Long time no see!

We've been busy with crias, the market and summer fun in general.

As you know, we've had four alpaca boys born on the farm this summer.

I could not help thinking of boy bands when I watched them in the pastures.

When I mentioned this to the farmer, he agreed with me

that we should rethink the names of our males.

So, introducing... 

THE BEATLES!

Harrison, McCartney and Lennon.

And this one is Ringo.



 

 Don't tell anyone, but my favorite is Harrison.

 

On the creative side, I've been experimenting some more with felting.

Here is one side

 

and the other side of vases I worked on.

The light blue with pink will need some embroidery to make the rose stand out a bit more.

 

 

 

And this vase was done on July 18th...when I was remembering that day 33 years ago when the farmer and I got married.

 

By the way! I've now joined the rest of the world and have a page on Facebook under the name of Zenitude Fibre Arts (spelling fibre the canadian way).

Come have a peak and 'Like' and 'Share'.

It would be great to reach 50 'Likes' before the end of the summer!

 

I hope you are enjoying your summer...

Number 4!

Nature knows best.

We've had three cria births so far this summer with one more expected...I secretly hoped it would have been born on Tuesday (my birthday) but it was not to happen.

 

But Jessie did the deed the very next day. So wedneday morning, a lovely little white cria was born as we watched from the deck.

 

 

Now, this little one is a bit of a miracle.

Let me explain.

You see, on Easter morning, last March 31st, we noticed something going on in the pasture and when we went out to investigate, we found a 5 lbs very very premature baby cria on the ground.

He was not alive when we got to him.

We checked our girls to find out which one had given birth and realized it was Jessie.

It's always devastating to loose an animal, especially one that looks perfectly normal.

But we know that this is part of life on a farm and we do our best to accept it as it is.

Still, we wondered what had triggered the premature birth.

Was it stress? Was it an injury? Was it an anomaly?

As the weeks went by, we were amazed that Jessie still looked huge and pregnant.

Till one morning, we saw movement...definite baby movement.

We were ecstatic! but also very confused!

Now, that she's given birth we can conclude that Jessie was pregnant with twins.

Twins are extremely rare in alpacas and very few survive. Most twins do not survive the 335 days of a normal pregnancy to even be born. Delivery of twins can be complicated as well. 

Her body aborted one but kept the other...Quite lucky that she was able to keep this one to full term.

 

And you might have guessed it...this is the fourth male born this year.

2013 is the year of the boys I guess.

 

 

Fast and Furious!

Never a dull moment around here!

But that's how we like things to be, right?

 

Hubby was out of town this weekend helping a friend at his cottage.

I looked forward to some time alone, I always do.

There is something good about doing my own thing.

I don't mind the silence for a few days.

But Mother Nature had something else in mind for me.

 

 Early Sunday afternoon, Cassa Blanca decided it was baby time.

Now, I  might be the farmer's wife but I must admit that hubby is much more hands on with the animals than I am.

Since I was solo I put on my farmer's gear and off to the pastures I went.

 Cassa Blanca is a pro at this and the new cria was standing and nursing within 45 minutes.

 

He's a big 23 lbs male in a gorgeous light fawn colour.

About two hours later, a huge downpour came through. I mean the rain looked like a wall of water falling from the sky. I knew that the cria would not enter the barn so off I went back to the field, picked it up and closely followed by mom, we made our way to the barn. I dried him off and made sure he was not shivering.

All was good and we slept very well that night...at least I did!

 

Hubby came back home on Monday morning and I told him all about the new cria.

We decided that we would go check on him together.

 

Well guess what we saw as soon as we set foot outside!

Ginger is a first time mom. Cria's head is out as well as the two front legs...so all is looking good.

We stay back and let her do her thing.

 

But for some reason, she decided to lay back down and she gave birth this way to a lovely dark fawn cria. And you might have guessed it...it's another male!!!!!!!!!!!

 

He's smaller that the other two...at 15 lbs but he's doing very well.

Here he is still wet shortly after birth.

 

 

And a few hours later, he's all dry, running around and figuring things out.

I just love that chestnut colour!

We have not yet come up with names for these two little guys.

Three births in 6 days!

One to go.

...how about a female this time Mother Nature?

Just to stir things up a little!



First of the season

Cria season has begun!

Alicia had her little one on Wednesday morning. A beautiful little white male.

I'm so amazed that even though he's not even 12 hours old, he can walk and run around.
Mind you, we saw him take a good nose dive too!

Little pink nose, pure white fibre.
Constant humming between mom and baby.

 

As soon as I see white, I think of all the possibilities of dyeing this soft fibre. 

But this year, I'll be keeping some natural coloured yarn/ roving as well. 

Almost forgot to tell you...we call him Lumi. It means ''snow'' in finnish.
 

We have most likely three more girls expecting...so more new babies to come in the next few weeks.

Early morning birth

The window in our bedroom is low enough that we can see out to the pastures when lying in bed. I love looking outside as I wake up. Doesn't matter what season it is, the scenery is always beautiful.  This morning, I got up at about 6am and I could see one white alpaca was out of the barn. She was by herself. 

We realized that it was Alicia and that she was giving birth. About 10 minutes later, a white cria was on the ground.

We felt very lucky to witness this. What a great way to start your day!

We watched from the window as this newborn struggled to get up on his feet.

The herd quickly gathered to congratulate the mom and admire the little one.

Fernando came over to get a closer look and greet his new playmate.

A little white male, 17.4 lbs. 

I love the little pink nose.

He must take after his mom, I find Alicia very pretty.

We have not yet come up with a name for him.

(little dance of joy for more white fleece for me.)

On to a knitting update...

I went to my LYS the other day and had a look around...should have known this would be too tempting. But the damage is not too bad!

When I saw the colour combination of this skein, I knew I had to have it!

I certainly don't need more sock yarn but I just could not resist it.

Fleece Artist from Nova Scotia have the most beautiful colourways! 

Now I can't wait to complete the pair of super plain socks I'm currently working on...almost there.

I'll tell you all about this new short row heel I found on YouTube when I'm done knitting them.

Till then, stay cool. Certain parts of Ontario are being hit by a heat wave.

R & R

My mother was in need of some rest and relaxation.

There is nothing like animals to make you forget your troubles.

She met Fernando. We had just weighed him...he's now over 17 lbs.

And then, she was eager to meet the cria that shares her birthday.

Carmella is not venturing too far from her mom yet.

Some extra pellets to eat always make the alpacas happy.

There was enough to share.

I've added a few more merino tops to my Zenitude shop.

On the knitting front, I've put my socks aside...I don't like how the heel turned out and I'm afraid I'll have to undo it. So it's in the bottom of my project bag till I get the energy to do it.

Hope you had a wonderful Sunday!

Introducing...

Carmella

A beautiful solid brown or black cria born to Cassa Blanca (white mom on the left).

Born on June 8th...my mother's birthday!

Carmella weighs a whooping 20 lbs 3 ounces!

My mother's name is Carmen, so I wanted to name this little one with something similar...so Carmella was the perfect choice.

Hubby will be so surprised when he comes home from his fishing trip!!!

Fernando is quite happy to follow her everywhere...finally someone to play with!

Fernando is  now 2 weeks old. Story of his birth here.

Now that I own a spinning wheel, I've decided to join a team on the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry this year. This coincides with the Tour de France, between June 30th and July 22nd. When they cycle, we spin.
I hope this will help getting my spinning mojo back. I've been ignoring my wheel for a few weeks now.
From hand dyed Romney fleece...

...as I watched Carmella by the window last night, I hand carded rolags...

 Rolags and batts are ready to be spun.

Have a great saturday!

Build it and they will come

Well, maybe that title should be Build it cause they are coming!
I was holding off talking about it on my blog until they were actually here but...I can't wait anymore...here we go!
This past April, we purchased four female alpacas! Yes, that's right, the dream is almost reality now!
We purchased our herd from our friend Norma from Misty Haven alpacas.

Our place is almost ready for them. Hubby has been putting the finishing touch on the 'barn'. I had spoken about it before, here.

But the biggest job for him has been the fencing. Posts are being put in the ground every weekend. More than half are in the ground. He will give it a good push this week to finish this job. (That's Anouk out in the field taking a break from mothering her little one.) A little more sun and less rain would help tremendously!

Then, the fencing will be going up with the help of family and friends.

The winter hay was picked up last week!

And to make things that much more exciting, two of our alpacas gave birth this week.

Cria # 1 is a beautiful dark brown female with a white patch on her muzzle and above each eyebrow. She is a little beauty!

Here is super proud hubby with her

And cria #2 is a white female, super sweet and so dainty. But she's in constant motion! A ball of endless energy! Her poor mom has her hands full!



In a few weeks, they will be transfered to our very own backyard and we will be able to enjoy watching them from our deck! Can't wait!