In which I feed alpacas and buy yarn, because I can't not buy yarn.

Lately I've been thinking about how big the world is, and how many things there are to learn how to do - mosaic tile, stained glass windows, masonry, woodworking, welding....and how there are so many opportunities to go out and learn some of these things. 

So this weekend I was fortunate enough to have a bit of a learning-related adventure!  On Saturday morning, I met a group of fellow yarn enthusiasts (read: knitting nerds) for a tour of the Bluebonnet Hills Alpaca Ranch in Navasota, TX.  We had a great tour of the ranch, and got to pet and even feed some of the 70 alpaca that live there.  The area where the ranch is located is so pretty - hilly, lots of trees, and right now covered in wildflowers (including, yes, bluebonnets - the national flower of Texas).

The ranchers were super nice and showed us all about the caretaking of alpaca, which is in the camelid family (think llamas) that come from the Andes in South America.  They're known over the world for the awesome softness of their fleece.  And they're really cute too!

We saw some funny ones with derpy-derp haircuts:

And some whose fleece grows in wavy locks:

There were also BABIES.  I LOVE THEM.  And Noel is very proud that I did not, in fact, bring one home with me.

This one is called Sweet Talking Man.  He was a charmer.  :)   

The ranchers raise these alpaca to both sell to breeders, and for their fleeces for yarn (they shear them - no worries about alpacacide!)

There might have been some yarn for sale there.  I might have accidentally bought some.  It's hard not to, when you just fed the little guy whose fleece made the yarn!

So we had lunch there, and then went to a gorgeous yarn shop in Navasota called WC Mercantile - such beautiful stuff in there!!  And they have lots of supplies for spinning yarn as well, and that might be something I'll do in the near future (since I don't have any other hobbies - sigh).

Anyway, we spent the afternoon there learning how to dye yarn!  It was really fun, and honestly much easier in some ways than I imagined.  I can see how people get addicted to it.  We got to keep the skein of yarn we dyed, and I was so happy with the way mine turned out:

(Purple, blue, teal.  Of course.  I am in a very happy rut).

Now to find patterns to use for all this gorgeous alpaca fluffiness!

Yarn and Stalking

Today was a very exciting day in Kelli's World O' Craftiness! I decided that a field trip was in order today, so that I could meet a crochet designer whose work I think is great, and who has done so much to modernize people's ideas of crochet.

Presenting.....

Drew Emborsky, the Crochet Dude!

(And short little me, in a sweater I made and could finally wear because it's cool out!)

Drew has a wonderful crochet design business that he blogs about, at http://blog.thecrochetdude.com/.

He was teaching a class and doing a meet & greet at a shop on the north side of Houston. And I stalked him. I've never gone out of my way to meet anyone before, but I figured I wouldn't have a chance to meet him again in all likelihood, so I had to take the Texas Longhorn by the...horns.

Anyway. Drew? I hope I didn't terrify you and I'm sorry if I talked nervously about myself the whole time. I was just excited (and yes, a bit nervous, which is funny because I normally don't get star struck, except that time Wayne Newton came through the restaurant where I was working when I was 17).

Drew is such a lovely person and we had a very nice chat about yarn and cats and traffic and such. So thanks, Drew! It was very nice meeting you.

And if any of you are planning to take up crochet, I recommend his great patterns (go to his site for more info).

The shop hosting him was Twisted Yarn (http://www.twistedyarnstexas.com/), a very pretty little shop with GORGEOUS yarn. Yes, I sniffed yarn, and No, I was not ashamed. They had some really nice stuff - it's a good thing I don't have room for a big stash in the RV, because I was really coveting this brightly colored Noro sock yarn. But I held off (although I still might accidentally drive by there again before we leave Houston to accidentally buy some, because...it might accidentally happen). This time, I bought yarn for a pair of socks for Mom for Christmas. This yarn is so super soft, I could just wrap it around my head and wear it all the time. :)

I highly recommend this shop to anyone traveling through (or living in) Houston! One of the owners, Eve, was so helpful with picking out yarn, and it has such a wonderfully friendly atmosphere. You could tell everyone who walked in felt so comfortable and welcome there. Also? Their samples were stunning - there was this teal & blue sock that was drool-worthy. Sigh.

On the way back to the house, I was high on craft-happy fumes and stopped by Hobby Lobby, because I have so much room for sewing supplies. Um...yeah.

I ended up getting more fabric than I originally intended, because hey! It was on sale! Isn't it fab? I'm going to make some knitting needle holders to sell out of this fabric. Unless I decide I can't live without it, and it ends up being some kind of weird mismatched patchwork dress. Which is possible. The other yarn is for other Christmas presents.

Anyway, so that was my extremely exciting day! Yay!! Hooray for celebrity stalkings and fabric shopping!

On a side note, wanna know two other weird things about Texas?

1) There is apparently no helmet law here. Isn't that INSANE?

2) Apparently there is a huge donut culture here. I've never in my life seen so many mom & pop donut shops! Craziness. Kolaches are also big here. I might have to go buy some donuts soon - must try out the local culture. When in Rome....

OH. And the Texan interest in sweets obviously goes a little further than in some other places. And explores all new territory too. The other day I drove past (wait for it...)

Nooky's Erotic Bakery.

Oh my.

Um...on that note....I think I'll head back to my sewing. The kitties are being so helpful! See? They're thinking of starting their own line of paw-sewn cat accessories. Maybe that'll help subsidize the cost of their food.