Friday, December 31, 2010

"Should old acquaintance be forgot..."

This is the last blog of the year. Here's to all my old friends and to all my new friends. I hope the new year finds you challenging the boundaries. Throwing out what is considered 'normal'. Discovering new loves while keeping the old ones alive. And I dearly love my old ones. And the new ones, too. Pictured above are two of my new ones, Avary and Autumn. As you can see, Ava already has a way with alpacas! So, my friends, reflect on the year gone by today. I'll talk to you soon.

Tammy

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

"doot, doot, doo, lookin' out my backdoor..."

"Just got in from Illinois...." (CCR song) and that is what I have been singing this morning. But I'm looking out my kitchen window. Looking at all the snow, the cardinals and the crias rough housing. I enjoy eating my morning Rice Chex and looking out the window to see what is going on out there today and thinking about what project I am going to work on today. Today, I will finish Sarah's scarf. And maybe get some wool washed. Enjoy the day! "doot, doot, doo, lookin' out my backdoor!"
Talk to you soon,  Tammy

Saturday, December 25, 2010

"And so this is Christmas..."

"...and what have you done? Another year older..." What have you done this year? I've tried to hold on to old friendships and make new ones. To keep the bonds with family. In the world we live in, that can be very difficult. Sometimes it gets you down and you feel it just can't be done. But you keep at it and on today it all pays off. Enjoy the day. Hug your loved ones. Start thinking about projects you want to start on the upcoming snowy days. Knit happy.
          Merry Christmas! 
          

Friday, December 24, 2010

Alpacas In The Snow

Snow on Christmas is a special thing. I'm not sure the alpacas realize the relevance of it though. But I do. It was enjoyable today as I went out to feed. I watched the crias romping in the pasture as the snow was coming down. I took a few pictures to share with you. It is quite a Winter Wonderland today Illini Alpacas! Enjoy the day, my friends!

Talk to you soon,

Tammy

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Keeping Up At Christmas Time

During the hustle and bustle of Christmas, life can get sort of crazy. It has been around here. I have been working on some presents and I will take pictures of them before I wrap them up and share them with you later. As you can see, the crias are thriving and it is alot of fun watching them romp around in the cooler weather. The other picture is of me and Vienna, who is also pictured in the center in the above picture. It is an artsy, glamour type of picture, don't you think?

Don't forget to take the time this holiday season to look around and hug the ones you love. It can be a joyous season if you let it be. I'm thankful for my family and friends. I'm thankful because I like my life. It gets trying sometimes. I get wore out sometimes. But I still like it. Thank you for sharing some of it with me.

Talk to you soon,  Tammy

Friday, December 17, 2010

Annual Cookie Swap

I hope you are having fun getting ready for the holidays! We are around here. We hosted our annual Cookie Swap recently. We had 10 guests bringing 6 dozen of their favorite cookies and we swapped out each other's cookies. As you can see, we had quite a variety of recipes. It is pretty awesome to see 60 dozen cookies on the dining room table! I now need to bake a couple of batches of my other favorite cookie, chocolate chip, to add to the assortment and we will have a plate of cookies to take everywhere we go this holiday season. The iced Santa head cookie in the picture is my husband, Darrell's, signature decorated cookie. And I know its why most
of the people come to the Cookie Swap. They want some Santas for their own! Talk to you soon,  Tammy

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

1-2-3 Vest

I finished my grandson, Eagan's, vest and am very pleased with the results. I posted the spun yarn on an earlier post. It is a handspun 3-ply alpaca yarn that I dyed myself. The original pattern came from "Natural Knits for Babies and Moms" by Louisa Harding. The yarn I spun didn't match what the pattern called for. Drats! So I adjusted my gauge and yarn to fit the pattern. Then, the pattern called for knitting pieces and then sewing them together. Drats! I hate that! I guess I have read too many of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books (all of them) and her philosophy of why knit in pieces when you can knit it in the round in one piece much faster. So, I adapted the pattern to knitting it in the round. The only seam I had was the left shoulder seam which I used the three-needle bind off method on. I forgot to purl the first row in time to make the stripe, so instead of ripping it out, I made the stripe rows farther apart than the pattern called for. I call it the 1-2-3 Vest because I made three rows to border the bottom, two rows border the armholes and around the neck and one row is the striping pattern. Definitely not because the was 1-2-3 easy! I did alot of improvising and was lucky because it turned out so well! To all of you, Knit Happy!

Talk to you soon,  Tammy

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Still Spinning

Yes, since the dreaded feltball injury, I am still spinning fiber into yarns and enjoying myself immensely! At the right is my latest core-spun
yarn made from alpaca, silk and glitz. I've been kicked back in my workshop, watching some TV,
and spinning fiber. In my workshop I have a flat
screen tv on the wall which is hooked up to DirectTV. I like tv. Some people like to listen to
music and work. I like to watch tv and movies and
work. I'm from the television generation, I watch alot
of tv, and I'm not going to apologize about it or try
to hide it. TV is what I do. I do listen to music some
times. In my car. At karaoke.  But while working on projects in my workshop, I have the tv on. And I get stuff
done. Enough about that. The other picture is one of the
newest additions to my cat ranching. I've been calling her
Princess as she is an only child and quite spoiled. She is
very friendly and available for adoption. She is about 6
weeks old. Well, I'm headed out to my workshop where
I'm going to turn on a classic old movie, like Predator,
and do some spinning. Talk to you soon,
Tammy