Mossy Cottage Knits

Shear Fun!

On Wednesday I toyed ever so slightly with the idea of not going to Guild—a first for me—but I’m so glad that I overcame that fleeting moment of utter insanity. What a lovely night it was with interesting speakers, a passel of Dear Readers (plus one) to tease and be teased by, and an above-average show and tell.

Our speaker was Karen Olson of Alpacas of Cloud Ranch in Oroville, Washington. Using a slideshow, she showed us images of the different colors of alpaca fleece (apparently there are 20-something natural colors recognized here in the United States, and 100-something recognized in South America!), her ranch, her 83-year-old mother toiling along with the best of ‘em on said ranch, and her “babies.”

The post-shearing pictures of Karen’s alpacas had us all rolling in the aisles. Apparently one does not shear the head area on an alpaca so, after shearing, they look lean, mean and quasi-anorexic everywhere except their heads which, in stark contrast, remain hugely fluffy, puffy, wooly and clownish. One could almost imagine the weight of the “head fleece” causing the poor alpaca to tip forward onto its nose, eyes wide with astonishment, hind legs flailing, and Karen and Mum rushing out to the paddock to right the poor thing. Along these same lines, Karen also showed a priceless picture of one alpaca that was sheared just when their last blade became dull and unusable so the poor dear had to walk around with his entire mid-section closely shaved but his hindquarters and front end as fat and fluffy as ever. You know he got pantsed and wedgied at school.

The surprise of the evening was that accompanying Karen was Betty Roberts, “The Spinning Wheel Lady,” who builds her own spinning wheels and spinning chairs. The spinning wheels she brought were remarkable: small, compact, dark, sturdy, made of hardwood, and every inch a work of art. Some had special carved embellishments and one was inlaid with dried, pressed wildflowers. I am not a spinner but even I was in awe of this lady’s artistry! (Late Friday Morning Update! Thanks to Dear Reader Melinda, we have access to pictures of a Betty Roberts spinning wheel, Melinda's own wheel, in fact, and an example of the kind with inlaid dried flowers. Thank you, Melinda!)

The highlight of the evening, however, was that I met yet another Dear Reader, Rebecca of Supergirl. I’ve always been fascinated by Rebecca because she is (a) a knitter and (b) a triathlete. How do you suppose she combines such a restful, mind- and soul-quieting hobby as knitting with the need to gogogo until you drop? Of course, this is being asked by someone who, two years ago, planted one, one!, frickin’ tulip bulb and threw her back out. I am so not triathlon material. (Oh, my God—just the thought is bringing tears of laughter to my eyes.) But I won't hold the fact that she is a Renaissance woman against her, especially since, like all of my Dear Readers, she was lovely, easygoing and friendly, and I sincerely hope she returns to Guild next month!

Knitting Knews
Below, a picture of the finished Catalina socks. Taking this picture was quite the adventure. I took about three or four pictures initially but every one turned out dark and smudgy. I complained bitterly to the long suffering TMK that her camera wasn’t working. She was skeptical, and rightly so, since after a couple of moments of looking at the images on the camera she handed the camera back to me and informed that, yet again, I had managed to take photos of my own boobs. Sigh.

Special Note: A big heartfelt thank you goes out to Dear Readers Greta and Bren whose sweet and uplifting emails made yesterday a great day to be alive! (Bren, do you have a blog? If so, lemme know and I'll link your name to it.)

Posted by Ryan at March 19, 2004 09:17 AM