Snow Day!

We have Hurricane Sandy to thank for the snow day off from school. For those of us here in northern Ohio the worst of the storm brought rain, snow and slush. Several people further north of us had some flooding and some power outages. Nothing like the magnitude of the flooding and loss of power and life for those poor people on the east coast. Although I am glad for the beautiful snowy morning and the ability to stay home in my cosy house I feel so bad for those people back east.

Our alpaca girls didn't quite know what to make of the snow. It was such a wet snow that it was dripping off the roof over the doorway of their small barn. To them it must have seemed like it was raining so they stayed inside munching the hay all day instead of going out into the pasture. When I visited them they were standing in the open doorway gazing outside with longing for the grass. It is clear that although they will eat the hay they much prefer the fresh grass in the pasture.

Snow days are always like an early Christmas gift for me.I'm always grateful for the unexpected gift of a day to do anything I please. Today I blocked the alpaca/merino blend shawl that I have been working on for a couple of months. It's not perfect. I made quite a few mistakes but unless someone is closely inspecting it they are not noticeable. Since it is for my own use I don't feel quite so bad about those mistakes. I wonder if the alpaca girls will notice
when I wear it, that I made it from one of their relatives!

Today I knitted on a scarf made from some lovely brown llama yarn that I spun myself. This is the second product that I have made from my own hand spun yarn. I am clearly a novice spinner but it is a learning process. I have my colleague, Scott, to thank for the beautiful llama fleece. I sent it out for processing into roving for me to spin on my Ashford Traveller wheel that I named Bridget. The llama is a pleasure to work with. Thanks, Mr. G.

 

Yesterday I was discussing why I own alpacas with a girl in one of my seventh grade classes. I explained that I am a knitter and a spinner so the alpacas created an endless supply of fleece for me to work with. The young lady gasped in horror and her eyes grew very wide. I quickly explained to the city girl that you don't kill the animals for the fleece, your shear them! That is what those of us in the teaching profession call a "teacheable moment!"