Update Look for Happiness Blanket

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I am almost ready to start the border, I decided I didn’t need more pattern rows as I think it is long enough :). Sorry for the lighting, we had drizzling rain off and on most of the day and no sunshine so nice pictures are a bit of a hit and miss. When I’m done I’ll wash and block it and take a better picture. :). I have also been working on the Hats for Warmth Project that I do to send hats to the local homeless shelter. Maybe next week I can start on those stranded knitting Christmas tree balls that I bought last year from Arne and Carlos’ website. I can watch their YouTube video for instructions on how to do it. Their Christmas Stockings and sock patterns are on sale at the moment. Closer to Christmas they might have their Christmas tree balls patterns on sale as well, they are really pretty :).

General Conference 10-4 and 10-5 2025

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I love General Conference Weekend. General Conference is generally the 1st weekend in April and Oct every year. It’s listening to wonderful spiritual talks by our Prophet and Apostles and other leaders of our Church. We lost our Prophet at the age of 101 a few days ago and there will be a new Prophet called by the 12 Apostles soon, but the Lord’s work will continue. The peace and council they give us, helps ground us and remind us of how much our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ love us all. We are all brothers and sisters and knowing that helps in a sometimes chaotic world. We are here learning lessons of forgiving and serving others like our Savior did so that we can learn to be like him, not always an easy task, but necessary.

Hope you will join in listening to this General Conference at the link below and, if you miss any of talks and want to go back and listen they will be on the Church’s website at this same link https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org . Saturday they are central time 11am to 1pm and 3pm to 5pm, the same times tomorrow (Sunday.)

Praying for peace and comfort for everyone in this chaotic world where we should love one another and not hate, and for those in the wars and other conflicts around the world. Please join me in prayers of peace and comfort for our world.

Alpaca Spin – Half Done

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I am spinning a deep stash cria (baby alpaca) fiber on my Rick Reeves wheel. 1st bobbin is done, this will probably end up plying as a sport weight yarn. It looks thin, but after I wash it, it will plump up and be a bit thicker. Alpaca is a slippery fiber to spin and takes a practiced hand so I wouldn’t suggest alpaca to a beginner spinner, but I really like it, it’s so soft to spin. After I get the 2nd bobbin done and ply the two bobbins together, my plan is to turn it into hat for a friend :). I have started the 2nd bobbin and will work on it tomorrow :).

We are back in the 80’s this week, sigh, 90 on Friday and 89 on Saturday, but next week it will be in the lower to middle 70’s. If only the weather could make up its mind :P. Of course I will probably complain this winter when it’s way below 0 too :P.

Let There be Yarn!

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Was at the farm today, my son and his spouse picked up so much yarn on Friday!! The first two pictures show all the beautiful yarn. The 2 pictures of roving (first picture is so you can see the roving clearly, the bottom picture is to show how much there is) is from a cria from last year named Laya, it is sooo soft. It was so soft the mill couldn’t spin it without it getting neps in it, so she processed it as roving and my son gave it to me, oh my all this soft fiber to spin!!! Her color is light enough that I can dye some of it if I want :).

It was Alpaca Farm Days today at my son’s and his spouse’s farm but I didn’t get to take any pictures, I was busy showing spinning for all the people who came to see the alpacas. The fiber I was spinning is some old stash cria that looks a lot like Laya’s fiber and just as soft :). It was a good day :).

New Cria Named!

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He has been named….Apollo. He weighed 11 lbs 2 ozs at birth (on the small size) but weighs 12 lbs and 8 ozs now, he’s growing like a weed!! We won’t know his permanent color until he’s sheared next spring, but he is a cutie!

All my son’s yarn, for knitters and crocheters, and roving, for spinners and needle felters, from the past two years of shearing (yeah, there will be quite a bit!) is being picked up this Friday from the fiber mill and should be in his shop on Saturday for Alpaca days at his farm.

New Cria at the Farm!

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We had a birth this morning! A little boy (we were hoping for a little girl) but he is so cute and will be a rose grey like his mom, he’s so little! My son is watching to make sure he could latch on to nurse and the little one did, the colostrum is important. He will be weighed this evening and they will pick out a name for him so he can be registered. I told my son he should name the little one Ozzy Osborn, but he said, he doesn’t look like an Ozzy, and I thought, what does an Ozzy alpaca look like? LOL. Anyway a name will be forthcoming. He’s doing well so far, he was about an hr old in the right bottom picture. My son put one of his whippet’s sweaters on him because it started raining, so he wouldn’t get cold. The mom wasn’t real happy but she allowed it.

New Yarn, Gifts and a Cool Picture :)

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Ok, the first picture is a beautiful tonal blue yarn, colorway is I’m the Resistance. I had her do a special request to dye the tonal blue, as a full skein, that was in the American Woman color way I bought from her a couple of months ago. I wanted to use both in (I think I’ve settled on this but it might change so many things to knit :P) a cowl and fingerless mitts or hat to match for my grand daughter. The business is Awenydd Yarn & Fiber (click on catalog under the label at the top of the page to see all her beautiful pre-dyed color ways, you can also do a special order request like I did.) You can find her on YouTube where she does a Monday podcast reworking some of her older color ways while you watch her dye, a Wednesday podcast while you watch her dye from a random selection of colors of dyes from a random generator, it’s fun, and on Fridays she talks about her finished projects and works in progress etc. This request came out perfect! This is her Triple Goddess base, 100% super wash merino and a whopping 490 yards! It’s a light fingering weight. Would be perfect for a shawl, and to be honest I still haven’t ruled that out, lol. I have time to make my final choice :P. She also threw in a sample of her color way Reverie and 2 beautiful stitch markers and a progress keeper!

My son and his husband own an alpaca farm (I help out on Saturdays because they are open to the public on Saturdays.) I’m exhausted just thinking about how much work a farm takes as a business.) They took a well deserved week’s vacation a couple of weeks ago and went to FL to Disney World and Universal Studios to get away and rest, while Ev’s parents took care of the farm for them. They brought me back a Mandalorian Hoodie, a Harry Potter Gryffindor tee and 2 new pins (a Gryffindor and a Mandalorian) for my knitting project bag. You can probably tell I’m obsessed with Harry Potter and the Mandalorian :). So cool that they brought me something, it made me smile. The pin on the bottom is a zipper needle felted sheep I bought at a fiber festival a couple of years ago. In the next two pictures they are enjoying some of their Disney World adventures, they like Star Wars too.

The bottom right is just a cool picture, it’s called “a one in a million shot”.