Tuesday's Toot - I was on T.V. Yesterday!

I haven't particpated in a Tuesday Toot in a long time. Mostly because I've been too pooped to toot! I've been working my tail off getting my farm ready and helping to promote the Alpacas of Minnesota 5th Annual Farm Tour this coming weekend, September 27th and 28th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.! Which brings me to my toot for today, I arranged a segment on a popular local television program called Showcase Minnesota to help promote the farm tour for the entire state of Minnesota! On top of it, I got to appear on the program to demonstrate the dropspindle! You can see the video of the segment here.

Alpacas of Minnesota Farm Tour September 27 & 28, 2008

On September 27 & 28, Humming Hills Alpaca Ranch, LLC invites you to join us for the 5th Annual Alpacas of Minnesota Farm Tour. Our doors are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day!

What is an alpaca? Alpacas are members of the camelid family, which means Llamas and Camels are their cousins. They’re very gentle creatures with a wonderful disposition. They’re approximately a third the size of a llama and produce one of the most luxurious and strongest fibers in the world. Their cashmere-like fleece is 5-7 times warmer than wool and does not contain any lanolin. For people who have sensitive skin, allergies or cannot wear wool because it’s too itchy, alpaca fiber is the perfect alternative. Alpacas are also the only fiber bearing animal that comes in 22 different natural colors and variations.

In addition to educational sessions, children’s activities and fiber related demos (drop spindle and wheel spinning, crochet, loom knitting, needle knitting, and machine knitting, needle and wet felting), Humming Hills Alpaca Ranch, LLC will also be selling alpaca related products, jellies and jams, jewelry, and lots of gift items. There’s something for everyone in the family - raw fiber (used in fly tying), yarn (hand and machine spun) and garments made from alpaca fibers, alpaca toys, make-and-takes, photo opportunities, and more!

Come and enjoy the autumn colors, refreshments and the soothing sound of our humming alpacas!

I've been using my thumb as a pin cushion this weekend.

Ouch! My thumb has several pin sized holes in it. No, I didn't do it on purpose. It is just one of those things you can expect when you needle felt a 3D figure (oh, and I have poked myself a few times doing needle felting on a flat surface too).

You may remember on Mother's Day weekend Lisa Anderson and I met up at the Shepherd's Harvest Wool and Sheep Festival in Lake Elmo, MN. We both fell in love with the 3D needle felted figures at one of the booths (pictured in Lisa's post here). Being the adventurous and artistic person that I am, I of course had to try it out for myself.

It was my first time needle felting in 3D. Since I have an alpaca farm tour coming up this fall, I need to work on projects to sell anyway. I decided to start out making an alpaca. What do you think? Does it look like an alpaca? I think it just needs a little more fuzz (sorry for the poor quality photo, I took it with my camera phone).



I have also been busy loom knitting some afghan blocks for my friend's comfort-ghan. There are sparkly silver strands (not showing up in the pic) in the super soft yarn I used in this block and I didn't want to distract from these strands so I just used a simple e-wrap stitch.



I wanted to use some of my super soft alpaca but unfortunately, I think the color is too dark for the stitch pattern I came up with (yes, I'll write it up for those who would like to use the pattern in their own loom knit projects). It is still pretty and the texture is nice anyway. I think I'll use it for my shrug I was suppose to be loom knitting for the May LAL on Ravelry. I'll need to use my DA adult hat loom though. Hopefully it will be wide enough. It will be 24 inches if I use all of the pegs.



Until next time!