OUR SMALL HERD

Our original four boys came from Ardo Alpacas in Aberdeenshire. We are not alpaca breeders and have our boys purely as pets. Our experience is that you don't need to be a breeder and that a 'batchelor herd' can give much pleasure to the owner. We have 5 acres including our big garden and grazing for the boys, 15 miles north of Inverness, Scotland. I spin, knit, felt and crochet with the fleece from the boys.

Clicking!!

Just a reminder that clicking on (most) of the photos will show them greatly enlarged.

Sunday, 3 October 2010

Rain and rainbows

We've experienced quite a bit of rain recently and some alpacas just love to get themselves into a mess on the wet ground.  This is Fidget,  having got himself thoroughly soaked then proceeded to roll in the dry dust inside the field shelter!  Not such a cuddly boy when he looks like this!
Last Wed evening we had a heavy shower of rain followed by strong sunlight from the West.  The result was a perfect double rainbow but unfortunately I could not get the whole arch in one photo.  Wee Eck as always likes to be the first to check out the camera so his black face and prominent ears usually appear at the front of our photos! 

The cattle at the other end of the rainbow - but no pot of gold (unfortunately!)

Some of the boys getting into a 'Spot the rainbow' mode.

And finally.... I've been busy spinning and crotcheting recently and these are  3 curly wurly scarves I've made.  They are each about 130cm in length.  The outer one is Fergus's fleece and the contrast colour has been achieved by dyeing green (sage).  The middle scarf is from Gully (fawn) and Gaucho (brown) whilst the inner one is from Rufus (dark rose grey) and Turkish (light rose grey).  Turkish is from the Ardo alpaca herd.
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5 comments:

  1. Unknown3 October 2010 at 13:17

    Great photos...that is one very dirty pacca! The scarves look impressive. I am inspired to do some dying after seeing what you achieved...don't think that my skills will stretch to crotchering though!

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  2. Zanzibah Alpacas3 October 2010 at 23:18

    What a lovely...dirty Boy !! then....I thought that you had increased your herd with another Rose Grey..for a moment..lovely scarves...and what a beautiful rainbow...after such torrential rain !!......Jayne

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  3. Debbie, Barnacre Alpacas4 October 2010 at 19:55

    And I thought Kazuo looked bad!! Why is it always the white ones that like the mud?

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  4. Yvonne5 October 2010 at 11:25

    Hi there,
    Lovely blog! I'm just starting out researching these lovely creatures as my Mum would like to keep some up in Orkney. I found your blog on the website listing Scottish keepers. I love your crochet scarves above too (I'm starting out with crochet) - where did you find the pattern? There was a lady doing natural wool dyes at the local Bruce festival and it was really interesting. How does the wool differ from sheep wool? Is it softer? We kept sheep (as pets really) a while back but there was no market for the fleece.

    Looking forward to learning about your herd.

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  5. Shirley5 October 2010 at 19:56

    Hi Sleepwalker, Thanks for your comments and questions. I've tried to get back to you via Blogger, but can't get access. Can you email me on rj.thomson@btinternet.com and I'll be delighted to help. Look forward to hearing from you.

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