Murphy's Law!

So Honey was due on the 2^nd of June and I have been pacing my house and peering out my window every half hour until 2pm each day, waiting for her to pop out a little cria. I was beginning to think she really wasn’t pregnant even though I could have sworn I saw something kicking at her sides around the 3^rd.

Because Honey doesn’t make enough milk, I was worried about the baby getting a healthy start and was bent on getting out there ASAP and feeding it some colostrum and shooting in some vitamins etc. Of course this meant that one or the other of us had to be home at all times prior to 4pm each day.

Well it happens that Hubby and I had to go in to court as witnesses today, which meant that we were leaving Honey alone for at least three to four hours. I had been stewing about it saying things like “That would be just our luck” and “She’ll have it while we are in court, just because we are both gone.”

Uh huh.

So we got back from court around 1pm and, lo and behold, there was a tiny little head poking up in one corner of the pen. It was BROWN!

He is healthy and strong so far, and has bonded with Honey. They croon back and forth to each other and she makes little clucking sounds at him when he gets too far away or when he is trying to suckle. It sounds like an encouragement. He was already dry and fluffy when we got back, which meant that she likely had him just after we left. But I am a happy camper because he is so beautiful, healthy and soft and brown too! I am doing the happy dance because I have a brown alpaca of my very own!

Because of the nature of his arrival, my mom suggested calling him Murphy (Murphy’s law) and then my mother in law speculated that Murphy Brown was the name of a sitcom TV show. I thought that was amusing, and although it was the name of a girl in the sitcom, I have decided that this little cria be dubbed Murphy Brown.

Here are some pictures...

Murphy as we found him:

Murphy with Mum:

Lunch time:

This is an old picture of Murph's Dad, Choco:


And lastly... I hold muh Murph:


Ooooooh soooo cute! I love him!

Okay! Back to my lawn chair to watch them while I knit baby toques for the Blueberry festival!
Hearts off the Charts.
JQ

Funny lookin bunch...

Well here are some pictures of the defluffed alpacas. They are all legs and necks. It's awesome and it makes me chuckle over my morning coffee every day. Fluffy is the most curious one. If there is a head in the immediate foreground, chances are its Fluffy.

Group shot! Got four out of five. On the left is Chantal, then MacFluff, then Airo, and Thunder behind him.



Oh Fluffy. MacFluff. He's all like "mmmchop?


"mmmmmmchopchop?"



This one below is Honey. She stands so dainty compared to the others. We are currently unsure as to her pregnancy. Apparently she has fooled the previous owners every time. Last time the lady had just mentioned to her husband that they should do a preg check on her cause she couldn't feel a baby in her belly, and the next day she popped out a little cria. So we are going to be prepared for it. She'll be due near the end of June.



And my silly muttski just can't stand it when I pay too much attention to the Alpacas, so today when I was taking the photos he made a big fuss, whining and groaning and showing me his belly, until I finally gave him some TLC.



Here is a shot of the juice mix dye work that I got up to after shearing last week. I like it because its quick and easy. I purposefully made the dyes weaker so that I could get some baby colors. Remember, I am gonna be an auntie in November!



Also, I got two books in the mail from Amazon the other day. One of them is about start to finish spinning, and I have already gleaned a ton of info out of it, just from scanning the pages. For instance I found out that I can use some local plant life as blending fibre, like cattail fluff, and thistle down. I CAN'T wait to collect some! I think I'll have to wait until fall for both.

Okay well that's it for now! Scroll down to see my tapestry cartoons...
Hearts off the charts,
JQ

Tapestry Cartoons...

Okay, these are some rough ideas for a series of tapestries I'd like to weave up over next winter. I want to purchase the wool for them bulk and dye the colors myself so that I have total control over all the gradations. I hinted the areas that will be done in opalescent and pearl pinks using a marker, and the rest of the images I want to weave in a cool grey scale (one that leans hard to blue). Like I said they are still rough concepts. I am already thinking of refining a couple of them, and I have several more ideas brewing as well, but I wanted to post them so that sarakat, keems and nomers could see what I have been talking about in Afrodiary.

This is the first design I drew. I had been looking at a lot of medieval tapestries and paintings...


Anyways, I would love any reactions/interpretations/feelings if anyone wants to leave a note.




I had fun with these. I am still having fun. Many many more ideas are materializing(pun intended :P). They would also lend themselves well to my pen and ink freakiness. I think I will put together an Art Zine from the ones I don't use as cartoons. Then I can have those available at the show as well.



Yes.
Don't ask. Just wonder.




And this one is loaded...



Okay sounding boards...
Gimme an earful?
Love n such,
JQ