We had a great weekend at the annual Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival. Saturday was rainy and cold but Sunday was drier and milder. A little rain never deters the serious fiber enthusiasts; it was fun to see many of our old fiber friends and meet many new ones. Thanks … Read More
Being able to take credit cards at a festival where there’s no phone line available is very convenient. It’s a great feature for those of us who vend away from our stores. I spent the weekend selling yarn, patterns, knitting needles, etc at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival and ran … Read More
We had a great visit yesterday with a busload of USDA FAS folks. Now back to business and getting packed up for our first fiber festival of the season. Fall is a really busy time for both fiber fests and alpaca shows. We start off this weekend with the Southern … Read More
We like to shear our crias before the end of summer. This removes the discolored, often tender, tips of their fiber and gives us a better fleece at shearing next spring. This week we sheared the nine crias that have been born so far here at Snowshoe Farm. This is … Read More
We received histogram results (fiber test data) for our yearling males. All seven tests came back under 20 microns – with the lowest at 13.8! That’s some fine, fine fiber! We also had Aristides, our 3 year old champion herdsire, tested and his histogram is 18.5/3.8/20.7/0.6! And his fleece weight … Read More
I’m packing up yarn for Saturday’s Fiber-a-Thon at Vermont Grand View Farm in Washington. I’ll be there from 10-4 selling yarn and roving. I will teach a beginner lace knitting class from 12:30 -1:30. Come to the farm and enjoy a day among fiber friends!
The last alpaca we sheared last week was our beautiful rose gray female, Esther Rose. Here are some photos of the process:
We’re scheduled to shear our alpacas this week and the forecast is for chance of showers every day. This is not good. The alpacas need to be dry – or mostly dry – for shearing. And damp fiber is more work for us as it will need to be aired … Read More
I’ve been busy dyeing yarn to prepare for SPA, Knit & Spin this coming weekend in Freeport, Maine. Here’s a selection of our handpainted alpaca blend sock yarn. Look for our farm store to be online in early March.
The forecast starting tomorrow is for a couple days of mild weather which means I will be spending my days out in the barn skirting fiber. I still have quite a bit of fiber left to skirt and it needs to be done and out of the way before we … Read More