Well that was interesting.........

What do people who spin want?  Fiber of course!  So, what am I in search of?  Well……..that would be fiber.  You would think that as many sheep as I see grazing around in pastures in the area that someone would have some wool that they sheared off of their sheep.  Or at least know somebody who has sheep that they shear.  That would be too easy.  In my fiber quest, I wound up talking to a woman who just so happens to own a Llama who just so happened to need a haircut.  She wanted to know if I would be interested in that type of wool?  CHA CHING!!  Llama hair is great!  Soft and fine and lofty and expensive as hell.  So I tell her sure, I’ll be there.  

Well today was Llama day.  Awwwww she is so cute!  Sweet liquid brown eyes and cute floppy ears and delicate little Llama lips.  And her name is Tony…..Tony the Llama.  Well sad to say, the recent storms we’ve had haven’t done her fur any favors.  She had all sorts of trash in her fur.  I had to pick quite a bit out before I could start.

So Miss Tony and I went to the barn to begin our grooming session.  If I said that she didn’t appreciate the sound of the clippers, that would be an understatement.  It took quite a while for her to decide that a) I wasn’t going to kill her, and b) I wasn’t going to give up.  She finally decided to stand still.  Now picture this.  It’s hot, and me and this beast are doing some kind of a clipper two-step trying to de-hair her.  I was trying to be patient.  She was steady trying to escape.  

I was able to get 90% of her clipped.  Her patience ran out about the time my clipper blade got dull.  She didn’t get the neatest haircut on the planet, in fact she looks quite choppy and pathetic in places.  But she will be a LOT cooler and if her owner would give her a good grooming about once a week or so, the next clipping will be much easier on her.  I came home with a hefty bag full of lovely llama wool.  Mostly black, with maybe 10% snow white and a titch of chocolate brown mixed in.  Now I need to get it cleaned and carded.

My new spindle should arrive first of next week!  I’m going to be a beta-tester for Simple Market Farms.  I am very excited!