Friday, March 16, 2012

New Adventure

Last summer at Michigan Fiber Festival my husband traded one of our Suri alpaca fiber boys for two Pygoras and Wednesday we tackled our first shearing.

We watched several Youtube video's....read some books.....and jumped in. 

 All hooked up.......our friends from 4 Musketeers Alpaca Ranch gave us this alpaca shoot they made and then never used.  We were able to place a board across the supports which put the goats at eye level.......very little bending over.  This was a god send! 

and here we go.........snip, snip, snip....
I could not believe the amount of fiber on this gray boy....thought I'd never get done

 one blister, two Pygoras, three pair of scissors and four hours later....exhausted but done.......

 two happy boys! 

Now to do some research on cleaning and processing this beautiful fiber.  I think I feel some Suri Pygora blends in my near future.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday......don't forget to pop on over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check out what everyone else has been working on.


11 comments:

  1. Wow! Aren't you the ambitious one? Great job and I can't wait to see and feel the Suri Pygora blend. It's going to be like heaven!

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  2. Nice--what a great post this was to read, and the pictures were good.

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  3. Great post, can't wait to see how you use the fiber!

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  4. This is great! Can't wait to see the yummy fibers that come out of all that hard work.

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  5. You are a brave soul. I cannot imagine shearing a goat with a pair of scissors. I wanted to let you know that the lilac referred to in regard to Jacob sheep is the grey/brown color spots that they have...for some reason it's called lilac. I love learning new stuff. I know that goat has got to feel better after that shearing.

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  6. Squeal! I see a Suri/Pygora blend in the future too.

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  7. Okay, I'll never again complain about cutting my doggie's hair with scissors!

    That's a lovely color ... can't wait to see it processed!

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  8. I give you 'mad props' for your DYI shearing job!!
    I thought everyone hired this job out, so I'm VERY impressed!
    (It's like someone growing wheat from seeds to grind for their own bread baking...a lot of work...but great rewards!)

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  9. That sounds like a great undertaking. I can't imagine learning to shear from videos and books, but then come think of it, I started cutting my son's hair after reading some instructions came with the clipper. Oops ;-)

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  10. WOW! What an undertaking! You certainly are clever - it will be so much fun to see your progress.

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