Alpaca knitted vest

I don't usually post photos of my boy but I can't help but post this one. We have only recently had the first yarn from our alpacas processed so its very exciting for us to show the first garment made from this yarn! I'm so pleased with how it has turned out! 

The pattern is from the Tenth Little Sublime hand knit book and I love it! Will definitely make the pattern again but I hope they have it in a larger size if I'm to make another vest for my boy!

Welcome Goldie!

Goldie joined our small alpaca herd today! She is such a beautiful colour! I can't wait to see how her fleece turns out as yarn. I also can't wait for her cria which is due in the coming months.

Arriving in style!

She made a beeline for the others.

Checking out the newcomer.

Settling in...

A watched egg never hatches?

It's an exciting day at adagio alpacas today! The first of the chickens are due to hatch and an alpaca we have wanted for a long time will be moving in!!! I am also attending an alpaca genetics workshop today sponsored by our local division of the Australian alpaca association. Oh and of course my toddler is cutting his bottom eye teeth so we were up watching cars movie for a significant portion of last night! It all happens at once.

The chickens are a bit of an experiment, they were mail order eggs that got a bit lost in the mail and are being incubated in a cheap incubator (and long story we ended up purchasing a second batch as the first was thought to be lost... The poor incubator is chock full of eggs!) so we are really nervous about how many chickens will manage to hatch! I have been watching them too carefully and dreaming about chickens hatching! I wonder if any will hatch?

Our own beef

Today was an exciting and exhausting day. It was time for our steers to be butchered and my hubby went in to help.  I don't think we will do 3 at a time ever again! They actually only finished 2 of them today. 

The steers were Galloway steers and for a small breed these were huge!!! The dead weight for all of them was well over 300kg! Unfortunately it worked out that there was a lot of fat and bones and only about 200kg of actual meat. 

The following is a photo of the T-bone steaks for just one steer lined up. The photo doesn't do the size justice.., they are huge!

We couldn't wait to taste it! Here is a portion of my husband's scotch fillet... (Mine went back on the grill for a while...)

Possibly the best steak I've eaten!!

Jumper finished!

I've finished my first jumper!!! I love the style but its much too big! This rookie knitter has a bit to learn!!! Looks awesome whilst the boy is sitting...

Another step towards self-sufficiency!

It was a bitter sweet day for us today. On one hand we are excited that our Galloway steers have gone to the abattoir which means very soon our friends, family and us will be eating beef that we have grown ourselves, on the other hand 3 characters with their teddy bear ears have left the farm. 

The photo is of my husband taking them down the road to our neighbours waiting truck... 

Morning!

It was particularly beautiful here this morning!

double laced barnevelder chickens

We have wanted barnevelder chickens for some time now and have been looking around for point of lay pullets but we would have to drive some distance to pick them up so we have decided to hatch our own! 

As it is a bit of an experiment, we have just bought a cheap incubator, hopefully it will work well enough! We found some lovely people who have sold and mailed some barnevelder eggs to us. Due to some misdirected mail we ended up reordering another batch thinking the first was well and truly lost, however, as soon as we did that the original batch turned up! So the first batch went in the incubator today and we should receive the second batch in a day or two. 

Barnevelders are gorgeous dual purpose chickens and the eggs we received in the mail were certainly very attractive eggs. I wonder if the chickens themselves will actually turn out to be good eating too?

Alpacas are such devoted mothers!

I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it,  one of our alpacas was letting her weaned, and weaned some time ago I might add, 2.5year old daughter have a drink!!!

My birthday came early this year...

My husband has been working really hard and asked for help with what I wanted for my birthday. Which was actually perfect because I really wanted a good knitting bag where the ball of wool could stay safe and unseen by my toddler... When I visited my local knitting shop I found just what I wanted! Here's hoping it works!

So what am I knitting? I'm knitting a jumper for my 2 year old which I'm madly trying to finish so that I can start knitting with some of our own yarn! This is gorgeous though and is going to be worth waiting for! It's the Little Henry Crew pattern by sublime and the wool I'm using is heirloom 8ply baby wool shade 410. Perfect for a relatively novice knitter like me!