Fiber Millstress of 84 Alpacas: Snow then cold

I hope that Phil got his weather prediction right and we are in for an early spring. Tues delay was for icy roads and snow, todays for really cold cold. And it is hard to gear up, tell the girls to get up alone, and head to the mill when it is really cold out! Even harder to get Claire moving in the cold.

Mon was one of those learning experience days that I could have done without. We were both kind of draggy then things were not going right. We blamed the usual suspects: cohesive spray, humidity, fiber. Well, about 6 hours later the real culprit reared its head. I know the answer to this without it taking 6 hours. But, again, we were draggy. The first choice when looking for a finger to point should and is: operator error.

Yes, things are backwards at the mill. More is less and up is down and higher is lower. But folks, on is always on and off is always off. And, Virginia, the air compressor on the pin drafter does actually do something.....(for Virginia, read Barb).

Once I got that switch flipped to the correct position, we made some lovely black yarn. And yesterday, even with the school delay, we got through about 4.5 to 5 lbs of fiber (from start to finish) in about 4 hours. WHOO HOO! We are makign great product and getting the timing down we need. We were working with a grey fleece yesterday. Not that we have run the gammit on colors but we have done white, fawn, brown, black and grey.

Still working on getting website up and running. It has been a while since I have done this and the webmaster, well, he is learning as well. So be patient. Good news - the phone company is supposed to come and hook us up today, which makes finding us oh so much easier!

here are some px: