Coastal Trip and New Roving

For my hubby's birthday today I took him to Bandon, OR. It's a cute little coastal town about 2 hours from where we live. We went to a bunch of little shops, ate way too many sweets at Cranberry Sweets (http://www.cranberrysweets.com/ they have the best fruit pate) where they have a bunch of free samples out (We bought some from them, too).

I also made a little trip to a yarn store there, since we don't have any where I live. They had a bunch of roving. Since it was my husbands birthday I didn't go too crazy with buying... I only bought 4 ounces of a merino wool that was dyed purple and silver. It is so pretty and I can't wait to spin it! I want to go back at my birthday, so I can go a little crazier and get some of the other pretty roving that they have.



We walked on the beach while we were there. When we started our walk it was a bit windy, not raining though. We got about 1/2 mile from our car and of course we got caught in a torrential downpour. My pants were soaked through and through. After we got back to the car we decided to go back to one of the shops and buy new pants for the 2 hour drive back home. The sales lady made me feel so good about myself. She asked if I wore a medium or large. About 3 months ago I would have been in a XXL. The large pants fit me, though and I was soooo excited and happy. (I've lost about 45 pounds due to being on Atkins since 1/20/2010, gone from 242 to 198).

Overall it was a great day and we had so much fun!

Walking an Alpaca

Today I took Shiloh out on a walk. I wish that my husband would have been home to take photos of it. Shiloh is fairly easy to halter, and I give him treats after it each time, so I think it's making it easier every time I do it. Well, we walked up the street to the mailboxes and a lady was out mowing her lawn. She gave me the strangest looks. On our way back a little dog ran outside and was barking at my alpaca. Shiloh got a little bit stressed out, but he wasn't too bad. We stopped along the way for him to eat wonderful tidbits of green grass and to eat some little flowers that he thought were very tasty. Then we walked back to the pen where the other 4 boys stood watching and waiting. I would try this with my other boys, but I think they might freak out a little bit. None of them like being haltered much, but they have to put up with, since it's almost shearing time.

Want to Learn how to Dye

I've been researching some information on wool dying recently and I believe it's time to take the plunge and try it. I bought a pound of wool from the Sheep Shed Studio for a fantabulous price. (With shipping it was less than $20 for a whole pound!). I am trying to figure out what brand of acid dye I want to get, I'm thinking the jacquard dye will be the best, and on amazon it's at a pretty good price.

I originally was buying the wool to make hair falls with, but I'm thinking I will have to try spinning some of it too. I've only used my spinning wheel 3 or 4 times since I bought it over a year ago, so I think it's time to practice some more and home dyed wool will be great to practice with!

I'll post the results of my science project up here after I finish. I'm really excited about it and hope that it works!

Sleepless Nights = Odd Designs

For the past week I have had an odd sleeping schedule. I haven't been able to get to sleep until 4 or 5 am, then I'm sleeping until about 1pm. Luckily my part time job is in the evening and I can do crafts at any hour. Well these past few nights I have spent time trying to design a great fire dance costume for summer performances. I keep coming up with designs for the top and then the next day realizing they won't work because of a)fringe b)material type c)looseness.

I keep designing thinking of metallic materials that reflect light well, and then remembering how flammable those are. Fringe would be horrible because I am spinning poi and what if I lose control for a second... Fringe would catch fire quick. My last design was very cute, and I still might try to make it, however it goes from a tight chest area to a very loose hip area, so again no good for fire dancing. Well... I will just have to keep thinking about an idea for a top and hopefully something cute & functional will come to me.

So, now I'm thinking that I need to restart my sleep schedule soon. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that?

Alpacas escaped!

Okay, only one alpaca escaped. And he is rather easy to get back into the pen.

Over the past couple of weeks our Suri alpaca has been escaping about once a day and for a while we were trying to figure out where. Our other 4 boys never try to escape, they like it in their pen with fresh hay and pellets every day, but not Marley. Marley likes to explore and thinks that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. A couple of days ago my sister in laws poodle was outside off leash when Marley was out of the pen, so the dog ran after him and chased him. Marley ran to the far side of the pasture and then leaped over the fence. It's not a super high fence, but still an impressive jump for an alpaca.

I was told that alpacas never challenged fences or tried to get out, well that simply isn't true for this boy. Apparently nobody ever told him that he was supposed to live peacefully in his pasture. Oh well, at least he doesn't try to run away, he must enjoy alone time away from the other pacas.

Etsy-fied

I now have an etsy account! It took me long enough, but I finally got there... http://www.etsy.com/shop/LadyCatEars

Go check it out and let me know what you think!!! I wonder how I can best market my site. Hmmm... I need more viewers!

Hair Falls

I am so bad at this whole blogging thing. I never really know what to say and I'm just awful at updating posts. I love reading other peoples' blogs, but writing my own is tough. Anyways, I did make a new item that I am going to have to make several more of now because it was so much fun and turned out super cute. Plus it will be a good way to use some of my yarn stash! I made some cute yarn "dread" falls. I will be donning this set as part of my fire dance costume, so that will be lots of fun! Anyways, let me know what you think of them. Thank you!