I am starting to see bits and pieces people have made with the processed yarn. So far, my niece very kindly made me a jumper from Cusco/Lucha and Coca, plus a top for herself. My mother-in-law made some bed socks from Jester – although this was her first attempt at socks and has sworn never again, so is now knitting a sleeveless jumper from Cusco/Lucha. Finally, we have a baby blanket from Imogen underway by a friend. It’s lovely to see all the bits and pieces, I have even started a weaving course in the hope that I can use the floof another way. I must admit I didn’t appreciate quite how complicated weaving was, and I was also advised to begin with a basic wool as alpaca yarn is slightly more complicated. I am now 3 weeks along and I have just woven my first rows, it really did take three 2½ hour lessons just to choose wool, create a pattern, calculate how much is required & basically prep the loom, I didn’t realise there would be so much maths involved.
There also seems to be many people out there that are happy to buy the raw fleece, so far 3 of my alpaca fleeces have been requested post shearing. It really is lovely to see that so many people are reconnecting with traditional crafts and it’s the younger generations as much as the older wanting to learn and create beautiful items from natural products. No plastics involved and hand made using manpower only – just a small contribution to the attempt to stop destroying the planet. I do agree that it takes longer than just going out to buy something readymade, and not everyone has the time to sit and spin or weave or knit, but I think it’s worth it as each piece will be unique so I will continue (slowly) with my very small contribution.
I am also hoping to mate some of the girls later this month so Tim, from Inca Alpacas, advised it was best to have them sheared beforehand for 2 reasons. Firstly, with so much floof the boys struggle to get close and secondly you don’t want to shear a just pregnant female as it does cause a certain amount of anxiety and they can then reabsorb the foetus if they get stressed. Unfortunately, as I am such a small herd I tend to get left to the end of the season, which is fair enough, so I was struggling to find a shearer to come this early & do just 3. It transpires it is who you know, I mentioned this to Tim and within a few days he had managed to book a shearer to come, but then when you run one of the largest breeding herds in the South of England you probably will have a bit of sway. I was just amazed that my small herd wasn’t below his notice as this is his full-time job, he buys and sells alpacas all over the world but in fact was very happy to help. Anyway, the boys are now on their way, so fingers crossed.
Unfortunately, since I have had them sheared, the temperature has dropped and we have rain too (even though I agree we needed some), this morning at breakfast I noticed the sheared girls were all shivering – poor things. I gave them extra breakfast pellets, a big full bag of hay in the field shelter which I topped up with straw to make a lovely warm and dry bed and they seem to be appreciating it as I haven’t seen the 3 bald ones outside all day – I might have to go & refill their hay net.
There have also been a few peculiarities in behaviour too which led on from putting Inti with the boys. I had some problems with Lucha still trying to feed from her mum, Imogen, so I decided to put Lucha & Polly in the small central paddock and leave Reeya, Coca & Imogen in the near paddock. This led to very upset alpacas, Imogen calling for Lucha, Reeya calling for Polly and Inti calling for Reeya – it was all very mournful. So, I put Reeya into the middle paddock with Polly & Lucha (and close to Inti) and all of a sudden peace descended. Imogen was the most interesting, as a general rule she is grumpy and bossy & will not share a food bowl, however now with just her & Coca things seem to work. Imogen will follow Coca around and is happy to share a bowl of food. Since being sheared I have reintroduced all the girls & have noticed that Coca & Imogen are still best buddies and Lucha is no longer trying to suckle – it’s all very odd.
I have also been having fun and games with my badger wire that runs the perimeter. The energiser is the box that connect the power to the wire and when it is working has a lovely green light and ticks happily to itself, unfortunately it had lost its tick and there was no power running through the wire which meant free access to the paddock for any foraging badger. As the light was still green I assumed there was an issue with the wire, which was slightly corroded in places, so I spent 2 days crawling through stinging nettles & brambles whilst smacking my head into overhanging branches to try & replace the wire only to discover the wire wasn’t the problem. So, then I changed all connecters, still no joy and ended up driving to Axminster to buy a new energiser only to be told that as it was under 5 years old it was still in warranty and they will send it off for repair & lend me an alternative. I was really getting the hang of the Axminster road by the end of the day after I then drove home, collected my faulty energiser & then back to Axminster to drop off & collect loan one, then home again. All worth it as we now have a merry little ticking noise and power through the line. On the upside, it does mean I now know the wire won’t need replacing for a few years, all the weeds are currently under control and the alpaca really enjoyed munching on all the leaves of the branches I pruned.
Leave a Reply