Mostly Alpacas

I thought you would all enjoy a few more pictures from the alpaca farm.  Babies are arriving almost every day and it is a very exciting time at the farm.

The last time I was down at the farm (on Sunday), there were nine babies and I know that at least one more has arrived since then.  Each one really has its own personality!

That little black one is the smallest of the group, but he's quite a handful.  He's like the little dog who isn't aware of his size and challenges every German Shepherd that walks past.

We call him Oh, Henry! because he is such a handful (his mother is named Skittles and that lineage is all candy bars).  That won't be his documented name, however, because his mother had previously been sold and the new owner will have to choose a name for this little guy.

You can tell these babies have a lot of energy and they are so much fun to watch!  They have the same carefree nature as human children and I admit it's very entertaining to watch them stumble around as they get used to running, prancing, and playing.

That little brown girl is such a beauty and I'm sure she'll be a show girl next year.  Just look at how curly her fleece is!  And aren't those eyes the most adorable things you've ever seen?  And just look at one of the most recent arrivals:

What a surprise!  The other babies are all pretty solidly colored - one white one has beige ears and a brown one has white legs - but none of the others have big splotches like this one!  I told the farmer that if he's not suitable for the show ring, I'd be happy to take him off her hands.  He comes from one of my favorite families, too - his mother's name is Symphonie.  (That family also has Melody, Harmony, Aria, Rhapsody, and probably some that I'm forgetting.)  I'm sure I have room in my back yard for him.

And here's Harvi, the friendliest guard llama you'll ever meet.

She loves to know what's going on at all times and it seems her favorite thing to do is to interrupt conversations by standing in between the two people talking.  All the alpacas know that she can protect them, though, so they have a habit of hiding behind her when they're unsure about anything in the field.

But like I said, she's just a sweetheart.

I really could spend all day every day at that farm.  I don't think I'll ever grow tired of it!

Shall we look at some knitting now?  I thought you'd like to see what my Mountain Peaks Shawl looks like now that it's blocked.

It really blocked nicely and has the perfect combination of drape and springiness.

And I think using handspun gave it a great amount of character, too.  Remind me to knit with my handspun more often!  I think I get into the habit of considering a skein of handspun to be finished once it is washed and dried, but I really need to follow through with the next step - knitting!

I'll have to save this one to give as a gift sometime in the future.  I'm sure I can find someone who'll love it.

And my Icelandic sweater is coming along nicely, too.  I was trying to knit it up as quickly as possible because I have some more sample knitting to do, but I didn't quite make it to the finish line.  The yarn for the next sample sweater arrived today and I still have much of the yoke to finish, so I'll have to set it aside for a bit, but I'm eager to see the finished product.

I tried it on today, though, and I really love the way it's fitting so far!  This is definitely in the running to become my favorite sweater, but I tend to think that about each new sweater I knit.  Only time will tell!

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US!  Don't do anything stupid with fireworks, mmmkay?