County fair: fiber.

The best thing about someone with a spinning wheel, aside from the fiber and the yarn and the colors and the sheer wonderfulness of it all, is watching the magic as the spinner plies her craft. Pun intended.

And it is always better with an audience.

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Ever since I moved here I have felt that in some ways one must set one's watch back 25 years when she steps into this county. Good in some ways, not so good in others.

However, the fiber love that has surged across the country in the past few years has arrived here. Along with the cow and horse barns, there was... a llama tent. Ahhh. And woot!

I heard a little girl exclaim, "They look like poodles!" I knew what she meant.

 

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I was too late for the shearing.

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When I first glimpsed this guy/gal, I thought his/her locks had been painstakingly cornrowed. Then I realized that the texture is the remnant of the shearing. (The tent roof was red. It makes the llamas look pink in the photos. It was the roof, honest.)

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It was a warm day and many of the llamas still had lots of insulating fleece, so there were fans everywhere. Guess what? Llama fleece is intriguing when it blows in the breeze! Who knew?

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I spotted this woman spinning her llama's fleece.

I introduced myself as a knitter, and we were instant soulmates. She and her husband had both grown up on farms, moved to the city, met, married, and moved back to the country, whereupon they got some sheep and a llama or three. She doesn't sell her yarn -- yet. I'm not a spinner, but I could tell her yarn isn't quite there -- yet. Nevertheless, I loved watching her and the love she showed the fiber, the animals, and her life.

   

There is absolutely no threat of my getting a llama or a sheep or a goat or any other farm animal. We live on a lake; the county shoreland ordinance quite rightly forbids maintaining farm animals on lakeshore property. Whew. Temptation removed.

Dignity pants were in evidence. I shared that term with several of the llama's humans. They seemed amused.

Here is one style:

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Meet Cookie:

If you click to embiggen the picture you can read [Fun] Facts about LLamas.
 

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And now, some more pretties. Note: I think the soft brown one is an alpaca, but I just don't remember. You have been warned.

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Shhh! I'm pretending to be asleep!

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Shhh! I'm eating!

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Don't try anything funny with that camera, lady. I am watching you.

 

Comments

[becky]

yippee. I'm with you on the magic of the spin. That moment just after wool is in hand and just before it attaches itself to fiber. To me it has the mystery of a new life. It also brings me a little closer to trying that spindle and roving that was just delivered to my house.

re: dignity pants- the alpaca farmer said one reason for them is to keep the fleas under control (though I'm not sure how that would work)\

I think alpacas are as photogenic as cats. you can so read their minds.

I'm heading off to Rain Day. I'm not expecting any fiber but with this little 'burg, you never know.

I've also noticed that going to said events as a blogger is much more interesting. i go looking for the photo and the action as opposed to feeling like "been there-done that." I look and listen much more closely.

[becky]

I have a similar tour of our fiber festival in my mid-may posts. My favorite alpaca picture is http://beckyknitstoo.blogspot.com/2007/05/did-you-know.html

[Octopus Knitting]

Nice pics! What cuties...

[cindyg]

Awwwwwwwwww, they're so cuuuuuuute.

[elizabeth]

You may not be willing to buy a fiber animal, but you could get a wheel....