Llama Face

At work, we had to shear llamas. Taber, our friendly neighborhood llama shearer, came out to do the job. Of course we all wanted to save him some time, so Jessie went to get them in the pen. We didn't count on Aleister being able to jump over the very high fence. We did manage to get Tony into the pen. (Not pictured is me being butted by Walter while trying to separate the sheep from the llamas. We aren't friends anymore)

In order to keep control of a llama, you have to hold onto the neck right under the jaw. This is the picture where Taber and Jessie have the llama "under control".

Then you slip a harness of some sort over the head.

Then you shear the llama. For anyone wondering, Aleister got the blood lip by ramming his head into the barn ceiling when trying to shake Jessie and Taber off. He was fine once he was done being shorn.

An interesting note about llama feet. They have soft pads kind of like dog feet. Their nails curl over and have to be trimmed on occasion. The nails are more appropriately called Talons. It should be noted that when shearing a llama, you should wear pants.

This is Tony. He was much more calm about being sheared. I even got to clip a bit of his hair. Tony is not an intact male. Neither of the llamas were suppose to be intact. After shearing Aleister, we discovered that he is indeed an intact male. That might account for his very bad attitude.

Tony hung out in the barn briefly after being unharnessed. He creeped along the side of the barn, slowly. He wasn't sure if he was doing something he should be. As soon as he realized no one was going to jump on him, he took off.

Spinning Lessons and New Born Lambs

I spent the last week knitting 4 hats and 3 headbands for farmer's market. It was such a relief to finish them all that I forgot to take pictures. Whoops. Here is a picture of a llama at the mill itching it's ear with it's hoof instead. I think that is much more interesting than pictures of hats.

I did recently get a lovely ball of yarn in the mail from Wolle's Yarn Creations. The colorway is Tropical. It is a 6-ply cotton.

I've decided to make a Citron shawl from it. And yes I know I haven't quite finished the Shipwreck Shawl. It'll be done just as soon as my blocking mats come in the mail.

Today I went to the mill for a spin-in. I bought a niddynoddy that was made from a recycled shair. After spinning wheel lessons I headed out to the barn to see my favorite little lambs. As I looked in I noticed that there was an extra lamb in the barn. As I went to get a closer look, I noticed another ewe who had three new lambs. Of course I had forgotten my camera at home. Soon it became apparent that the ewe with one lamb had one more on the way. I got to see a lamb being born! I hope to get some pictures from other people who were there.

Poor Scooter was left alone for a few hours while I was gone. He's been pretty sleepy recently, so I don't think he minded.