Setting up Shop

My shop/office/workspace has been evolving for the past 3 years.  It started as a hay barn with a good roof, but not much else.  It's grown into a 24x24 building where I work on my fiber and manage the dog training business. 

2/25/2010

Visitors who come to the farm are often interested in what happens to the fiber after it comes off the alpaca after shearing each year.  I'm able to show them the process from raw fleece to yarn in my workspace.  Right now, we're processing everything on-site:  washing, picking, carding and spinning into yarn.

A couple of weeks ago, a very talented young lady, Jessica Johnston, came to visit to learn more about fiber work.  She's a professional knitter and is going to make some things from the yarn I've spun.

In the shop right now is one of her creations - not made from my yarn, but from organic cotton.  It's a lovely cap-sleeve sweater that would fit size small to medium.   There are more details in the Etsy listing.  I'm so amazed at what talented knitters can do.  I'm lucky to be able to make a scarf without dropping stitches and having things come out lopsided.

 

 

We welcome visitors by appointment to the farm and the shop.  We enjoy having home-schoolers and other small groups of kids and adults to learn about the animals and the fiber process.  We can tailor each tour to your group's interest.  Contact us to arrange a visit. 

 

Check out our website at www.FleeceFurandFeathers.com for more information.

Back to Business

We're back! I feel like we've been on hiatus for the past year or so. Leaving the corporate world 2 years ago was my dream come true. I'd have time to build my dog training business, take care of the farm, get my house in order, and have time to spin my ever-growing supply of alpaca fleece.

The only thing that's truly been accomplished during that time was growing the dog business, for which I'm very grateful. My house is more a mess than ever, the guys have been taking care of the farm, and my spinning wheel was gathering dust.

In addition to that, our application for an agricultural land use exemption, which would have reduced our property taxes, was denied. Although this wasn't the main reason we keep alpacas, it's a huge cost saver at tax time. Texas doesn't have a state income tax. They get homeowners instead with a huge property tax, compounded by the city and local school system. The denial of the ag exemption was pretty discouraging and we were ready to disperse most of the herd to save money.

In a last ditch effort, we went through the appeal process in front of a local review board. We presented our case and to our surprise, we won! We are the only property on our road to have an ag exemption.

Along with that good news, I've found a wonderful person to help out around the office and farm. The combination of these 2 things has really energized me to start focusing on the potential of the farm business. We are moving fleece through the process of cleaning, carding and preparing for either spinning or making other products for sale. I've re-opened the Etsy shop and have alpaca items for sale here at the office when visitors come for tours.  Here are just a few of the things we've been working on:

Dryer balls

Roving for spinning or felting

Nesting fleece for birds

If you have a Cub scout pack, homeschool group, or just want to bring the family out to see the critters, drop us an email!  We'll get you scheduled and hope for cool weather.

My First Commissioned Piece

I only started spinning last summer just after we got our alpacas and picked up knitting not long after that.  My Grandma Stacey taught me to knit when I was young and I never really forgot, but hadn't done it for many years.  I was determined that if we were going to have alpacas I would learn to do something with their wonderfully soft fleece.

A friend asked me to make a couple of scarves for Christmas presents and I've been thrilled to be able to do this.  We have one gray alpaca - Dude.  He's not the cutest boy in the herd, but I love his coloring.

I finished the first scarf yesterday.  It's the "Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf" pattern.  You can find it free on the internet.  It's a very feminine scarf with pretty ruffles at the edges.  I used size 9 needles and made it according the pattern otherwise.  It came out 3" wide and 81" long.  There's so many cool things you can do with long skinny scarves.  I need to find a mannequin, cause I'm sure not modeling anything!

I'm taking more orders for Christmas, so if you're interested, let me know:  FleeceFurandFeathers@gmail.com.  The gray is all gone now, but I can make any other color or blending of colors that we have in the pasture.  Or if you'd like to do it  yourself, I can provide the yarn.

October, getting settled in TX

I can't believe it's October already.  The days are definitely getting cooler here.   It's supposed to rain for the rest of the week and I'm not looking forward to that very much, although I understand we need it. I am missing the desert.

Chet's been working so hard around here.  We're dividing the pasture areas so we can keep the camelids separated as necessary and Chet has been fencing almost continually for the past month. 

Because of all the rain, the grass is in constant need of cutting.   This photo is of the front yard.  Chet bought a used tractor when he got here that only works for short periods of time before it overheats.  He hasn't taught me how to drive it yet, but all the ladies in the neighborhood do their lawns on the riding mowers, so I'll have to learn soon.

As we're making some good progress getting all the boxes unpacked, I'm finding some time to work on spinning and knitting, which I've really missed.

I don't know whether the colors will come through on the blog site, but this is a very pretty batch of roving from Unique Designs by Kathy in Tucson AZ - http://www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com/ . 

Kathy is an awesome fiber artist and a very patient teacher.  I was able to have a few spinning sessions with her this summer before I moved and really learned a lot.

From this roving, I'm spinning a single ply yarn and making a lacy shawl.  I'm almost finished with it, but don't want to post photos until it's all done.

I'm very excited that I was invited to a spinning group this weekend.  I'm sure I will learn a lot from these ladies who also have alpacas.

I got my TX driver's license yesterday.  I guess it's official - I'm a Texan (or as much as a Yankee-by-way-of-Arizona can be).