Taylors Fiber Fancies ~ News! » 2005

Technical Difficulties - It’s Always Something!

May 31st, 2005

I had every intention of blogging what's on the needles last week. I have an errant and contrary modem driver though (I'm using our 'backup' machine now!)and have been unable to get online to do so. This backup machine only has IE5, so I can't blog anything properly on this!! This post will have to be edited later once I get my driver in line again.

You know the prison break? Well, sure enough, two of our girls were impregnated. And since none of the 'villains' were caught in the act, we don't know if they got a suitable herdsire, or a not so good fella'. Now we have to make an abortion decision for the two girls. It would be chemical. Their reproductive organs are very small and delicate, so that's the only way. Still, I worry about the long-term damage to their reproductive system, and the ethics of it too. Yeah, I know that it's a "crop" of sorts, and I should think of it in that way, but it's a little tough. Those of you who know me well on a personal level understand how it would be for me.

Ah well, today is for spinning and driver-fixing. I'll be back with pictures once I get those things accomplished, which I hope is sooner rather than later.

Prison Break at the OK corral

May 25th, 2005

Just got some very interesting news about Ungelded Alpacas Gone Wild! Well, at the farm where we've been boarding our alpacas, the boys are kept across the street in a separate pasture from the ladies - for the obvious reasons.

Recently, these lonely boys (some of whom are 'experienced' and some of whom were probably just going along for the fun of it) broke their fence - their electric fence - and went on a panty raid of sorts in the girls pasture!!

Apparently they were able to have a little fun before they got caught. Now, pregnant females will NOT allow a male to have his way with her. So you know what that means. There may be a few unplanned and not hand chosen matings out there in them thar' pastures.

The boys that went on the road trip were a mix of herdsires and fiber boys - but either way, unplanned pairings don't lead to good genetic outcomes generally. (See the South American fiber production as a result of unattended wild mountain mating - ALWAYS buy yarns and fibers from AMERICAN alpacas people! If you like quality that is….)

The pastures with the girls probably have about 140 girls in it. I don't know what that makes the odds that our 5 or so unbred females were targeted - and please don't let it have been by one of their own sons or brothers - but I sure don't like the sound of it all.

If you see anything like what I've just described here being advertised as a new FOX summer program, please let me know right away. At the very least we should get a cut of the royalties should any of our alpacas be involved in this debauchery.

Dig if you will - Pre-Embellishment!!

May 21st, 2005

A Continuation of: Dig if you will a picture… / Dig if you will Part II / Dig if you will Part III
Dig if you will Part IV / Dig if you will Part V / Dig if you will Part VI

The good news is that Prince looks like Prince - not Fat Albert or Good Times Jimmy. The less than thrilling news is that the purple is a bit darker than would have been ideal and blends too much.

You can still see Prince's face, and it definitely looks like him, but it's more of a "mystery" pictures… you know, you think you see something but you aren't quite sure, so you look a little closer… and AHA!! That's kind of cool too in it's own way, it just wasn't what I had in mind.

The top 4-5 " of the bag did not felt as well as the rest of the bag, so I'm going to hold just that part in the washer and felt it up a bit more. Once that dries, it will be time to add embellishments to the fronts, and then add the lining and strap.

While not what I had originally planned, I still think it's going to turn out to be an awesome bag!

Here's what we've got so far:

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