Lee

August 19, 2015 By Lee Leave a Comment

Suri Alpaca Fiber Creatives on Runway

Last Friday I drove to Denver to see the Suri Strut, a fashion show featuring designs and creations containing at least 50% suri alpaca. The fashion show was part of the Friday evening reception for the annual meeting of the Suri Network, consisting of owners and breeders of suri alpaca. A suri alpaca has the same physiological build as our huacaya alpacas but their fiber is quite different. Suri fiber grows in long dreadlock-like clumps and has a brilliance that is simply unmatched.

I made the trip to support the show’s organizer, Beth Brown, whom I had gotten to know when she organized the The Future of Your Fiber 2014 TxOLAN alpaca show. Beth’s product line, Odelia Signature Alpaca Wear, is beautifully knitted and elegant classic clothing; she also has a very sweet children’s line. I was particularly delighted to see Lannette Freitag, inventor of the FeltLOOM, at the Suri Strut. Lannette had made a felted suri coat and hat. Wonderful to see these American Made garments on these graceful models and the proud designers. There was even a celebrity suri alpaca on the runway, Cody, the Teeny Tiny Alpaca. Where else do you see that?

Fashion shows do not happen by themselves. They take lots of work and advance planning. The designers who attend incur travel costs as well the costs of finalizing garments for the runway. As with every other fashion event I have been part of, it is very hard to get boutique owners and designers to attend these shows and to consider buying these beautiful garments.

It is a work in progress. It is grand to see how fine fiber and creative design come together.

Sandy

August 11, 2015 By Lee Leave a Comment

Our Great Pyrenees

Once we made the decision to start an alpaca ranch, we visited several breeding operations to see how others did things. Several had Great Pyrenees as herd guardians. We quickly fell in love with these noble, gentle (unless you are a predator) loyal, amazing and yes, very stubborn ranch protectors. We acquired Butch & Sundance from a breeder in western Nebraska. Nebraska? Well, I’m from Nebraska and I’m noble, gentle (unless you are a predator) loyal, and amazingly stubborn.

At six and three months old respectively, Butch & Sundance arrived before the alpacas. They learned the boundaries and lay of the land very quickly. By the time our four alpacas arrived, Butch & Sundance were already in charge and showed every sign of knowing what was expected of them. Coyotes are our primary issue, although living in the Sandia Mountains we do have other predators. Butch & Sundance spent their nights patrolling and much of the days sleeping. We quickly learned not to be standing between them and the target of their interest when these 150-pound dogs decide there is something foreign about.

True to their heritage as herd guardians, they mix with the alpacas and quickly become trusted friends. At the time of a birth, one of the GPs sits sentry and does not let the curious get near the delivering mom. The dog sitting sentry often starts licking the cria’s face before it hits the ground. When strangers approach the GP’s watch for our response, moving in between visitor and the herd. Always watching.

Sadly, Butch developed bone cancer last July and we had to put him down in early November. We acquired Atticus Finch from the same Nebraska breeder shortly after Butch’s diagnosis; he is now one year old, weighing in at 112 pounds, filling Butch’s paws just fine.

Our hearts were broken when we laid Butch to rest near the alpaca pens. As we covered him, every alpaca was watching. They cried their goodbyes, too. The bond is real.

‘Til next time. Lee

August 3, 2015 By Lee Leave a Comment

Jazzman – Our True Black Alpaca

I always love to skirt the fiber from our black male alpaca, Jazzman. His fiber is soft, crimpy, and consistent across his entire blanket and feels almost buttery to the touch. Beautiful sheen and felts into lovely fabric. This is what we seek in our alpaca herd.

Jazz was the first alpaca born at Whispering Spirit Alpacas. His mother Morning Shadow was one of the first three animals we bought and she had been bred to a beautiful black male, Magicman. We of course were just beginning our herd. We had to call the woman from whom we had purchased our three alpacas to have her remind us how to count from the breeding date to the expected birthing date of our first cria (the name for an alpaca baby). We checked Shadow two or three times a day for a couple of weeks. One day I was not able to run past the ranch during the midday (alpacas usually give birth in the morning) so my sister Patti did the cria check. When she arrived, the birth was in process. She, the two other alpacas (Princess and Angie), and our recently arrived great pyrenees pups (Butch and Sundance) watched Jazz arrive into the world.

Young Jazzman, Mother Shadow to the left and Saki, an early alpaca to the right

Jazzman was a healthy simple birth, thank heavens, because none of us would have known what to do. He got right up and nursed. Neighboring alpaca owners came to check him out and decreed him to be perfect and beautiful.

He is a gentle and affectionate alpaca friend (not all are), easy to care for and to be entranced by. We entered him into alpaca shows, which was again a first for us. We had never even been to an alpaca show let alone enter an animal. Handling an alpaca in a show ring is not an easy task, we learned. To our surprise and delight, he took blue ribbons and and won color champion awards in each despite our inexperience!

Although he has not turned out to be a successful breeder, his fleece is our favorite for making our fabric because it felts superbly and has such luster! One of my favorite creations with Jazz’ fiber is The Sophisticate. Pictured below is a new jacket made from his fibers, which is part of our Whispirit fall offerings. Should we name this? Jazchique? Keep an eye open. We also make a similar jacket using his mother’s fibers, which felt into a warm dark grey. Til next time – Sandy

July 28, 2015 By Lee 2 Comments

The Alpaca Batt Channel

So I imagine you have been waiting to hear what happens next after Sandy is done skirting… Once we have separated good from unusable fleece (at least for our purposes), we bag, box and ship the fleece to one of the mills we use for processing. Because we require the processing to be done in particular ways necessary to make the drapy smooth felt in our garments, only a handful of the mills that process alpaca fibers are able to perform our work.

WIN_20150728_120700 — Evergreen’s brown and white batt

Processing for us means the mill washes, dries and then cards the alpaca fiber to remove coarser fibers and get the fleece fibers all running in the same direction. We have learned that 100% alpaca is not best for our garments and accessories, so the mills blend 25% merino with 75% alpaca during the carding process. What comes off of the carding machine is called a batt. Our batts are extremely thin, usually under 3 ounces; reminds me of a spider web it is so light. For us, the milling process stops there and the batts are returned. Pictured to the left is a gorgeous batt made for us by Evergreen Fleece Processing.

From the batts we design our fabrics. Depending on what we are going to make, the batts of fiber are placed on top of a scrim or stabilizer of different grades of silk, cotton or burlap. We have named each of our fabrics: Silpaca, Silcotton. Also at this point we add whatever accents Sandy’s design calls for.

All the fiber, accents and stabilizer are now run through the FeltLOOM. The intended use of the fabric and the feel and effect we are trying to create will dictate how many times we run the fabric through the loom. Typically this takes 12 or more runs through the machine.

And then, as they say in France, “voila!” Our fabric is ready. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, you can buy this fabric and others in the Whispirit shop. Right now we are offering our hand-dyed and felted Raspberry Silpaca at a special price.

Have a great week…………. Lee

July 20, 2015 By Lee Leave a Comment

Dog Days of Summer

Thank you. We are humbled and flattered by the increasing numbers reading our blog and appreciate those of you sending us questions. We are passionate about our alpaca, their fleece and our fabrics. So don’t hesitate sending your inquires, we love to answer them.

Last week several of you wanted to know if things are slow on the ranch during the dog days of summer. There is NEVER a dull moment around the ranch. Seems like there is always a “wheel” falling off or an exciting project (like our new website), looking for time.

Spring always means shearing. We’ve always sheared the herd, including all the dogs, in the middle of May. But, not the cats. Definitely NOT the cats.

WIN_20150720_121257 — Sandy at the skirting table

Our dark and lonely work really begins once the shearers and volunteers leave. “Bringing in the harvest” means long hours of skirting. This is the first step in processing the fiber and the only part of the milling process we do here on the ranch. Skirting is not the most enjoyable step in the process. You stand at a wire mesh table, lay out the raw fleece and go over each section removing vegetation, coarse or short fibers and “stuff.” It’s dirty, time consuming and boring. But, has to be done before sending the year’s harvest off to the mill.

It is truly a family affair as alpacas and llamas peek in, Atticus sits under the skirting table as sentry, and the cats – gosh our barn is full of cats – love to roll in fiber.

Our spring and early summer production switches from warmer coats, jackets, hats and vests to our summer-weight vests, shawls and scarves. Sandy loves this part of the production because she dyes all the fabric. Sandy loves dying the fabrics. Most summer days our kitchen is hot and steamy from the dye pot.

For those of you sitting in air-conditioned offices, or enjoying the summer breezes at the Santa Fe Opera or any of the multitude of festivals around New Mexico, you may enjoy the Spring Fling Vest. No summer ensemble should be considered complete without a silky alpaca wrap like our Endearing Shawl to catch that delightful breeze.

See what I mean about Sandy loving the dying?

Until next week……. keep enjoying your summer. Can you believe it is half gone?

Lee