A Very Wet 2012 Memorial Day

I am sitting here watching Clint Easwood casually shoot and stab enemy soldiers in "Where Eagles Dare" as I type this.  The book for this movie was written by a favorite author of mine, Alistair MacLean.  I'm pretty sure I've read all of his books and I think even a few that were ghosted after his death.  Richard Burton never seemed the right lead for this movie, but at least they followed the book - unlike "Guns of Navarone" and especially "Force 10 From Navarone".  The former was a pretty good movie, the latter - ugh.

Our three new Akbash/Pyr livestock guardian dogs are sort of working out.  Rosie and Lea still chase the alpacas so we've blocked those pastures so they can't get inside - which kind of defeats the purpose of having LGDs.  But at least we can leave them out of their stall for most of the day now.  We placed our foster dog, Bucky, in a really nice home and when they're ready they'll probably take Rosie also.  She's the more shy/timid of the three, but she's also the main instigator for alpaca chasing.  Once she's placed if Lea continues the behaviour we'll be placing her as well and then getting an LGD pup to keep Bob company.  All three of them would make good house dogs, just not at our house (-:

Chloe with an exhausted Gary snuggled up to her

Chloe, our mini-Oberhasli, is now giving us close to three quarts of milk a day (four quarts makes a gallon).  That's close to what a full sized goat produces.  We'll probably be breeding her in September - 1) to give her a break from milking and 2) to make sure her milk stays nutritious (and has what it needs for cheese making).  Whether it's a doeling or a buck/wether we'll definitely be selling them - two goats are enough at this point.

I've spent the morning trying to update our new website on openherd.com - adding pictures for the farm store, eventually I'll add prices. I've been trying to get the whole thing published, but for some reason it's just not cooperating. We'll see what their support has to say about what I'm doing wrong and hopefully we'll get it straightened out. Eventually we'll probably shut down heartofdreamsalpacas.biz, but if I do it right it should be a seamless transition. (It's now less than an hour after I sent my request for help and I got an email response indicating that the issue has been fixed - how cool is that?  Check out http://heartofdreamsalpacas.openherd.com )

The main reason behind updating the website is 2012 is the year we start working on downsizing the herd.  We have 29 alpacas at last count and in two years we lose one of our farm hands when he graduates high school.  Two years after that we lose our last farm hand when he graduates.  Which means that the daily farm chores will fall to Tim and myself and we ain't getting any younger )-:  Plus it will make our CPA happier (-:  So keep an eye on the website (openherd.com) for deals and updates!

Whimsy - laminate alpaca blanket 6'x4'

Now I think I've procrastinated enough and I need to start work on two pairs of slippers that were requested Saturday by the cutest couple I've seen in a long time who stopped by the booth just as the market was shutting down.  She asked for sky blue for hers and dark blue for his.  The gotcha is I've never successfully made slippers before - the one pair I attempted last year were never cut from the form because they looked too stupid.  Sigh.  Plus I just rememberd the third panel of the blanket I started in CA - one panel of dark rose-grey, one panel of light brown and on panel (to be done) with a mix of both colors.  This time it's straight felt, not laminated like my "Whimsy" blanket.

The Weekend Before Christmas

We'll have all of our products in our booth at the Washington Public Market this weekend, http://www.winecellarsofwa.com/.  The only thing missing will be the animals themselves. 

 Buzz at 2 months

Speaking of which this is the month Buzz and Penny are being weaned- oh joy!  Fortunately the moms have been quiet during this process - not constantly calling to their crias.  We've also been lucky that the crias have been fairly quiet.  Buzz will be going to the bachelor herd and Penny will stay with the girls - we generally let the  moms wean the girls, but we move the boys.

Chloe, the goat, is still going strong in the milk department.  I just took a cheese making class and can't wait to make my next batch of cheese.  I've got provolone and Camembert aging in the frig - neither will be ready until January darn it!  We're going to be trying something new so stay tuned.

Heart of Dreams in December

This is a poncho I made using natural brown and black fiber and osnaburg fabric (kinda' like muslin, but a little bit heavier).  The alpaca shapes were cut from prefelts I made from the same fiber I used in

the poncho.  It's come in handy in some drafty venues I've been in since I finished it.  The best part is the fiber itself doesn't appear to shed.  Wearing black pants tends to tattle about any shedding that might happen - so far nothing.

I'm also doing snowmen for the season:

I'm going to track down different styles of camouflage for snow-people in different "sitautions" and there might even be a snow-smurf at some point.

This is a wall hanging I made for my niece and her fiance' for their wedding.  The "P" is in Microsoft's Parchment font and I needle felted it onto a white prefelt background.  The is another laminate like the poncho - one side had the black border with white and hints of turquoise in the middle, then the osnaburg and finally the design itself.

This is the "P" in more detail and after it's been felted a bit.

Ultimately I think I fulled it a bit too much and because the letter had that little bit more fiber it definitely fulled more than the surrounding area.  It may not be a wall hanging anymore, but hopefully it's a good lap rug for the newlyweds.

And here are the fish - (the instructions are from Lori Flood, an amazing felter and teacher):

Latest endeavour - pillows

This is a Tlingit salmon.  I've been carrying the picture this is based on for years wating to be brave enough to attempt it either as a flat piece or in this case as a pillow.  It wasn't until I had finished making the pillow form and starting on the design details that I realized I messed up the tail - I left off the actual tail fin.  So now I get to figure that out in addition to deciding if I'm going to put the designs on the reverse side (I already did the mouth, but nothing else).  I also have to decide if I'm going to extend the mouth a bit.  But it's definitely a start.