In June of 2005, Georgia delivered Trellianna, the first female alpaca born at Upper Alpacas. Originally named Georgina, we changed her name to Trellianna because -- well -- she just didn't seem like a Georgina. Anna moved to Tennessee last October with… more »

I don't have the best grammar in the world. I don't -- and won't -- always write perfect standard written English. A couple of my recent posts, however, are not up to my own standards. The "Death of a Hobby" post has been edited. I hope it is less painfu… more »

My first serious hobby -- and the first hobby I attempted to turn into a business -- was candlemaking. Every year from junior high until after graduate school, I would commandeer the family kitchen shortly after Thanksgiving, convert it to a candle facto… more »

Amanda wrote: I love the feel of alpaca, soooo super soft. I'm still worried I might be allergic (goes with the rest of nature LOL) Did you teach yourself how to spin or take classes? I'm debating on the classes and just getting a book. Nice skeins tho… more »

This is my sum total spinning output since June of 2005. A whole three skeins and change. Granted, it's baby suri and fairly fine -- not the fastest thing to spin -- but it still isn't that much output. I haven't weighed the fiber or calculated yardage y… more »

We've gotten a snowstorm or two every winter since we moved to Oregon. This winter has been snowier than usual -- this is the third or fourth snow and the deepest since we've been here. I won't make it to work today. Normally, it would be a great day to… more »

A recent exchange of e-mails prompted me to write a three-part series about pregnancy testing in alpacas. The breeder with whom I exchanged e-mails is a regular reader of this blog. I'm sure she doesn't need this information, but others might, so I sat d… more »

I attempted to migrate my blogroll from the old site. There were, um, technical difficulties. Some of the sites came over pointing behind the curtain on this site, others, well, um, they were there and now they aren't. It's all, well, let's just say The… more »

For some reason, I tend to lose ends when I'm spinning. The strand breaks or I lose the drafting triangle and suddenly I'm staring at a bobbin with no apparent end. I know there's an end, but I can't see it. Treadling backwards doesn't work. Tape doesn't… more »

Happy New Year! I actually wrote four -- count them four -- blogs yesterday. For various reasons, none are posted yet. A couple may end up being edited into oblivion. Today's plan was to watch football and spin. Unfortunately, my beloved Wisconsin Ba… more »