My Essay as Told by Rose - the Llama

Let me tell you about our shepherdess, Miss Beth:
She’s a very tactile person. She loves playing with fiber both on and off the hoof. I have to admit there are some days that you get an itch in a hard to reach spot and she can find it! We all love a good body rub! Oh, my name is Rose, let me finish my carrot before I continue - need to be polite!


This is Lady Jane - she’s my mom. Mom was abused by her 1st owner before I was born. I was born when mom was sold to the 2nd owner. Miss Beth is my mom’s 4th and my 3rd owner. Mom is very mistrusting of people after being handled wrong. Miss Beth has worked very hard at earning Mom’s trust. Now Mom will go over the teeter-totter obstacle as long as Miss Beth is on the other end of the lead. That is a big deal if you had seen Mom when we 1st came here! Yes, Mom is the head critter here at WillowLark.

This Miss Beth’s boy, Dylan and his Alpaca - Dawn’s Early Light. Dawn will never be bred as her ovaries are undeveloped. That means cria-like fiber every year! Miss Beth loves that idea! She’s a good 4-H alpaca for Dylan!

Here’s WillowLark’s Colored Angoras;
Merlin, Sophie, Pixie and Arthur. They are a friendly bunch. Lil’ Finn is in the picture but he wasn’t born yet…lol.


There’s Lil’ Finn!

This is Andy. A rejected ram lamb. His mother was slamming him against the barn and Miss Beth was offered Andy as the breeder didn’t want to feed another bottle baby. Miss Beth was concerned about internally injuries, so Andy got to be in the house for ten days. Andy would sleep on the dog pillow or with the dogs during naptime and spent nights in a large dog box. When Andy came out to the barn, Miss Beth had him in a fleece lamb coat. Mom and I took over from there and we’ve been “raising” Andy, keeping him out of trouble and such. Mom puts him to bed in the barn same time every night…7:30ish. Andy sleeps in a corner and Mom lays down in front of him.
I think Andy has species issues. He plays with the family’s two former foster Boxers they adopted. He hangs out with us - llamas. Andy has even gone to the “pile” and eliminate just like us! And he likes to snuggle up with Miss Beth and Courtney. (Miss Beth’s 3rd Daughter -19). So is he a sheep or a llama-dog-human-sheep? He’ll figure it out!

This is a pic of Andy last month.

That’s me, my Mom and Trooper from right to left. I tried to upload a pic of Trooper by himself but it just didn’t work. Remember, I’m a llama and my toes make it hard to type. Trooper was rescued by Miss Beth and Miss Courtney from a farm that had to remove the llamas or they would be put down the next day. They helped to rescue 20 llamas that day. Trooper was a yearling when he came. He will never go to show or do PR work as his digestive tract goes crazy when he’s stressed. So Trooper gets to stay on the farm and never have to worry about food again! Trooper loves Mr. Tim the most out of anyone here!

The rest of the critters photos won’t load so I’ll just have to write without props I guess. I will give them their moment in the spotlight though:

Jrflection, Rosetta, Dain and Jubie are the LaMancha does. Miss Beth had to drink goat’s milk as a kid due to allergies and she has raised her brood on gmilk too. I still can’t get over the fact that they look like they lost their ears. Miss Beth told us they are good examples of the breed, so I guess the ears are meant to be tiny. Oh, and Tag-you’re-it came to the farm Sunday…don’t get too close as that buck reeks! I’ll be so happy when breeding season is over. The does like the buck to smell like that? What are they thinking. I’ve mentioned Andy - the Corriedale ram lamb. The other sheep is a black/silver Corriedale - Brunhilda - Bruni for short. Add Bowen and Jewel the pygmies and that is the end of the quadrupeds. Toss in the ducks, chickens, and dogs and it’s a large family!

Miss Beth loves to spin our fiber! I swear she’s like me when I see my favorite grain coming. Miss Beth doesn’t dance around as much but boy just look at her smile when she’s cleaning a fleece!

When it’s Spring Shearing time, while waiting our turn, you can see Miss Beth skirting the fleeces as Mr. Doug shears us. When the humans take a break you can see Miss Beth labeling a lock of fiber from each critter. Then she takes a little of fiber and hand spins it to see if the blend is working for her. That woman loves that fiber!

Miss Beth loves color, you should see her yarn stash! But our fleeces she likes to keep natural. Miss Beth was working on a combo of my medium brown llama fiber and some cream/apricot angora. It was quite pretty. I think that is why she loves Colored Angoras and the possibilities that can be created with her blends. When Miss does dye a batch, she prefers natural dyes . You can see her on sunny days gathering her various plants - planted and wild - to get going on her dyeing. You should have seen the big wagon, full of Goldenrod she harvested!

Why was Miss Beth talking about an essay contest to win a small Angora flock? Seemed strange to us, but the animals here at WillowLark decided to write an essay for her. Miss Beth is happiest when she’s with us. Even on her worst days, you will find her coming to the barn for respite from her Fibromyalgia. I mentioned her health not to gain pity for her but to explain why a lady is coming out to the barnyard and sitting in the cast iron bathtub the goats lay in and petting anyone who comes by. No matter how bad she hurts - she still does the day’s chores twice a day, plus playtime with us. Miss Beth tells us that we are God’s gift to her when she’s hurting. We get a great rubdown too!

Miss Beth, her husband Tim, daughters Hillary, Lindsey, Courtney, her son Dylan, grand cubs - Bailey, Chealee, Jolie, Sophie and baby Nolan (due in December), enjoy critters. The family is very 4-H. Sitting on ten acres with another 20 acres coming after…not going to go there! A special grain mixture that Miss Beth’s mom came up with that serves all our needs - yes my candy as Miss Courtney calls it. Top quality hay - no mold ever hits our hay racks. Detailed records on each of us, from worming to any innoculations we need, heat cycles for the goats, it is all recorded. Rotation of fresh grass, always improving fencing and shelters - Miss Beth is always doing something that has to deal with fiber!
Why Miss Beth? She and her family promote Colored Angoras and their worth to anyone they talk to. It’s amazing how happy she gets when she’s talking about her goats with fiber!

I hope I did Miss Beth justice! I know she hates talking about herself. She’d rather be doing - not tooting her own horn.

It would be great to win this wonderful flock for Miss Beth. If she doesn’t - Congratulations to you who did win!


I’ll keep my toes crossed for luck,
Cherokee Rose Bud

The Sock Thing

I tried the different ways to knit socks:

• One-at-a-time on double pointed needles (DPNs). This is how I did my first pair.
  
• Magic Loop - two socks at the same time on one long circular.
  
• Two socks on two circulars.
  

To spice it up a bit:

• Two socks - Toe up on Magic Loop. I had two pair on different circulars, 1 toe-up the other pair cuff down.
  
• The 2 circulars socks were toe up.
• The DPNs socks were cuff down.

I found out that no matter how easy it may seem, I, personally can't get a handle on 2 socks on 2 circulars. I have knitted a pair on the 2 circulars - but that was one sock at a time. It's just 2 needles - four points. Should be easy to handle the extra sock. I kept getting lost and tangled. I will attempt them again but at the moment. It's not contender.

Magic Loop - I thought I would have the same problem I was having on the 2-on-2. Once I got it figured out it was fast and fun! Stitch markers really came in handy on this one! I liked how I didn't have to pick up a dropped needle. That was an added plus! My toe-up socks on Magic Loop are going slowly, not due to any problems but to lack of time.

DPNs...this is my go-to-for-mindless knitting. Handy for waiting at the doctor's office, in line at the stores, walking to my Dad's (yes, I can knit and walk at the same time)! I love to make my husband's socks this way! Sometimes his socks have more miles on them before he wears them! I take the DPN socks wherever I go!

I do know of another way to make socks but that leaves a seam to sew up and I'm darn picky about things like that. The less to seam-up the less aggravation in the wearing!

So let's see;

• Magic Loop - toe-up or cuff-down - lacy or basic patterns. I will use this method for at least half of my sock knitting.
• DPNs - my favorite hands down. I don't even need to think about the pattern. Just need the weight of the yarn, the needle size the stitches per inch, the shoe size of the person I'm knitting them for and let me have at it!
• Two-socks-on-two circulars - not doing 2 socks at a time. Just one, very lonely one-at-a-time pair. I may revisit this method but for now - ain't gonna happen!
• Toe-up or cuff down - this is a non-issue. It's the pattern of the sock that will grab my attention.

The experiment is done. The trials, the frogging-it, the where is sock A, B, or C is over. Now I just have to finish that last few rows and bingo 4 pairs of socks will be done! It was a fun experience. A learning experience that has me wanting to go to a yarn shop and say,
"I like knitting socks - the method doesn't matter". That would drop some stitches wouldn't it?

Whose Bright Idea Was This?

"Just how many socks do you have going?" Hubby asks.
"3, with 3 more skeins waiting". I reply.
"Is that all?" Hubby says laughing.
"Yes, I want to see which method of knitting sock I like."

Flashback: I wanted to see which of three methods of knitting socks I prefer. Magic Loop (a 36-40" circular) knitting 2 socks at once, 2 Socks on 2 circulars, and using double-pointed-needles (dpns) knitting 1 sock at a time (I don't suffer from Second Sock Syndrome).

I usually use DPNs for knitting socks. It's the way I caught the sock knitting bug. Yet, if there is a way to that makes 2 socks at the same time. I'm willing to give it a shot. Since I don't have books on the different sock methods, I hit the web. After reading a few different people's versions on the two methods I jumped in. Also, their guesstimate on the time saved in doing the two socks at the same time was an interesting factor. From 1/3 to 1/2 in time reduction for the knitting. That would be nice!

Magic Loop - 2 socks at a time....found a pattern I like. It's toe up. Figured since I was going to try other needle methods may as well as in the toe-up version to keep things interesting. Once I got the cast on figured out I hit the floor running. Easy, fun and if I make a mistake... I seem to do it on both socks. They are a couple and so it seems right.

I must admit; I have made one pair of socks using 2 circulars to knit a pair of socks. I am doing another pair so I have all three methods going on at once. Easier to compare for me that way.
The socks are cuff down and I am working on the ribbing.

The DPNs socks - one down, one to go.

I am getting yards knitted during my research. And 3 pairs of socks will be done too! Nice bonus!

Still whose bright idea was this anyway? I knit socks with DPNs. Why try Magic Loop and 2 circulars to knit a pair of socks? What was I thinking? Knitting 20 rounds on this pair...and repeat on the two others. The only difference is one pair is toe-up.

I have gotten myself confused a couple of times. Thinking I was knitting 2 Circulars and actually was doing Magic Loop made for a few intense moments of finding where to put the loop again.

It's fun and educational. Again, whose bright idea was this?

So Many Choices

Knitting socks is fun. I don't know why I like to knit socks, and I don't want to figure it out.

You can knit socks:

• Cuff-down - starting at the top and working to the toe
• Toe-up - starting at the toe and working to the cuff
• Vertically - side to side

You can knit socks using:

• 4 Double Pointed Needles (DPNs)
  
• 5 Double Pointed Needles
  
• One Long Circular - 36'-40' long circular (also known as Magic Loop)
  
• Two Circulars - usually 2 24" circulars or a 24" and a 16" circulars
• One Long Circular to knit 2 socks at once
• Two Circulars to knit a pair at the same time
  

Which way is the best? Ask a practitioner of the various needles categories and you guessed it you will get 7 different answers. Oh, you noticed that I listed 6 needle choices? The 7th person is the one who has never cast-on a sock, nor ever wanted to but as an accomplished sweater knitter feels free to voice an opinion. Feel free to go to a knitting group as a newbie and ask innocently which way should a beginner choose to knit socks. Be forewarned; it's like asking if you should block your knitting before making it up.

I've read about Magic Loop, Two Circulars and two socks at the same time, toe-up, cuff-down (which is the way most of my favorite sock patterns are made). I learned on DPNs.

Hmmm...I have decided to try:

• 2 socks on 2 circulars - a cuff down pattern
• a pair that is knit on my fav DPNs - cuff-down -( have the 1st set of bamboo, size 3 DPNs that I love to knit socks with. Used to have 5 in the set...sadly hubby stepped on one and it cracked)
• Magic loop one sock - toe-up - having a problem on the two socks with this method (a how-to in front of me would certainly help)

I'm going to go knit one of these socks now. Planning on knitting the three ways I've listed each day. I'm curious to find out which way will be my favorite - If I have a favorite at all.

Here socky, socky.

The Vulture Habit

It was just a few skeins waiting patiently to be knit up, bought for a particular project.

I like to buy on sale, so I keep a knitting journal with ideas, patterns and where to find them, yarn specifications, and needle sizes. Then, I keep an eye open for sales and then pounce! The sock yarn I bought at 30% off three weeks ago, hit the clearance section for 1/2 off...snap - another skein of yarn was attached to my hand and I couldn't shake the dang thing off. It came home with me. It's sitting it the basket with the other sock yarn - 7 skeins total...happy to have been bought and dreaming of the pattern it will become.

Really it's only 7 skeins of sock yarn. It's not like they're rabbits and go making baby skeins! The color combos would be very interesting to say the least!

Working happily on the Felted Backpack for Potluck Yarns I thought I felt a shift in the yarn force. Ever so subtle but still felt it. Continued on the Backpack - it's finally dry and ready to ship! Started to clean up my yarn drawer in the living room. One drawer in the dresser that serves as a critter stand is for current projects, patterns, magazines and such. The shift happened again. Putting stuff where it goes..like a bookcase - who knew?

Entered the craft/business room upstairs I saw it. It looked innocent enough...hiding behind the skein of variegated blue sock yarn. Yarn in rectangle storage containers. The big ones that can hold a skein on end - if it's a small length one. Bigger skeins have to be placed on their sides. Have two of those containers. I can open them up, see what's there - no buried yarn. Plus various other holders, plastic bags with zippers hold projects waiting around but nice and safe of crawlies.

Then it happened........I touched the sock yarn....BANG...the yarn force shifted hard! Like magic all this yarn was sitting there. More than I remembered. Honest...never saw it coming! It's only bought on sale...I can't remember when I paid full price for a skein of yarn. There's the yarn for a felted bag. The silk that is going to be a tank top of sorts. The alpaca that is going to be a loose fitting cardigan. The dang fun fur of various colors and other small balls of acrylics waiting to be Gnomes. The cotton that is going to be a lace cardigan. Another set of cotton that is being made in to top. The rust color yarn that is going to be gingerbread men. The Noro that was one sweater that is frogged back to skeins to be another sweater. The mohair that was becoming a sleeved wrap but is becoming a hoodie. It fits on a set of metal shelves in containers, plastic bags, in baskets and the few rebels who sit mocking me on the shelf.

I have vultured myself into a stash mountain. At least by my standards! It's still only one metal shelf unit but for me - the amount I have is huge! DD#2 asks "Mom, could you make something white for Sophie to wear? You have enough yarn you should be able to do that." Funny...I only buy yarn when it's one sale. I don't buy just because I may one day use it. Except for the few wayward skeins of acrylic that was donated to me, the yarn is meant for something specific.

Touching that one skein of sock yarn caused the mole hill to become a mountain on by my standards. (I've seen the stash pictures of some ravelry members...mini stores! Whole rooms just for their stash.) I'm stuck in my stash and I have to knit my way out! I'll be here for a few months. Send food, water and lots of chocolate. This is gonna take awhile!

It's just Socks?

With 4 skeins of sock yarn sitting around staring at me, waiting to become more than just a ball of yarn, I search Ravelry for sock patterns.

Why knit socks when you can get a pack of 10 for $6? I like how something is always going on with socks. Cuff, leg, heel, gussets, foot and final toe - reverse for toe-up. The yarns can be solid, varigaited, self-stripeing, the list goes on. The patterns can be just a good basic sock to colorwork, lacey, ankle, crew, knee-hi, enterlac, easy to complicated.
You can knit socks with:
1 - 5 Double Pointed Needles (my preferred method - I still have my bamboo size 3 dpns that
see lots of sock yarn)
2 -Two Circulars (I find this method fun and easy - and no dropped or lost needles!)
3 - One Large Circular - using one long circular - 36 -40" to knit the socks (I am about to try this
method. I'll see how this goes)
You can do variations on the circulars: two socks at a time!

You can start socks at:
1 - Cuff down
2 - Toe-up
3 - Horizontally - which results in a seam.

I usually knit my socks cuff down. I am going to do a toe-up design next. Hmmm, haven't had much luck in getting a good start on toe-up socks. Again, enter search mode, finding Magic Cast On. Ding. Ding. Ding. I love it! It's neat, easy and works everytime! What more could I want from a cast on? Thank you Judy Becker!

Came home from a get-out-of-the-house run with...another skein of sock yarn. (total skeins of sock yarn - 5). Yes, there are people out there with more sock yarn than can be knitted in a year. (If they are knitting other things too), I'm not one of them. I think having 5 skeins waiting - 3 on-the-needles, 2 on deck waiting is plenty for me!

Socks...wonderful knitting projects. Fast, fun, portable and well liked. What more could you want in a project?

Must Resist

I swear I can here some yarn calling my name wanting me to cast on a new project. Spent this past Lent working on any WIPs (Work-in-Progress). Finishing up the putting together, or making up as they say in the fiber world.

Dare I list what is on-the-needles? Why not? Let's be wild!

1. Granny Square skirt - hmmm it's at the making up stage - on the shelf
   
2. Chicken Potholder - 3/4 of the way to the finish - next to the laptop. When I'm waiting on the dail-up I work on potholders...great way to make Christmas gifts all year!
3. Titicaca - cardigan - 1/4 done - in the project drawer in the living room
4. Spring sweater - froggin' it and remaking
5. Prayer Shawl - 3/4 of the way done.
6. Socks- hubby's - 1 done casting on tonight for it's partner
7. Socks - DD#3's - cast on and that's all that's done
8. Horse sweater for GD#2 - 3/4 done- having a heck of time keeping the color changes straight.
9. Miss Molly Doll - 1/4 done - the legs...need to get fiberfill before I go any further.
10. Strawbeary - again need fiberfill - 1/2 done.

Not as bad as I thought! I won't list what's in the queue for casting on...I think I would scare myself!

To the needles and string!