Our New Crochet Member

This is our newest Three Rivers Crochet Member

This is Amelia Rose. This is Rebecca's baby, only two weeks old. She is so tiny and was so good at the group yesterday. The sweater was made by another group member Lisa Valentino.

Yesterday I took a trip with some of my crochet friends to Stramba Mini Mill in Wampun PA. Terri Stramba just opened her mini mill and was kind enough to take us on a tour of how animal fiber goes from the animal to yarn.

There pictures are not in correct order, but this will give you an idea of the process.

The picture below is the machine that is spinning the roving into a strand of yarn. It runs really fast and sometimes you can't see the strand of yarn as it's running through the machine.


This machine is the carder. It separates the good fiber from the bad. The bad fiber would be coarse hair and any object that is attached to the fiber.

This is the yarn drying after being made into yarn.


This is the fiber being skirted. All the debris is picked out before being washed.

This is the fiber drying after being washed. It takes about 24 hours to dry. It all depends on the humidity. The fiber takes longer in high humidity.

My Newest Baby Lady Guenevere

This is my newest baby Lady Guenevere. Hopefully I spelled that correctly. My husband Jim wanted to name her that. It is my first girl to be born. She is the princess of my little herd. She has a ton of fiber that is thick and soft. Her Mom is Boudica. Boudica's tail is wrapped so it doesn't get all gooky when the baby comes out. Lady G. is less than an hour old in this picture. Ain't she a cutie pie!

Suffering for a Sweater

Dang sweater! I keep muttering that beneath my breath. These are the sleeves to the sweater that had to be ripped out because patterns never seem to work for me. I made the back and I had to rip that out once also. Why do I have this funny feeling that once I put this together I am going to look like the Michelan tire man? The pattern on the sleeve is a mistake rib. Should have known from the beginning. It might end up in some fiber shows at Alpaca shows. It may be destined to look better on a hanger.

The yarn is my favorite so far. I sent the Alpaca fiber to a mini mill for processing last year. It is a blend of Alpaca, merino, hemp and nylon. It is beautiful to look and work with.

Oh boy.......