Snowshoe Farm Alpacas

It’s another beautiful day in the Kingdom!  Cold nights and warm sunny days are perfect for sugaring, skiing and drying up muddy roads.   The ‘pacas are happily eating hay out in the sun and we are starting to eliminate hay bedding and, hopefully, getting their fleeces cleaned up a bit before shows and shearing.

Weaning, in some ways, is one of the more difficult things we have to do here on the farm. Generally, we wean crias that are at least 6 months old and at a good weight for their age.  We time weaning for late winter – when the temps are not quite as cold as they are in Dec and Jan.  The first group of crias was weaned last weekend. As usual, the mothers are fine with this.  And most of the crias seem to be fine, too.  All except Praline, the biggest (over 100 lbs!). She’s very attached to her mother and is whining a lot. Her mother, Natalie, is not rebred and that seems to be making it more difficult for her, too, to let go. Hopefully, they’ll both settle down in a few more days.

Desdemona and friends

I’m back from a great fiber weekend in Freeport, ME at Spa, Spin & Knit. Depsite heavy, wet snow, high winds, power outages and such, many fiber enthusiasts made the trek.  We arrived in Freeport at noon on Friday to almost 50 degrees and sunny – that was quite a change from the weather driving through the White Mts!

It was a good weekend for selling lots of yarn and fiber, talking to old friends and customers and meeting new ones! Now it’s back to work – unpacking first, then taking inventory to see where I have to restock.  I have plenty of yarn on hand to wind, wash and dye more skeins.  And lots more fiber in the barn that needs to be skirted before we start to shear again next month.

Well, it is still only February, despite the mild, dry weather we’ve had over the last few weeks.  This is the one week that I have to travel – to Freeport for Spa – and snow is forecast for the rest of the week!  It’s gonna be a long ride through the mountains.

I’ve been busy winding skeins, dyeing yarn, printing patterns, etc and will be packing up and heading out Thurs. For those of you not familiar with Spa, it’s a “free-form” weekend of spinning, knitting, eating, drinking, shopping…..well, whatever you want to do in Freeport.  There’s a big vendor room and I’ll be there selling alpaca yarn all weekend. Hope to see some of you there!

Our next fiber gathering will be Feb 26-28 at Spa, Knit & Spin in Freeport, ME.  I’m busy winding skeins and washing sock yarn and hope to have time to do a bit more dyeing. I’ve ordered the needles that have sold out and put in a large order for Greener Shades dyes yesterday. Now I just need to have the weather cooperate for the drive to Maine.

The forecast here is for snow today, but we have clear blue skies at the moment, so I’m not convinced. It’s been a dry winter and, at this point, I’m ready for spring!

Had a great time this weekend at Vermont Knit Camp’s winter event: Knitting within Walls.  Good food, nice weather for snowshoeing and lots of new fiber friends. And I got a lot of knitting done.

Seyon Lodge was a great place. The hosts were welcoming, the rooms clean and comfortable and the food was fabulous! If you ever want to quiet, inexpensive Vermont getaway, this is the place.  They also have a nice big space for meetings, conferences and other function downstairs. The bonus for me is that Seyon Lodge State Park is only about 20 minutes from home!

I’m off this afternoon to “Knitting within Walls”, the winter version of Vermont Knit Camp. It’s being held at Seyon Lodge in nearby Groton State Forest, so it’s just down the road a bit.  I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend of knitting, eating and visiting with fellow knitters/fiber enthusiasts.

I’ll be taking two knitting projects with me: my Shingle Creek Socks, I’m about a quarter the way through the second sock, and a special alpaca hat that’s a Valentine’s Day gift. I’ll bring my spinning wheel and snowshoes and, of course, won’t have nearly as much time to do all those things as I think I will!

There’s nothing more depressing in mid-winter than a warm rain.  The 40+ degree weather and heavy rain yesterday took us down to bare ground in all our paths and drives, but the unplowed ground is still white. Temps are below freezing this morning, so our fields are all ice.  No snowshoeing with the dogs until we get a good snowfall.

Ron headed out to Barre to the Vermont Farm Show this morning.  He took a couple of male alpacas, including our white male color champion, Snowshoe Aristides.  They’ll be meeting and greeting people at the Vermont Llama & Alpaca Assoc display all day. Stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!

Join us at the Vermont Farm Show next Tues.  Ron will be there all day at the Vermont Llama & Alpaca Assoc display with a couple of our alpacas. The show is held at the Barre Auditorium. Jan 26-28.

Our Beginner Handspinning class started yesterday.  I, for one, had a great time!  All the participants are current or future alpaca owners, so we’ll spend a lot of time playing with and talking about alpaca fiber. Handspinning can be a little frustrating at first, but this group did amazingly well – even those who didn’t think they did.  We’ll contiue to meet on Sunday afternoons for the next couple months, weather permitting.