Fiber Arts Friday - Got Fiber?

Fiber rules my life these days and I'm not talking about the cereal, I'm talking about the fleece on Alpacas. I took two blue ribbons with my Handspun Suri Alpaca Yarn at Nationals last week. One skein was processed 100% by me and was 100% Suri Alpaca from my beautiful Confetti Reign.  The other skein was my fiber blended from a couple of Alpaca then processed at the mill into roving the handspun by me.  Both skeins were entered into the Beginning Spinner Category since I have only been spinning a year.  Yes, I know that's hard to believe.

I spent the first three days of this week either sorting or shearing some of the most beautiful Suri and Huacaya Alpacas you will ever see.  Yes, that's a fact!  They aren't called the Wonder Herd for nothing.

On Monday and Wednesday, I sorted a total of 49 Suri at Wind Walker Ranch.  My foundation Suri females come from their farm and I am not shy about saying that their breeding program and the owners are beyond amazing so sorting their fleece for production feels more like play than work.  Well, it would seem that way if the last three days hadn't been 90 degrees with extremely high humidity, that is, but I won't let sticky unbearable weather get me down when I have beautiful fleeces to sort.

On top of their herd, I have been able to sort my own and those Alpacas grazing out in the Pastures of Wonder have done a great job producing my farm's harvest for the year.  It's amazing how many pounds one herd can produce. I have a bunch of rugs being shipped to me this week just from the 3rd/Other fiber that came off our herd last year.  That is the fleece full of guard hairs or coarser fiber.  There is a mill that magically weaves it into beautiful rugs that are soft and luxurious.  Really, when I say we have a yearly fleece harvest, I'm not kidding.

When I say that I've been playing in fiber this week...I'm not kidding.  As much fun as I have knitting the yarn or spinning, there is wonder to be found in the raw fleece.  I invited my knitting group, the Zombie Prom Date Knitters, and the Kalamazoo Weavers Guild to come see the Wonder of Shearing and I think they all found a new respect for the process of raising an Alpaca and shearing it's fleece so we can create the beautiful yarns and roving they love.

I'm taking this weekend to rest before next weeks marathon sorting continues.  I will sort at four farms. What have you been up to this week?
Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

To participate:

1. Submit your blog article to the next edition of fiber arts friday using our carnival submission form. Remember to submit your current blog address NOT your complete blog  i.e. you would submit 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com/2010/02/e-i-e-i-doh.html  

NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

1. Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Text link to  WISDOM BEGINS IN WONDER!   
2. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Check out these cool blogs: