Of course, that would also require me making the first one.  I hope to start one today. And if the shawl only takes one skein, I will make socks.

Araucania Huasco

The lady at Old Oaks send us off to the Leaning Pear restaurant in Wimberley, which was a great place to eat, featuring locally sourced ingredients and interesting flavors. We even managed to have adult conversation during the meal. All in all, it was a fun day, and now I can do more stockinette knitting.

Hope your Easter, Passover or other significant holiday went or goes well! Happiest of greetings from this UU, who will attend the flower communion tomorrow.

One Charybdis Down, and Visiting the Alpacas

While I haven't had all that much time to knit the past few days, some progress has been made on all of my projects, including finishing the first of the Charybdis pair, shown here in its swirly beauty. I think the Auracania yarn in very weird colors really goes well with this swirly pattern, and I've enjoyed making this first one--it just takes a while when I am concentrating on other things. This sock was done toe-up, and has a short-row heel, which looks just fine, for a short-row heel. It's always nice to do something different every so often.

The one thing that surprised me about these socks is that perhaps I went too tight on the ribbing. I decided to go off on my own (perhaps dangerous) and do a K1P1 twisted ribbing, just to add a neat edge. But, when I bound off with my usual method, I could not get the sock over my heel! It was really, really tight! Argh. so, I had to take it all apart and put a different edging on. I guess the picot edge looks festive enough to make it worthwhile. Now I just hope I can duplicate the sock. Well, actually, the second sock's swirls will go the other way, which is quite sophisticated!

One reason I haven't been doing too much knitting this week is that Lee and I went out to the Old Oaks Ranch, which is near Wimberly, which was having its open house yesterday. I am glad I finally got a chance to go out there, though it meant I missed the yarn shop. Sometimes you just have to do a family activity on a weekend. It's a great place to visit if you ever have the time. They have lots of lovely alpacas, plus a sculpture garden and a shop where they sell yarn, looms and spinning supplies. And they have lots and lots of classes. I'd love to find the time to go to one of them some time!

We missed the demo of alpaca shearing, but did see a freshly shorn alpaca looking much thinner than her companions! I bought a pound of alpaca yarn, in what appears to be worsted weight. It has three plies, one natural, one fawn, and one chocolate. Texas Fiber Mill, the fairly new company that turns fleece into yarn, does the yarn for Old Oaks Ranch, and it is very nice. So cool it was all done in Texas. I think the yarn will make a wonderful cardigan, and I have some solid chocolate yarn that can be used for trim, etc., if I need more. The best part is that I also got pictures of each of the animals whose fleece went into the yarn. I know I am a nut for knowing who gave the fiber, but I think it's really a nice connection.



Tida gave the natural color. She is shown here rolling in the dust--so happy!


Dr. D. gave the fawn yarn. He was off in the boys' pasture, away from the ladies.


SeaBelle is particuarly lovely and gave the chocolate yarn. She's the one on the left in the photo. They're all beautiful animals, but these are the beauties who provided my yarn's ingredients.


We also saw a fun demonstration of taking raw alpaca fiber and turning it into a felted hat. Suzanne, one of the partners at the ranch, did the demo. It really looked fun!

As for the other projects, I got past halfway on Flit 'n Float, even after I repeated the pieces of the center chart twice. It's going to be just the right length for me, and I can't wait to block it (currently it curls like a piece of stockinette tends to do).

And I did get a bit done on Bridget. I am concentrating on her for the rest of my knitting day today, though, um, I must admit most of my evening will be totally concentrated on a Bruce Springsteen Concert. Fun for me!!!