Ipo’s boot is off and her foot looks fine. She was supposed to wear the boot another week or so, but the boot came off on it’s own. Other than missing fiber on her foot and ankle where she’s had boot and bandage for two months, Ipo seems fine. We’ve seen no limping or indications of problems and Ipo seems happy to finally be free of the boot.

We’ve been allowing the girls to briefly graze the corridor between our fences every day at feeding time. They need forage and the grass needs mowing. It’s easier to let them out for an hour than to mow. When I let the herd into the new grass on Saturday, Ipo went running and pronking up and down the corridor. With each mad running dash, the boot got looser and looser until she was pronking about with the boot flapping in the breeze and only the last velcro around her foot. We removed the boot to prevent injury.

The latest issue (Spring 2006) issue of Alpacas Magazine has some interesting scanning electron micrographs of various fibers. I found the differences in the shape and height of the scales very interesting. I’ve always heard that part of the reason wool is scratchier than alpaca fiber is that wool has higher scales. The differences in scale height are very obvious in the micrographs and the best wool has scales almost ten times the height of good huacaya. The article also talks about suri scales. It’s worth a read – or at least a look at the photographs.

I actually got some spinning done yesterday. I finished filling the second bobbin of black suri singles and then filled a bobbin of two-ply. Now I’m back to making more singles. Fine singles are slow work, and right now, it feels like the fleece is growing on me. It’s beautiful yarn and glossy unwashed. I can’t wait to see how it looks once it’s washed and skeined – I keep dreaming up projects even though the yarn isn’t mine.
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