Washing and Carding

 

After getting the 2 llamas, 2 sheep and the angora goat sheared earlier this summer, one of my goals was to complete the washing and carding, so I could start spinning all this soft wool into yarn by winter.

I finished washing all of my fleeces at the end of July.

I started off doing them outside in a bucket, but found it too difficult to carry water with my knee being sore and weak. So I decided to wash the wool in my bathtub.

But first I cleaned out as much of the VM (Vegetable Matter) as possible. This is my gelding llama Catlinite’s fleece.

Then I dropped the fleece into the bathtub of warm soapy water.

And to save my back, as well as help strengthen my legs, I used my feet to gently swish the fleece in the water until it was completely wet.

After the first wash, the water revealed just how dirty the wool really was.

 

When I drained the water, I kept some mesh fabric over the drain hole, so that wool wouldn’t go down the drain and clog the pipes or cause problems with our septic system. After 2-3 wash and rinse cycles, the water rinsed clear of the wool.

I gently squeezed out the water, and then placed the fleeces outside on my bedroom balcony to dry. Within a day, they were completely dry and ready for the next step: Hand—Carding.

I’m still working on this process and have completed 3 of my fleeces, turning them into tidy rolags ready to be spun, and still have 4 more fleeces to get done.

I attended a Wool Processing Class last year at a local farm that raises Navajo Churro Sheep, so I felt prepared, but I did get a helpful refresher course by watching the following You Tube videos, created by the same, experienced, calming person. So, I’ll just let you watch the videos, if you’re interested in learning how to hand card your own wool.

This video shows how to spin from rolags, using the Longdraw technique. This will be my next step.

Aren’t her videos so calming and easy to understand? This is only my first year learning how to hand spin,  so I’m still on a learning curve. But I’m having fun. I bought a second-hand Louet Spinning Wheel about 6 months ago and am so excited to be able to spin my own wool that I’ve processed from start to finish.

This is another wonderful video, from the same woman. It shows how to spin from rolags, using the Short-Draw.

 

I’ll try to remember to take some photos when I’m able to start spinning all my fleeces. Just be kind. I’m still at that awkward stage where my yarn looks hand-spun (with all the twists and nubbies).

Is anyone else processing their wool now, or making plans to start spinning, or already knitting gifts for Christmas? Can you believe summer is just about over? Where’d it go?! 

From the Tower of,

My First Ride!!

 

If someone would have told me my first ride was going to happen in this way, I would have laughed and thought they were crazy.

I had my own visions of what my first ride would be like, where it would be, how I would feel, and on who I would ride on, and with.

And technically, I’m not even supposed to be riding yet (shhhh!), but when opportunity knocks, who am I to turn it away?

  

One of my twinlings, Jem, offered to ride with me, which took some of the fear away. He’s my little rock and is always understanding, thoughtful and helpful. And Jem is loads of fun and can make me laugh, too.

They had a platform to step off of, onto the bareback pad, but I had to mount off the left side, which was very difficult for me because I'm not able to put all my weight on my left knee. But I managed to carefully settle myself onto the blanketed back all by myself. But dismounting would have never happened if it had not been for one of the helpers, a weightlifting teenage girl, of about 19, who basically took all of my weight on her arm as I lifted myself off of the animal’s back. If it had not been for her, I’d probably still be riding around that oval arena right now. hah!

Which would have been fine with me, because I thoroughly enjoyed my first ride. It was very comfortable, slow, quiet (well, sort of…..) and relaxing.

I kept thinking about Esther from Ishtar News, and her own similar ride a few months ago. What fun!

And, maybe my first ride wasn’t on a horse, but it was on a four-legged creature that eats grass.

 

Last year, I made friends with some folks up here in the mountains who own a small herd of camels on a farm they call Camelot. They were listed on the East Mountain Fiber Tour and as they only live about 10 minutes from my house, I was excited to have another source of lusciously soft fiber to spin and knit. Camel fiber, in my opinion, is just as soft and downy as alpaca fiber and feels wonderful against the skin. Last summer I bought only one skein of a natural colored camel blend yarn from the folks at Camelot Farm.

From that skein, I made my friend Val a scarf and a hat mixed with a turquoise colored cotton, as well as a scarf and a hat for me, mixed with a peach colored alpaca blend yarn. That skein sure went a long way.

Well when the fiber farm tour was held again, a few weeks ago, I just had to go, visit the camels and purchase some more camel yarn.

(This is Gobi, a Bactrian, or two-humped, camel.)

Another wonderful, and convenient, aspect of camels is that they don’t require shearing. They actually shed out their fiber, which can easily be combed off, or gathered as it begins to fall.

And this is one of Camelot’s Dromedary camels, which means one-humped camel (sorry, his name escapes me). An easy way to remember the difference between Bactrian and Dromedary is: "Bactrian" begins with "B", and "Dromedary" begins with "D"; "B" on its side has two humps, while "D" on its side has only one hump.

Poor guy is old and suffers from arthritis of the legs, so he had a challenging time standing up or laying down.

So, when I discovered that Bev and Bill of Camelot Farm lease out several of their camels to the Rio Grande Zoo, in Albuquerque, for camel rides, I decided on our next visit, we had to say Hello. My good luck, Mr. Bill was there and very friendly and nice to talk to. We spent about 15 minutes discussing wool, fiber processing, and the Taos Wool Festival. And then he offered to pose for a photo with two of my kidlets, and a fuzzy camel, too.

That was pretty awesome, I thought. What could be more amazing than that?

Well, being offered a complimentary camel ride easily topped the fun photo op, for sure!

And since Jenna didn’t want to ride the camel, who was I to just pass up such a unique opportunity…..or to “look a gift camel in the mouth”? hehe!

Ok….so I know it’s not a horse, but I did ride it. haha! 

From the Tower of,

Spinning Yarn

Last month my good friend, Kat, who lives down in the Rio Grande Valley came up to help me shear my angora goats and teach me how to spin. Check out her great blog Spin Kitty. She's very talented.

She left me one of her spinning wheels to practice on and I was able to spend a few evenings and afternoons spinning over the last few weeks.

My first practice attempts were quite rough indeed.My first small ball of yarn using dyed corriedale roving was a mess, but my second attempt, using silky soft angora mohair roving was a bit better.Kat and I had visited my local yarn store, called Good Fibrations in Edgewood. We were trying to find some good roving to spin, preferrably white, so we could dye it.
But we were so excited when we dipped our hands into a large bag of Alpaca/Corriedale/Soy Protein roving. Wow! The texture was amazing! So we both bought bags to take home and spin. Here's some of mine waiting to be spun.With this new wonder fiber, things started to improve quickly. I loved the way the fleece slid through my fingers and spun into this chubby yarn.(Please ignore my hobbit feet, please)With this new roving slipping through my fingers, and the wheel just spinning along happily, I finally started finding my zen place.And this is my 3rd practice ball of yarn. I wish you could just feel how soft this yarn is. I can't wait to spin enough of this roving into yarn so I can knit myself a hat and scarf for this winter.But that'll have to wait a bit because Kat had to take back her spinning wheel for a lesson when her friend came to visit last week. (Wah) But we're making plans to get together for some more spinning lessons and fun very soon.
I'll be sure to update as more yarn is produced and when I finally get started on the hat and scarf. The thought of that silky soft hat and scarf just makes me smile!

I can now see why spinning is so addictive!

Shearing, Spinning, and Selling

Well after several weeks of posting ads and getting the word out, I finally found a wonderful buyer for 2 of our angora goats. Ironically, the person who bought them is the same person who sold them to me. haha! My dear friend, Kat from Flying Goat Ranch has decided to move out of showing and breeding Nigerian Goats and get back into Angoras. Kat is a talented spinner and knitter and has come to realize that the beautiful Angora Goats fit her lifestyle plans much better.

And for me, after fielding crazy inquiries about my angoras, such as "would your goats make a good playmate for my dog", or "I can just feed them weeds, and that's all, right?". But the best of all, was the lady who e-mailed from Arizona, from her pagan tribe ranch, out in the middle of nowhere. She really wanted a couple pointy horned goats to create 'spirit hides and skulls' from. Nice, eh?

So, you can imagine how grateful and happy I was to discover that my buddy, Kat wanted to adopt my sweet, beautiful angoras!

But first, Kat offered to help me shear them, so I could keep the fiber. She has really powerful shears and they make quick work of the shearing process. So I was thankful that she was there to offer her services.

First up, with the after-photo, is pretty Lily. She has amazing mohair fiber that I am looking forward to spinning and knitting. (Thats my friend, Kat, too). And you can see my daughter's itty bitty foot to the left. I just couldn't bear to crop that out.Then next up, with her own after-shot, is my sweet Luna. Her fiber was the cleanest because she is the Queen and never has to scrounge for food. This was Luna's second shearing here on Laughing Orca Ranch, and possibly even the second in her entire life. The first shearing was quite a job, but Luna seemed so grateful with the final results. She's my girl and is very special to me. Luna was my first angora, before I was even prepared to bring any home. I rescued her from a terrible situation and she introduced me to many of the special and beautiful attributes of goats.Then, last, but certainly not least, is playful, loveable, and pushy Cloud. He and I became close after I saved his life from bloat.
After we sheared all 3 angora goats, we sat down to a delicious lunch of BBQ hamburgers(Thanks Ranchman John!), homemade tortilla chips, sweet tea and made-from-scratch brownies(Yum).
Then following our lunch, my friend, Kat and I carried her spinning wheels up to my loft and she gave me a little lesson on spinning.Then it was my turn. As you might remember, a couple months ago I attended a wool processing class at another friend's house. I learned a lot about cleaning, washing, and carding wool, but I was stumped and frustrated with my experience trying to spin.
According to Kat, my frustration and difficulties probably had a lot to do with the patience and teaching capabilities of the instructor, as well as the type of spinning wheel.
I used a traditional spinning wheel at the class, but I discovered that Kat's Louet Spinning Wheel is much better for beginners who need things to be simple and uncomplicated. And, also, Kat seems to learn and think in similar ways that I do, so I was more comfortable and able to pick up the techniques much easier. What a relief and so much fun! Thanks Kat!!!
After our spinning session, Kat generously left me a bunch of rollags and her spinning wheel to play with and practice on, until we get together again.

And then it was time for her to gather up all of her spinning materials and head to the barn again to corral the angoras so she could take them home.
But my loving husband overheard my heart and encouraged me to keep my dear, sweet Luna. Which is so big of him because he's never been fond of the pushy, bossy angora goats. But I was so grateful and felt very relieved, as I kept remembering my promise to Luna after she came to live with us. That she would always have a home here on Laughing Orca Ranch. I truly believe that Luna and I have some kind of connection. Can goats be animal soulmates? If so, then she's mine.

So, in the end Luna stayed here, but Lily and Cloud went back to where they came from: A wonderful angora friendly farm called Flying Goat Ranch to be cared for by my super-special, animal-loving friend. We enjoyed having them here and we'll miss them, but we feel good knowing they are going to a farm where they will be appreciated.See you soon Kat! Farewell Lily and Cloud!

Fiber Farm & Studio Tour~Day 2

On Sunday I headed back out with my daughter to check out two more farms: one a camel farm and the other a feather and natural dye farm.

I was very excited about visiting the camel farm, as I've always had a 'thing' for camelids, which include: camels, llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuña. I actually own an authentic camel saddle that I was given as a gift over 20 years ago. And when I volunteered as a docent for the Rio Grande Zoo, about 13 years ago, I used to handle the alpacas on a weekly basis taking them out to show the public in what was called "Alpaca Cruising". I loved it!
And of course, the first time I saw the 'Push Me-Pull Me' on Dr. Doolittle, when I was 9 years old, I just knew I wanted a llama of my own one day.

The camel farm, aptly named "Camel Lot Farm" is only about 7 miles away from my house, so it was a quick little drive over there to visit the camels and see what the hoohah is on using camel fiber for knitting and fiber arts.

But first, did you know that camel down is the soft warm inner down of a camel and has a fiber structure similar to cashmere? The down is usually 1-3 inches long with a micron count of about 15-22 microns.

The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the Bactrian camel has two humps. They are native to the dry desert areas of western Asia, and central and east Asia, respectively.

And I bet you didn't know that camels can run up to 40 mph in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 25 mph. My llamas are pretty fast like that, too. And they literally fly when they run, because all 4 feet are off the ground at once. It is awesome to see!

And contrary to common belief, camels do not store water in their humps; they are actually a reservoir of fatty tissue. When this tissue is metabolized, it acts as a source of energy
Their ability to withstand long periods without water is due to a series of physiological adaptations related to their red blood cells.

Besides their use as meat and fiber animals, camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is richer in fat and protein than cow milk. Camel milk cannot be made into butter in the traditional churning method, but their milk can be made into yogurt.

This handsome fella is a Bactrian Camel. Bactrian camels have two humps, they weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is between 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years! Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.
I also discovered that Camel Lot Farm provides the camels that the Rio Grande Zoo uses for their daily camel rides. Pretty cool!

Notice how the wool just sheds off all by itself. No shearing is necessary! Of course, its quite the chore harvesting camel wool on very windy New Mexico mountain land. hehe
I enjoyed the camels in front of our beautiful Sandia Mountain backdrop. Did you know that a camels mouth is very sturdy, able to chew thorny desert plants and that their kidneys and intestines are very efficient at retaining water. Urine comes out as a thick syrup, and their feces are so dry that they can fuel fires. Weird!

I was told this guy's name is Gobi. I actually was invited to keep some of his wool that I found on the ground. Cool.


This is a Dromedary, or one-humped/Arabian camel.
I really enjoyed getting close up and personal with this goofy camel.
"I'm a very tired camel"
"ZZzzzzzzz". Check out all those callous pads.
"Do you mind? I'd like some privacy for my nap, please"

Now that's one relaxed camel! "Blublublublubub" Check out that rubbery loose lip. hehe

Now apparently I am a photo hound and have totally used up all of my photo allotment on Blogger.(gasp!) Yes, I can pay $20.00 a year for some extra space, but I'm going to try something different (and free) first. Let me know what your opinion is.....

Our last stop on the Fiber Tour was a to a farm that translated literally to "Hens of the Sun", Gallinas del Sol. This farm grows plants used for natural fiber dying.
They also raise chickens and heritage breed turkeys for feathers, as well as to sell to customers. This farm is located about 15-18 miles east of our house, in Stanley, NM, where the ground flattens out into the plains, but views of the mountains can still be seen.

While at the farm, I had another moment of realizing again what a close-knit local community our East Mountains truly are and how everyone seems to know each other or someone that knows someone else, etc.
The owners of Gallinas del Sol had actually been to my house last year to pick up a large rusty stock water tank I had offered on Freecycle. They had plans to use it as a pool for their ducks and geese.

Unfortunately they hadn't used the tank yet because of the fierce winds and the cold, hard ground and also because they need to get a backhoe to dig the hole for the tank first. But it was still kind of cool to see the tank there and to meet these folks again.

So, for more photos from our second day of the East Mountain Farm Touring,
click:
Fiber Farm Tour Day 2

Fiber Farm & Studio Tour~Day 1

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the East Mountains Fiber Farm & Studio Tour. John took all 3 of our kids to T-Ball and Baseball activities, so I had some fun free time to explore my neighbor's farms and fiber studios.

There were 13 locations to visit. If you visited at least 10 of the locations, and got your booklet stamped at each, you were entered into a drawing to win a gift basket filled with items from each of the farms and studios on the tour!
And you just know that my goal was to visit at least 10, don't you? hehe

The first day I was able to visit 9 of the locations, all farms were located within 10 miles of my home.

The first location was Good Fibrations fiber store. Here I signed up for a spinning class and bought a new Hand Carder.

My second stop was at the owner of Good Fibrations Fiber Store, "Earthways Fiber Farm & Studio", where they had spinning, knitting and weaving demonstrations and plenty of fiber to buy, as well as livestock, including pretty Angora Goats.


My next location was Robin Pascal's Studio where I enjoyed watching yarn hand-painting demonstrations, spinning, weaving and dichroic glass button making. She had a beautiful fiber studio upstairs and down, too. It was also my first time seeing and feeling yarn made from bamboo. Amazing stuff!

My third stop was at the "Stable Investments Alpaca Ranch", where they, of course, had beautiful alpacas. I spent mucho time here visiting with the wife owner of the ranch. We had actually met via online before the fiber tour and we had alot in common.
Some of the beautiful alpacas. This one was very friendly.
And this funny one was very curious.
And all good fiber ranches should have a good guard animal. Great Pyrenees dogs work hard at protecting their livestock. And they are beautiful and friendly.
Other critters at "Stable Investments" were an adorable donkey.
And a horse full of personality. This guy would smack his lips together to get your attention. Then he would rub his face on you and drool on your arm. He was very cute but also a little annoying. haha

The next stop for me on the farm and studio tour was at the Garcia Shaggy Wagon & Ba Ba Shop. Where they had beautiful churro sheep.
A handsome Churro Ram.
I kept trying to imagine my sweet little Churro Lamb as big as this girl! Wow!
Lots of chickens in a unique coop. They also had a few goats and some horses.
I spent a bit of time here getting to know the owners, who are also homeschooling their children. The husband is also a prefessional Shearer, so it's a good thing to make these connections in my community. My critters will need to be sheared one day soon....
Inside their big workshop/garage I enjoyed some scrumptious handmade bean burritos and green chile stew with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert! Yum!
As I sat and enjoyed my meal, I couldn't help but ogle all of the huge burlap sacks stuffed full of wool and fiber. Wow!
The owners have several of these stands to help make the loading of fleeces much easier. All the kids had a great time climbing into these huge sacks, too.

The next farm on my tour was called "Shooting Star Farm". I've 'met' the owner of this farm online, too. She has a fiber classes on her farm sometimes and often has animals for sale. She tried to tempt me into buying one or two alpaca females with a very good deal, but I stayed strong. Of course, when I got home and I told my husband how strong I was, hoping for him to be proud of me, instead he wanted to know why I didn't bring home an alpaca! Yoy! I did end up buying something, though. A cute little embroidered llama bag.
See those two brown alpacas? Those are the two for sale.
And you know I was happy to find they had a llama!
And some precious long ears, too!


I left "Shooting Star Farm" and headed for "Enchanted Sky Alpacas", quite an impressive and well organized small ranch, with many beautiful animals and a lovely little fiber studio.
Many beautiful alpacas.
All sheared for the summer.
This odd little alpaca was a rescue. He was kind of pitiful, but also very cute and funny.
They also raise Baby Doll Sheep. Talk about cute!

Then it was time to head for "Milagro Moon Ranch", also someone I've spoken to online about my llamas. I enjoyed meeting Cynthia & Jim very much and chatting about critters and mountain life. I also bought some of Cynthia's wonderful goat's milk soap.

This is their first alpaca. And a lovely girl she is, due any day actually. I fell in love with her ear tassles and the way she crossed her legs in front of her.
She also had Angora Goats: the typical white fleece and this beautiful one, called a Navajo Angora, which tend to have color and are tougher and more disease resistance.
I had to take a photo of this friendly La Mancha goat. Her coloring reminded me of our cute little Moon Pie!
I was awed by the pure white coloring of this La Mancha goat. As some of you know, I've been on the fence now for several months trying to decide whether to choose a Nigerian or a La Mancha as our family dairy goat. I do love the coloring and those cute ears of the La Manchas. But they sure are big girls! (This particular La Mancha will come back to 'haunt' me a little bit later in the day....hint, hint)

My final stop for the day, ranch #9, was Prairie Wood Ranch. A fellow Southwest Nigerian Goat Club member, breeder of beautiful Nigerian goats and Paint horses and now friend.
My friend, Deanna, of Cornerstone Nigerians, birthplace of our sweet Moon Pie, was also at Prairie Wood Ranch helping out Lora and Dan and selling some of her awesome goats milk soaps, fiber projects and yarn. I had a terrific time visiting with her, talking goats, homeschooling, and wool processing/spinning and knitting.
Of course, we also got to talking about my quest for the 'perfect' dairy goat, too. And she mentioned that Lora had just gotten in a herd of goats as a trade, and in that herd were some goats that she wanted to sell as she had no need for them. One happened to be a Mini Mancha. Which is a cross between a Nigerian goat and a La Mancha. As my friend Deanna kept reminding me, "You've got the best of both goats. A manageable, easy-keeper size, those cute ears, and great personalities and the excellent milk from both goats.

I didn't commit myself right away, as it wasn't my intention to come home with any livestock, though, John had told me to keep an eye out for either an alpaca or a dairy goat. But I was open to looking at this little doeling and have a tour of beautiful Prairie Wood Ranch.

The goat paddock. You can actually see the little white Mini Mancha in the pen on the right side of the photo (beside the picnic table).
A breeding pen.
The handsome Buck-a-roos! hehe
And here she is: Our new Mini Mancha Doeling! Lora wormed her, trimmed her feet, and gave her the CD&T vax before sending her home with me.
Thanks Lora!

Of course, my friend Deanna took a lot of ribbing for encouraging me to buy this goat, too. I mean, here I was on a FIBER tour...not a dairy tour. And I come home with a Dairy goat! haha! Deanna's very cool, though, because she also has two beautiful, milky Nigerian does for sale. One is Moon Pie's sister. I was even considering buying one of them from her, until she told me about Lora's Mini Mancha. It sure was fair and nice of her to point me in the direction she knew was a good fit for me and my family, when she could have just focused on getting me to buy her goats instead. Deanna.....You rock, girlfriend! Check out her terrific blog: Cornerstone Nigerians. Deanna, let's make plans to get together so you can teach us some of the Showmanship techniques to prepare us for showing Moon Pie and now, our Mini Mancha, Latte.

And here are a few photos of our sweet little Mini-Mancha Doeling, who happens to be a registered Dairy Goat, too. Here she is after we got her home. We named her latte because she looks like steamed milk with just a few hints of creamy coffee.
Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

And here are the goodies I purchased during Day 1 of the Fiber Farm and Studio Tour.


And I also got a little package from a fellow blogger, 'Just Like Sew', from a contest I won not too lng ago. Actually it came over a week ago, but my hubby 'lost' it in the truck. sigh.
These are handmade push pins. I love the horse pins, don't you? Thank you, Just Like Sew!

I'll be posting my photos and stories from the second day of the Fiber Farm and Studio Tour on Tuesday or Wednesday. Stay Tuned if you want to see Fiber Camels!