Knitting with Kai Llama

You may recall, about seven months ago, I had my llama, Kai, sheared for the first time since she came to live at Critter Farm:

The shearer was a really awesome lady who did an impressive job:

 She sheared in such a way that Kai's fiber came off in two large sheets:

And, at the end of the day, that huge "rug" that Kai had been carrying around for two years, fit into an empty feed bag:

I played around with this fiber for days afterwards.  It was so soft.  This whole shearing process was completely new and totally fascinating to me:Kai looked so beautiful (and so young!) with her two years worth of fiber removed: But now that I had all this beautiful fiber, I had no idea what to do with it.  For fun, I offered it up on my blog and was surprised by all the responses I got.  Some of my blogging buddies actually wanted portions of it!  So, George the cat and I sat on my front porch one afternoon and packaged up baggies of it for everyone who wanted to experiment with it:

The majority of it, though, went to my blog friend, Clairz, over at The Zees Go West.  She is a spinner extraordinaire and wanted to spin some of Kai's fiber "rug" into yarn.  She even promised to send me a bit of it, but I was just so tickled she wanted some of Kai's fiber, I didn't really expect anything in return.  So, imagine my surprise when I received a box in the mail last week and found all of this beautiful Kai yarn inside (the smaller baggie also included some beautiful sheep's wool yarn and alpaca yarn for comparison):

Skein after beautiful skein of Kai yarn is now in my possession:

Hard to believe now that this was once the matted coat my llama wore:
You can read all about how Clairz turned that messy, debris-filled coat that Kai wore into this lovely yarn by clicking here:  "Spinning Kai"

This yarn is softer than you can possibly imagine and so gorgeous. Unbelievably, it still smells like Kai! The good smelling part of Kai, that is... :-):And, just so you know...my mom, who is a very passionate knitter, has been waiting (rather impatiently, I might add) for this yarn.  Here she is, grabbing up every single skein in sight.  Sadly, I didn't manage to capture the ecstatic look in her eye:

My mom put my youngest son, Aidan, immediately to work:

 And she couldn't wait to get those knitting needles working:

 If there's enough yarn, Aidan and I will both get hats:

And then Aidan and I will wear Kai llama on our heads:

I think Kai would like this, don't you?

Not everyone is in the holiday mood...

Beau... trying to convince Chester to wear the damn hat:

One more short message from Roxy

 Send help.  Please.

It's that time of the year again.

My farm girl is in her ridiculous "holiday hat" mood. For some reason, I am always her first victim.

Don't laugh.  Just wait until you see the donkeys.

It's interesting to note...

that of the 18 eggs I've gotten in the 29 days of November so far:
 Every single one of them has come from Skippy, my White Leghorn hen:
Each one consistently weighs in at an impressive 2.75 ounces:
That's right, Skippy, you're my star:
Even if you do have dirty feet:
Considering this little gal is almost four years old and it's at a time of year when most chickens' egg laying slows significantly due to less light and molting, she continues to be an amazing producer:
And as for the rest of you slackers...yes, that means you, Princess:

And all you girls who have become nest box sleepers instead of nest box layers...(Dottie, Bippity, Spongebob and Thumper!!!):
Every one of you needs to take a lesson from Skippy.

So, keep up the good work, Skippa-doo. You're the only girl standing between me and a carton of those nasty, pale, tasteless store-bought eggs.

It's the little things

Shy (a.k.a."Don't-touch-me!") Clyde finally let me pet him today:
His fur is so soft.  He felt amazing:

 I couldn't ask for anything more today.  :-)

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us on Critter Farm!

Pssst! You there...

Guess what?: I got into something today I shouldn't have:   It was delicious, but my farm girl said it was nasty:And she made me wash my face:That's ok, though, because once my face was clean, I was allowed on the couch for my afternoon nap:And shhhhhh.... tomorrow, I know straight where to go for the good stuff:

Changes

 It's that time again. Time when boots are a necessity and coats are required-wear for trips to the barn:

This means for everyone:

My farm pup, Roxy, is once again insisting on going out with me for morning and evening feedings. To me, this is a happy indication that her leg is (finally) recovering. Clearly, this is a girl who thrives on strategically placing herself in the center of things:

It's as if she understands how important our daily barn time is:

For me, this is the time that soothes and grounds me - and helps me to work out things in my head. Yes, even the poop-picking-up part is beneficial:

Clyde, who continues to maintain at least an arm's distance from all humans, enjoys the morning barn time, too, and will frequently observe the activities from his perch between the stalls:

With the weather turning colder, everyone is hungrier...
George and Clyde now look forward to a morning tuna treat on the front porch:

If I happen to leave Kai llama's grain bin open and unattended for the shortest of moments...:

she doesn't hesitate to help herself:

I had to break ice on the stock tank this morning. It got down to 25 degrees last night:

This gave me a bit of a jolt beause I realized -suddenly- that it's actually late fall already. See this spot of earth? This is where my garlic should be planted in the ground by now:

Want to know where my garlic is instead? Why, it's right here, of course...:

Hanging in my pantry:

Go ahead, guess what I'll be doing this week.

With the shift in seasons, I feel my urge growing to be in the kitchen again. I've baked 3 different types of bread and my first chocolate pecan pie in the last week:

The pie was magnificent but the best part of this recipe is that I've been introduced to the most perfect pie crust. It may sound silly but, for me, this is an incredibly empowering feeling. Personally, I feel that everyone should know how to make a perfect pie crust.

Given how inclement our weather has been so far, I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of time this winter to practice it.