Nebodama ........Brain overflow......... A crafty blog

It's over a year

2008-10-07T13:16:00.002+10:00

since I wrote anything here. Lots of things have happened. I'm now working three days a week at my paid job and about one day a week volunteering. The alpacas are still on the ranch, but the goat has gone to live in Mt Larcom Qld. We've sold many alpacas including Xali (Jemima - she was nicknamed this by the construction guys working on the road who fell in love with her) and Xena, Xhu Xhu......... Cha Cha has gone to live with someone else, along with Xeus. Zadoc and Zhenka are hopefully guarding goats to the best of their ability. We've had a few babies, and nearly lost Kimberley to worms. She got incredibly sick, and only just hung on. She couldn't stand up, or even get into a cush position from lying she was so weak. I'd decided that if she died I was going to kill her, so kept pumping her full of vitamins, iron, wormer, even made her drink water........ and after about 4 weeks realised that she was going to live. She was really sick for at least three of those weeks when it was touch and go. We'd be getting up during the night to stand her up, and make sure she wasn't lying down on her side. I'd come home from work to discover her flat in the paddock, and it would only be an ear twitch that made me realise she was still alive. I'd load her onto a trolley and drag her up from the bottom of the paddock to water and food and the obligatory injections. She's back to her fine self again, but still thin.

We lost a baby......... Elouise's Wheyo. He was about 15 months old. The vet did an autopsy and said Endotoxemia. It didn't make it any easier to digest cause there was no reason for it. He had been healthy and seemed to be in good condition, and was fine the day before he died.
Really hard. Her next baby was Vanco Victory who was stuck during birth, and was hanging with head and legs out for more than 4 hours while I was at work. I came home and pulled him out, and then had to feed him for about three weeks because he seemed to have difficulty raising his head, and feeding from Elouise. However, persistence paid off, and he's fine now. He was born at the end of May 2008.

Craftwork has kept me busy with lots of felting and now lots and lots of orders for spun yarn.
Not enough hours in the day to do it all (as well as work)

which reminds me............. I should be carding wool right now.

Will post some pictures

Why didn't you stay just a little bit longer?

2007-05-10T09:39:00.000+10:00

Life just isn't fair. It's fucking awful, and I have no apologies to anyone reading this. It's just fucking awful.

Yesterday Xebebe died. She was 12 months old. We don't know why she died. She is buried in the bottom paddock. I buried her this morning. Put her in a calico body bag I made , and wheeled her down there in the wheel barrow. Goodbye Xebebe........ you were so beautiful.

I never dreamed that I could lose an animal like that when I reckon I've done everything to protect them. The vet thinks it could have been peritonitis .....if she had eaten a bit of wire ????? Who knows. It didn't didn't appear to be snake bite, a tick, anything preventable. She had a fever - just skyrocketed. She had a sore foot but that made no sense, because .......... well it just didn't - no cuts, no swelling, no breaks, no dislocations. She'd put her weight on it, but then didn't want to walk.

I cry. I feel sorry for myself. I feel sad for her and her lost life. I just want to curl up and sob.

The good, the bad, and the worse.

2007-02-15T10:55:00.000+10:00

OK..... time to catch up. XhuXhu was born before Christmas. She is a bouncing baby, and sister to Yadra who died early in 2006. Xhu Xhu may have been a tiny bit premature, but is full of life, brown all over, and looks very much like Xeus. They will be very hard to tell apart in the future.

2007 Australia Day. Bad Day. Horrible day really. In the morning we had to call the vet out to help deliver a cria for Dew Drop. For some reason, the baby had died in utero a day or so previously, and just hadn't engaged into the birthing position. The vet had to rotate the cria, and then deliver it. It was a good sized white boy which we named Walla.

Later that afternoon my little friend Penny started to have her baby. She delivered Wink at about 2.30pm. Wink was tiny at 4kgs, and quite weak. The next day I decided to take him for a plasma transfusion, as he was still terribly weak, and wasn't feeding from Penny. That gave him a boost, but he was still worrying me, so I took him back, and the vet at Samford detected a heart murmur.... patent ductus arteriosus. Well, after quite intensive treatment including another plasma transfusion, being in an oxygen tent for 24+ hours, broncho dilators, antibiotics, and............ Poor little Wink died. We were all upset, because he was a such a gorgeous baby. Penny was being a wonderful mother too, and was really co-operative while I expressed her milk for Wink.

So..... I'm feeling incredibly sad that I have lost so many babies. There is no common factor..... different mothers, different fathers, different times of the year, different causes. I worry that I have a long way to go before I can write the A-Z of birthing problems in alpacas, as I've only got to about 8.

Xeus

2006-12-14T08:17:00.000+10:00

This is Xeus. Born on 30th November. Mother is Kimberley... you can just see her dark head with gray markings on her cheek. He is about 3 hours old in the photo, and had not been any problem from the start. Lordy is the dad. Xeus is very lively, and races around the paddock with the other littlies. Xali is very taken with him. His fleece has much more crimp than Xyllan who is the caramel coloured baby behind him.

Felting

2006-11-19T19:55:00.000+10:00

Ah......... felt that.
Not a particularly good picture of a cushion that I made. It's made with the background of felted alpaca (black) and has a picture of tree, clouds, and "paddock" in the foreground. I'm rather proud of it. Over the past few months I've been doing lots of felting. Felted soap on a rope, biros, bookmarks, bags, hats, leaves, and most recently rolled roses. I've found that alpaca felts just as well, (actually -better and quicker than wool slivers) as long as guard hair and coarser hair is removed when I'm drum carding it. The batts off the drum carder are ideal to lay down "just like that" and makes laying out the felt incredibly fast. I try not to make the batts too thick. Making felt has been an ideal way of using up my huge stache of wool from the shed.

2006-11-19T19:36:00.000+10:00

The Wedding............ Celeste and John on 12 October 2006, at Daydream Island.

Chook with a cross "bite" . I've thought about taking her to work and adjusting the bite but she seems fine, and eats well, and is laying.......... I think. The chook establishment has recently grown. I was given 2 bantam chicks. One managed to get out of the cage after Scruffy strategically removed some of the gutter guard, and Poor Chickie jumped into the jaws of one of the dogs. Both Scruffy and Max were severely roused at. They didn't eat the chicken, just mouthed it, to prevent it escaping, and it died. I decided that the other would be lonely, so I purchased three more chicks, which are much younger but much larger than the original chick. All doing well, and dogs have the threat of death if they go anywhere near the chicken cage. Still on the "bird" note....... a few weeks ago, after a storm, a pink and grey galah stood at the gate wanting me to have a look at it. The dogs and cat did too, so they were all banished to the shed, while I picked up the bird. It was really bedraggled, and I wasn't sure if it was really young or really old because it really looked bad. The budgie cage came into play again, and in went the galah. what was noticable about it was that it had a really severe beak problem, with the lower beak projecting nearly an inch past the upper one. Not lateral like the chook above, but in line. I organised to take it to the Vet to have a beak reduction, but put it in a larger cage because it was having trouble scooping food up from the floor of the budgie cage. The rotten thing found a hole in the cage and escaped before I could get it to the vet. I haven't seen it again, but hope that it is managing ................

NOSE WARMERS.......... what everyone should have in winter. Felted from alpaca and embroidered. They fit the average nose. (and smell nice)

Catching up...............Xali and Xyllan

2006-11-19T17:57:00.000+10:00

XALI - a lovely story. Little Xali was born 3 weeks ago. She was the first live birth for her mummy, Miss Tunisia (aka Missy) Xali was 5.2 kg at birth, which is relatively small. The problem was that Missy didn't want Xali to feed from her. They bonded well, but as soon as Xali wanted to feed, her mother spat at her, and pushed her away. I gave Xali Impact Colostrum for the first 12 hours and some glucose, and then started feeding her Di-Vetalact (which is a milk substitute). Missy continued to spit at Xali for the next 2 days whenever she tried to feed. When she was 2 days old, I noticed that Xali's left eye was starting to weep and in my words, was a bit "goopy". I was devastated, and phoned up the alpaca gurus in a panic. To cut a long story short, and not mentioning all the tears I shed in the next few hours, Xali was rushed to one of the vets and had a camelid plasma transfusion. The eye had a small ulcer in it, (irritation , I think from the spit from her mother) and so for the next week I had to give her antibiotics, and eye drops, and eye cream, and treat her as an orphan. By Day 4 Missy had decided that this gorgeous baby could touch her titties, and so Xali started trying to feed from her mother. I kept "force feeding " her, and kept weighing her to ensure she was putting on weight. In the past few days, I've decided that she's getting enough milk from her mummy, and have stopped feeding her. The weigh-ins continue. She is the most gorgeous baby, and races round the paddock like there is no tomorrow..... which I hope there are plenty of. She also has an umbelical hernia, but I've decided that this is the least of her problems for the moment.
XYLLAN - This is Xyllan and Jessie, his mother, when he was 2 hours old. Another lovely story. Jessie's first baby was still born 18 months ago. (Yasmin) There was much confusion about when Jessie was due, and indeed if she was pregnant. We had expected a cria in early May this year, but it didn't arrive. This truly has to be an immaculate conception, because the Stud Male has not been in the "girls paddock" for well over a year. Anyway....... something happened, and nobody's telling me! and then one day when I was stressing that she must have had some terrible gynecological condition, I felt what I thought was a cria in-utero. (no ultrasounds available here............) Xyllan was born 1 week after Xali, and was a large boy. Very large shoulders, and so I gave Jessie a hand birthing him. She is the most gorgeous loving mother, and Xyllan too is weighed every second day, but is putting on heaps of weight, and is no cause for concern.

2006-09-28T11:40:00.000+10:00

Xip Xip -

This lovely little boy was born on saturday 15 July. He was lively and seemed great. However, within 3 days he'd become septic, and he died. I'd taken him to the local vet that morning thinking that he was just a bit slower, and they said that he was fine.... heart rate and beat good, temperature good - no obvious signs of problems. I decided to take him to the alpaca guru vet who is about an hour's drive away. They did blood tests and found that he was very septic, his liver was shutting down, and he was very sick. He died (probably of meningitis) that afternoon after plasma transfer, antibiotics, and other treatment. It was the last thing I expected when I picked him up in the morning. It was incredibly sad.
He was the only alpaca we had with a white face.

NoNo

2006-05-14T17:53:00.000+10:00

The Official Blog of NoNo the Manx kitten is ................ http://NoNo-manxcat.blogspot.com/

Here you will see photos of NoNo doing all the things that make him so cute!

Relaxing after Little Lunch

2006-05-12T08:08:00.000+10:00

Chinnie sunbaking . Xyffie at 4 weeks, beside Elouise, and standing, looking at Chinnie.

Not.... "Cat on a Hat" This is No-No perched on a gate post. He's the cat who is very mixed up. He eats chook food, dog food, alpaca food, cat food, and human food. If I head out to the shed he's always right behind me. He's worked out where the alpacas drink their water from, and drinks from that too, and where the dogs water bucket is too. He's very trusting of the alpacas, and wanders between their legs and lies down in the dirt, seemingly, unworried that they will harm him.

Xebebe

2006-05-12T07:43:00.000+10:00

and Xebebe makes 20.

Here Xebebe watches on as mum Zuhra (brown) talks to Chinwag. Xebebe was born on Sunday 7th May after a relatively quick (we hope) labour. We had just returned from Brisbane, and noticed that Zuhra was in labour. The head and only one leg had presented. Of course, the other leg popped out as soon as Marg had phoned the Vet. After that the delivery was uneventful, and Xebebe was standing and trying to feed within 45 minutes of being born and was doing laps of the paddock that night. She's a lively little critter, and loves talking to all the other alpacas.... spending more time with them than she does with her mother.

Xyffie

2006-03-31T10:03:00.000+10:00

This is the latest addition to the menagerie! This is Xyffie who was born on Thursday 30 March, reasonably late in the afternoon. Weighed in at 4.4 kgs which is very small. She is about a month early, but seems quite healthy. It's raining here today, so she has her raincoat on. Mum - Elouise ; Dad - Lord; sister - Zoe. Again, another surprise birth..... I'd spent most of the day in the paddock, but Elouise wasn't giving many signs that she was in labour. Amazing what hindsight tells us though......

More Babies - Xena and Nono

2006-02-11T17:06:00.000+10:00

Meet Nono (the Manx kitten) and Xena (the alpaca) .

Nono is about 7 weeks old, and Xena was born on Friday 10th February. Nono had a very exciting first couple of days with the dogs who were surprised that he actually squeaked when he was "shaken" . (Their other toys seem to lose their squeak very quickly.) However, he has recovered well, but will be visiting the manicurist shortly for a nail trim. The claws are unbelievably sharp! Xena is a beautiful huacaya baby. She was 6kgs born, and surprised me by being in the paddock when I got back from a shopping trip! We have waited a long time for a little girl...... Zoe was born on 6/6/04, (Yasmine - still born on 2/2/05 ) and now Xena. The next babies due are at the end of April when we have 3 babies due in 3 days! Of course we are hoping they are all girls!

Yadra Courage 22/12/2005 - 14/1/2006

2005-12-28T10:44:00.000+10:00

Hello, my name is Yadra Courage. I have a bit of a story to tell you..... and this is why they have called me Courage...... or "Curry" for short.

If you have read the previous entry to Marg's blog, you would have read that I was born on 22 December, and everyone was really happy, because it has been a bad year for cria on Nebodama. I was born on a really hot day....it was 35 degrees in the house, so it was probably much hotter in the paddock. I was a bit weak, but did manage to drink from mum (Natalie) and did walk around the paddock a bit. Friday was really hot too, and even though I spent alot of time in the shade, it was really bad. I kept putting my head up when Marg looked out for me, but it was much too hot for me to galivant around the paddock. Marg was a bit worried, and checked that mum had enough milk for me.....which she did.

Saturday was another horrible day......and I was feeling much more tired, and didn't want to do anything apart from rest in the shade.... On Christmas Morning (Sunday) I couldn't even move. Horrible ants started crawling on me, and I couldn't even get up to chase them away. Marg started force feeding me everything from plain old water, a milk preparation, and then even orange flavoured gastrolyte....... I really don't know how my heart kept beating. Sometimes I think I stopped breathing, but then I would just start again.

You can see from the photos that I was really sick. I had trouble breathing, and my heart was racing, but I didn't have a fever...... I was just hot and exhausted.....and couldn't move. I spent most of the next couple of days lying down in the shade, sometimes with a fan on me, sometimes with a cool washer on me, being fed out of a bottle. I didn't even have to suck.......I just had to swallow.

I was starting to feel a bit better by late on 26th, and spent a bit of time with mum in the paddock. She still knew me, but I couldn't hold my head up to feed from her. She hated it when Marg and Dave tried to express milk from her. She'd sit down, and then they had to lay her on her side, and she'd kick and spit.

It's the 28th today and I'm in the shed with mum. She stands still for me to feed from her, but I'm still having a bit of trouble getting it right. My neck is much stronger, I feel much better. Marg has been mean and replaced the teat on the bottle, so I really have to work hard to get milk from that. I can cush for ages now with my head held up, and I'm finding it easier to stand up, and cush down. When I was in the paddock late yesterday I even skipped around a few steps....... it felt good.
Marg and Dave keep checking on me. The dogs were good to me when I was really sick, and watched over me, and tried to be gentle..... but they aren't allowed in the shed when Mum is there, because she just doesn't like them.

To be continued..........

A Christmas Baby

2005-12-22T14:37:00.000+10:00

22 December 2005. A baby boy is born...... Isn't he just gorgeous! Mother Natalie, father Monty. He'll be Yuli, Yadra or Yannock or some name that we make up. I'm beginning to wonder if Natalie ever has girl babies..... She certainly does have Christmas babies though...... Chin Wag on 15th Dec 03, Zhenka on 26th December 04, and now this little boy. My theory is still holding true ........ the suri babies stay longer in utero and are up and racing around the paddock quicker than the full huacaya babies. They also seem to be bigger at birth (weigh more) . Well, that is my theory. All the other girls and the boys in the paddock have checked him out.

Dec 05

2005-12-07T10:19:00.000+10:00

Dec 05,

So, what have I been doing? It's ages since I updated this blog, so here we go. This is a sample of the work I've completed in the past 3-4 weeks. I started the typically Peruvian crafts while on a textile and cultural tour of Peru with Puchka Tours. It was wonderful. I'm going to use the embrodered piece on some clothing...but have to work out what. The cap is a bit small for an adult, and doesn't have ear flaps..... plenty of room for improvement there as far as tension goes. Backstrap weaving is just wonderful. I love it. Can't wait to start something much wider. The felt hat was made because the price being paid for alpaca fleece here in Australia is really bad, and so I've decided to use up as much as I can, rather than be paid peanuts for top quality fleece. It does felt easily and quickly. The difference between the felt in this hat and the sample shown in an earlier entry (the white piece) is that I actually carded this fleece prior to laying it down; using much better quality fleece( I used the skirt rather than belly and leg hair which has heaps and heaps of guard hair.) than what I used in the white felt, and ....that's about it. Even though I used crappy fleece in the white sample, it still felted quickly, and the texture is "textured"! I guess if I want to make better quality items, I have to do it better....... I was happy with the hat. I also made a beret and that turned out well too. I used silk, mohair, and wool as decoration/relief on the hat.

Shed&alpacas

2005-12-07T10:04:00.000+10:00

Shed&alpacas,

Lord is our stud male. He is nearly 6 years old, and still has a micron count of 22.6 He is a lovely boy.
Kimberley is Ms Personality, and loves to take baths in the hot weather. She's the one likely to escape under any fence, and has explored neighbours gardens. She'd be the one who would sneak a cigarette if nobody was looking. Her baby is Yelodin and he was born at the beginning of July this year. He is just gorgeous and loves to rub noses with me (that might be what makes him gorgeous......?????) Looking a bit ratty at the moment because he was shorn 3 weeks ago.

At the beginning of July both Kimberley and Miss Tunisia were due to have their crias. Yelodin was born uneventfully but Missy had big problems. She went into labour on the Sunday, and I called the vet out because it just didn't seem right to me. He examined her (although he is not an expert on alpaca birthing) and thought that because she was still feeding and drinking and didn't look uncomfortable that everything was fine. The short version of the long story is that she had to have a caesarian a few days later. The cria was in a really bad breach position with legs akimbo, and there was no way that it could have been born. It had died, (a little white boy) and Missy was in a real bad way. We thought that we might lose her, but she fine. She's going to have a baby one day....... Normally if babies are in the breach position the back legs present, but in Missy's case the baby's hind quarters were locked.
So, what with slipped pregnancies, absorptions, and still births.....this has been a really bad year. I had many of the girls blood tested for everything from mineral deficiencies to anaemia...but all in all, they're a healthy mob. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

scenery

2005-12-07T09:59:00.000+10:00

scenery,

I went to Peru......and the drought (sort of) broke. These are a couple of shots from either the house or driveway of the surrounding country. City folks....eat your heart out!

(Not quite "scenes from an Italian Restaurant", but not too bad all the same!)

2005-05-16T17:56:00.000+10:00

Hello there. Just an update on what's been happening here. Charles the goat. He was a reject (free) from a place nearby. He is very friendly and his fleece is really nice - I can't wait for spring when we shear him. He's not too keen on Max dog, but I think that is more fun than anything. After all, Max is very "in your face" and Charles is just telling her that he doesn't appreciate it.

We have a stud male now called Lord. Lordy is so easy to handle, and has settled in with the younger boys without any problems. He has had his way with a couple of the girls already. He is light fawn in colour - the fleece is dense, soft and has a good crimp. Lord is the father of the baby in the first post......the little white girl called Zoe. (You have to look in the Archived ones at the bottom of the page. December..from memory)

The next babies are due at the end of June. Of course we are hoping for girls.
I've been spinning some Lord fleece and some cashmere which is just unbelievably soft. Weaving has been fun......so much so, the garden is very weedy! Next projects..........gees, I dunno. Think of something for me....eh?

Off to Market

2005-03-03T16:54:00.000+10:00

Off to Market, originally uploaded by margyb.

(If you double click on the photo, and then move the cursor around, there is a brief description of the item)Just a few things ready for the Market. Items include spun and knitted alpaca and also some woollen items; some cotton items; a felted handbag; handpainted soaps; a couple of woven items including the table runner. Unshown......a sparkly black and silver shawl, the woven feathers scarf, and a stack of other things. Yeh......I guess I've been busy!

4 alpacas

2005-02-14T09:12:00.000+10:00

4 alpacas, originally uploaded by margyb.

Nebodama Yasmin

2005-02-03T09:37:00.000+10:00

Jessie's baby Yasmin was born last night at 10.15pm. Yasmin was a beautiful white suri and weighed 8.6kgs. She was still born. Earlier in the evening when we checked her, the baby was very active, and really pummelling Jessie. It was obvious at about 8pm that Jessie was going into labour, which was a sign that things were not all right. The front feet presented, and then the placenta.............so obviously the placenta had become detached at some stage. Even before her head had emerged, I thought that Yasmin was not responding, or trying to breathe, and was not moving...........
I have buried her near the shed, near the tree which Burt is in (previous post)..... in the top paddock. Jessie continued to go up to her and talk to her until I buried little Yasmin this morning. Physically Jessie seems fine although it appeared to be a difficult birth.

GR....GR......GR.......GR ......again?

2005-01-29T17:34:00.000+10:00

No point in growling.............

Watched Jessie all day Sunday, and she didn't do anything. Maybe tomorrow.
Very very hot......cooler in the shed than inside. Made a sock! This time it had toes.

Bert

2005-01-23T19:10:00.000+10:00

Bert, originally uploaded by margyb.

Peace and quiet

2005-01-09T11:45:00.000+10:00

Peace and quiet
Originally uploaded by margyb.

A very pregnant Jessie (in the foreground) - the donor of the fleece for the socks. It's amazing how much dirt comes out when the fleece is washed - but then all the girls love a dust bath.

Double click on photo, and then move around the photo to see the names of the girls.

Zhenka

2005-01-09T11:38:00.000+10:00

Zhenka
Originally uploaded by margyb.

I eat grass like big alpacas now - and I'm only 2 weeks old.

The soc....k? .

2005-01-09T11:27:00.000+10:00

The soc....k? .
Originally uploaded by margyb.

Over the past two or three days I've been busy spinning some Jessie into a nice fine thread to make some socks. I just about finished knitting the first sock this morning, and then burst out laughing........something is not quite right here. Know any Everest climbers who've lost their toes and might need a sock like this one?

Zhenka Zulu Warrior -26th December - my birthday

2004-12-26T15:38:00.000+10:00

You'll never guess who the new kid on the block is. I'm about an hour old here, and the girls think I'm pretty gorgeous. (Zadok, my brother is 8 weeks old in this photo)
Hi. I'm Zhenka - Zulu Warrior. I was 9 kgs (so it's appropriate that I have a long name!) when I was born at lunchtime. My mother is Natalie, and she is black. My dad is a white suri, and I have long light brown fleece. I kept them waiting, because I should have been born anytime from the 29th November............hehehe.........they had to cancel their trip to NZ when Zadok was born.........I was hoping they'd cancel Christmas for me!

Late Male--------(deliberate) They've named me Zhenka! Fiona wanted them to call me Zulu - so I've got a very trendy hyphonated name.

Bert

2004-12-26T15:35:00.000+10:00

Good day! I'm Bert and I was blown out of my nest a few days ago. My mum and dad made me hop all the way up to Marg's place so that she could look after me until my tail feathers grow so I can fly up to the tree in the paddock again.

I spent 2 nights out of the nest and Marg forced me to eat dog food, bread crumbs, raw egg........it was very very yuk. (She did give me some raw steak on Christmas Day........) It's now 5 days since I moved in with Marg; at first she stuck me in the budgie cage; but let me sit on her spinning wheel during the day, and has a box with nice straw in it at night time. Now she lets me stay out in one of the other trees all day, and my real mum and dad bring food to me. I like their food so much better than Marg's food, ........worms, crickets, moths etc. I even open up my mouth voluntarily for them.
My real mum and dad have been visiting Marg and Dave for years. Marg's Dad was really good, and he used to buy more rump steak for my parents and grandparents than he ate himself! Needless to say, these humans are safe and don't get attacked. The dogs have even been really nice to me, and haven't tried to eat me! Max is amazing and can find me if I decide to move from one tree to another. I've been putting on lots of weight, and only weighed 160 gm when I first arrived on Wednesday 22 December. After Christmas dinner I was 193 grams...........must have been all the rum balls, and shortbread........not!

2004-12-10T07:42:00.001+10:00

"And I love my Adro Shed"
Need I say more.......it IS organised!

Lorikeets beware - or I'll be using your feathers!

2004-12-10T07:42:00.000+10:00

You have to start somewhere. No comments from the purists please.

2004-12-09T10:20:00.000+10:00

Anything can happen, (and probably will)

Who needs to see?

2004-12-09T10:05:00.000+10:00

"Rio - Pleased to meet you".

just felt like it

2004-12-06T09:39:00.000+10:00

just felt like it,

This is a close up of some felt which I made from the legs and belly hair. It has felted quite well, and with some unique handling, will make an exquisite accessory - but maybe not for a black outfit (it does shed!)
(Some of the fleece is from Zoe and some from Jessie)

originally uploaded by margyb.

Alpaca poo.......

2004-12-04T06:05:00.000+10:00

Hi,
I have only just started this in an attempt to share hair-brained ideas with other arty-farty people (and other normal people) who like to stretch things to the limit.

Briefly
I "grow" alpacas in Southeast Queensland, and have always dabbled in artistic things particularly fibre crafts. After shearing this year we have fleece and fleece and fleece; and while there is no shortage of ideas of how to use said fleece, it takes time dyeing, spinning, knitting, weaving, etc etc..........oh, wouldn't it be great if there were a few extra hours in the day.

If only there were more hours today
If only the washing would fly away
If only the gardens didn't need care
then I could exhibit my artistic flair.......

If only the animals could feed themselves
If only dust stayed hidden on shelves
Then I could knit all the day long
and stop writing this poor sad song.

2004-12-03T19:58:00.000+10:00

I like being clean, but I love the mud better - I just want to look like my mummy!