Celtic Cable

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Off with the Merino, on with the Alpaca!



     Merino-Silk done, and suitable sunny-day picture accomplished. I love orange marigolds as much as I love purple clematis.


     If I'd had a ripe cantaloupe, I would have taken a picture of the yarn with that.









     Isn't it gorgeous? I think I'm going to knit it into a cowl for a co-worker who has the perfect skin tone for this bright yarn. It will probably only use about half of it.

Now, on to the alpaca!



    
     This is Plum Perfect Suri Alpaca Wonder Roving, and Suri Alpaca Sugar Breeze Brown blended with Merino Mojave, from Wonder Why Alpaca Farm. And if you're wondering why it's called that, don't ask me -- I don't know! This is the roving that made me break my lengthy no-new-fiber moratorium.




     This is how the chocolatey-raspberry one looks on the spindle (er, Sam Adams bottle shown for scale). I'm trying to spin it with a lot of air, and thicker than I normally spin, to keep the colors from blending too tightly. I really want the yarn to show both the chocolate and raspberry colors. Gosh, I sure am hungry all the sudden.

     And THIS is the cat that discovered if he lays right against the foot pedal while I'm spinning, he gets his back scratched.

    Oh, and Andrea at Wonder Why tells me that unfortunately, her alpaca are not naturally plum colored. I wonder how long it takes to dye a full-grown alpaca?

4 comments:

  1. Your merino silk looks just like canteloupe, what a gorgeous color. The alpaca looks very fiberous, is that just my imagination?

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  2. Fibrous how? I mean, aside from consisting entirely of fiber... do you mean the spindle picture? It is a bit hairy. After it's washed it will look fuzzy, rather than hairy, I think.

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  3. I just posted your blog on my Facebook Page. Hopefully you will get some new followers.

    http://www.facebook.com/WonderWhyAlpacaFarm

    To answer your question regarding the name of the roving. I try to use the Alpaca's name in each title. Sugar Breeze Brown comes from my beautiful Suri, Sugar Breeze. I added the mojave into the name because that rusty color in the blend is merino dyed "mojave"

    The plum perfect was from an Suri from a friend's farm that I bought. I hope that helps with the name question.

    As for the question, "How long would it take to dye an whole Alpaca?" Well, I only know from the fleece once it's off the Alpaca :-) I do have a White Huacaya that I've always wanted to dye her topknot hot pink because it looks like a mohawk. I decided against it because selling her offspring might prove harder but I think Sprite would be rocker that way.

    I hope you enjoy your Alpaca Roving. I have more amazing colors I will post on my site, if I don't sell out at Fiber Fest, in a few weeks. One color sold out this weekend. Yikes! Luckily I save 8oz for my own use.

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  4. You will LOVE Wonder Roving! It's addicting! And Andrea is so nice (met her IRL!) and she ships very quickly. Incase you need an Alpaca fix, LOL!

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