Split Rock Ranch

Wildflower Shawl - My newest handmade creation!

2012-01-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased some beautiful hand painted yarn that is a textural delight of 50% silk and 50% rayon spun into a textured boucle-type yarn and dyed in rose, cornflower blue, deep lavender and sage green; the colors remind me of a field of wildflowers blooming in a summer mountain meadow. The yarn is very soft and silky with a beautiful drape to it and incredible luster and shine.

I hand crocheted this shawl using the silk/rayon yarn. I used a butterfly wing shawl pattern so the resulting shawl resembles butterfly wings!

I am including a gorgeous silver toned scarf ring that you can slip the tips of the wings through to secure the shawl around your shoulders.

Here is a close-up of the scarf ring

And here is the back of the shawl

Or, you can wear the shawl "backwards" with the wings crossed behind the neck and secured back in the front, the tip of the shawl is pulled up and looped through the center top part of the shawl and then the wings are secured with the scarf ring to form a cozy cowl.

Or, wear the shawl turned 90 degrees so that the back is worn on one shoulder and the wings are secured at the other shoulder with a scarf ring or shawl pin.

Use your imagination to create lots of different looks with one gorgeous shawl!

The Wildflower Shawl is available for sale in our ArtFire store. Valentine's Day is next month and this shawl would be the perfect spring wrap for that special someone in your life!

Or, check out our Handmade Accessories section in the ArtFire store to see what else we have available.

I used the same yarn (50/50 silk/rayon) hand painted in shades of rose, mauve, orchid and tan to make this Old Rose ruffled spiral scarf.

Happy New Year Sale!

2011-12-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

To usher out the "old year" and ring in the "new year", I'm offering a discount on everything in the ArtFire store starting today and going through Monday, January 2, 2012. Use coupon code HAPPYNEWYEAR2012 to save 12% off everything in the store!

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 12% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

HAPPYNEWYEAR2012

during checkout.

Lampwork Beads

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

Wishing you and yours love, joy and peace this Christmas!

Rocky Mountain Sunrise Shawl

2011-12-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have had a small pile of yarns sitting here on my desk for weeks now, waiting for me to decide what to do with them. I was drawn to yarns in pinks, fuchsias and oranges for awhile and I collected quite a stash of them from Etsy stores, ebay and other sources. I have them in plastic storage drawers, just waiting for the perfect projects. I rarely find a pattern and then buy yarn for it; I buy yarn I love and then let it tell me what it wants to become.

In this stash was a skein of Be Sweet Magic Ball yarn in the Hot Sundae colorway

The Be Sweet Magic Ball yarn is a collection of yarns tied together (commonly called a component yarn) and is described by Be Sweet this way:

A divine arrangement of hand dyed boucle and brushed mohair yarns tied with knobby, ribbon, and metallic goodies.

I intended to make a long skinny scarf with this skein of yarn. I crocheted a long chain and started crocheting rows. I loved watching the scarf take shape as I went through each section of the magic ball of yarn, enjoying the colors and textures of each different section of yarn. After the skein was all crocheted up, I looked over at my pile of coordinating yarns and decided to just grab a skein of yarn, tie it to the end of the Be Sweet skein and keep on crocheting. I ended up using 13 different skeins of yarn with so many different fibers, colors and textures.

What I created was this incredible shawl that I named "Rocky Mountain Sunrise because the vibrant colors remind me of the vibrant sunrises (and sunsets) that we enjoy here in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

This shawl can be worn many different ways. If it hadn't been so cold outside when I did the photo shoot I would have created more looks but I needed to get finished before my fingers froze!

I love the colors and the textures in this shawl!

The yarns I used include boucle, brushed, ladder, ribbon, beaded, flag, two-ply and eyelash yarns. The fibers include mohair, baby mohair, merino, wool, silk, rayon, poly and nylon. This shawl is warm, soft and snuggly.

I have listed this shawl in the ArtFire store for sale. I am including free Priority Mail shipping along with delivery confirmation and insurance (to the US only). If you order by Monday, December 19th, you should have this shawl in time for gift giving at Christmas. Here is the listing in the store: Rocky Mountain Sunrise Shawl

And, of course, I want to share with you some photos of the Rocky Mountain Sunrises that inspired the creation of this shawl.

All of these photos were taken from either our front or our back deck without the use of filters or enhancements.

Emma Lea is growing up!

2011-11-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

The little bottle fed kitten, Emma Lea, is now fully weaned and eating solid foods on her own. She's gained a LOT of weighed since we rescued her. She was a tiny 13 ounces when we got her and she now weighs one pound 8 ounces.

I got some photos of her today but they aren't very good because she was running all over my office and I had to use the flash so the camera took too long to take the photos. But, you get the idea.

Her eyes are turning from baby blue to green.

And I love her markings!

Let the Shopping Begin!

2011-11-25T08:25:00.001-07:00

Today is Black Friday, officially the start of the holiday shopping season. I know some people love the challenge of standing in line in the cold waiting for the store to open and hoping to score big on some door buster deal. For those of you who would prefer the sanity of shopping from home, please consider shopping from American online sellers, especially small independent sellers and artists.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 15% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

LETTHESHOPPINGBEGIN

during checkout.

Fiber Arts

I am having a 15% off sale in my Split Rock Ranch ArtFire store. I know 15% off isn't much, especially when you consider the huge deals that the big box stores offer today. But, my mark-up and profit isn't nearly what theirs is so I am offering what I can afford to offer. Just use LETTHESHOPPINGBEGIN at checkout to get the 15% discount on your entire purchase. Discount does not apply to shipping. The coupon sale starts today and ends Monday night, November 28th. Happy shopping!

In the store I have handdyed fibers, both loose locks and rovings, fiber blend batts for spinning or felting (blended right here on the ranch with my hand crank drum carder), felting needles and supplies, and felting kits (both beginner and deluxe). I also have a variety of my OOAK original design scarves, cowls, shawls and accessories.

Let the shopping begin!!!

Namaste Farms Online Radio by Namaste Farms | Blog Talk Radio

2011-11-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Namaste Farms Online Radio by Namaste Farms | Blog Talk Radio

We are so lucky to have Jacey Stringham Boggs available for an interview on Wed. night 6:00 pm. Jacey is a well known spinning teacher, author, video producer and associate editor for Spin-Off Magazine. She is extremely well regarded in the spinning community and is considered one of the most well respected spinning technicians and teachers among her peers. Please join host Natalie Redding, with co-conspirators Jennifer Smith (Foo) and Kimberly Macalindin (the Radio Fairy) for our interview with Jacey Boggs. Jacey will be available live for questions after the interview.

Please check out Jacey's website www.insubordiknit.com where you can pre-order her book!

New Kitten!

2011-11-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

We haven't had foster kittens for a couple of months here and I was having kitten withdrawals. A couple of weeks ago our daughter called asking if we could please take this tiny little kitten that had been found at our son's house. My daughter-in-law found this little kitten almost frozen stiff in their yard so she brought her into the house and laid her on towels on zip-lock bags filled with warm water. Our son-in-law went and picked the kitten up from them (my son is allergic to cats so they could not keep her.) We met our daughter and her husband halfway and picked up the kitten. She is adorable. She was maybe four weeks old at the time and I was afraid that she might not make it. But, she took to the bottle right away and is now eating semi-solid foods and growing like crazy. She was 13.1 ounces when we got her and she now weighs 1 pound 2 oz as of tonight. We named her Emma Lea - she has two "M"s on her forehead so I wanted a name with two Ms in it.

Just look at the beautiful mackerel tabby markings on this little girl!

And look at this adorable little tummy!!

I have an old alpaca slipper that our foster kittens always love to snuggle in. Emma loves it, too!

Cria Update - They're Growing Like Weeds!

2011-10-21T11:49:00.000-06:00

The crias are growing like weeds. Phoenix will be five months old on November 4th - that's only two weeks away! He has been showing interest in the females already and while he cannot get them pregnant, he is "practicing" on a regular basis and really irritating some of them. He can be weaned at five months so I will probably put him in with Spencer (who will be a year old on October 30th) until they have bonded and then I'll turn them out with the small group of younger/calmer males to see if I can integrate them safely into that group.

Here is a recent photo of Phoenix.

Rosie is growing fast, too. She is now four months old so I will be able to wean her in a month but her mother usually weans her babies on her own so I'm hoping Rosie can just stay in with the female herd and the transition will be a smooth one. I notice that her mother is allowing her to nurse less and less so she is probably already starting to dry up.

Here is a photo I took a couple of days ago. I just love Rosie's face! Look at those dark circles around her eyes. And her darker muzzle. And those fuzzy ears!

Autumn has grown a lot. She is four weeks old today and is looking awesome. Her fiber is very lustrous and silky and I hope it stays that way.

And look at her face! Is that not adorable?!

And then I got a really cute photo of Rosie and Autumn together. They were watching Courtney, one of our cats, on the other side of the fence.

And here is the newest little male who is eight days old today. I think we're going to call him Time Traveler because his grandsire is Tempis Fugit (latin for Time Flies) and his sire is Viajero (Spanish for Traveler).

And we are still waiting for Dazzle to have her cria. And that should be the last one for this year. If Dazzle gets much bigger, she's going to explode!

One More New Cria

2011-10-17T07:39:00.000-06:00

During last weekend's snow storm, we were praying that the remaining two female llamas would wait for warmer weather before having their crias. Dazzle still has not given birth but Decorus Domina (aka Baby Dee) gave birth to a little boy on Thursday 10/13. Dee is a first time Mom and she was a bit confused at first as to what was going on but she quickly decided that this baby was hers to love and protect.

Here is the little guy right after being born, making his first attempts at sitting up.

Another black llama!

And here is the little guy finally up and taking his first steps. They love to use their momma as a crutch, leaning against them and going round and round them as they get the hang of walking by themselves.

And here is the little guy leaning against his Momma, who has decided to lay down for awhile and rest.

And here they are getting to know one another. Dee was licking his face and humming to him. It was such a sweet moment of bonding and I'm glad I was there to see it.

And he decided that being born and learning to walk was hard work so he laid down to rest for a bit. Meanwhile, Dee was still licking him and humming to him.

Here is a close-up of his face - he's jet black with white on his muzzle and a small spot of white on his forehead.

I'm stumped for names for this little guy. His Mom's name is Decorus Domina (Latin for beautiful lady). His Dad's name is Viajero (Spanish for traveler). Any suggestions for a name would be welcome!

And we're still waiting for Dazzle to deliver her cria. She was very interested in this cria so I let her in with Dee and the baby and she stayed with them in their area all night long. Normally Dazzle hates to be penned up but this time she was quite content to be there. She seems to have bonded with the baby, too. Dee's baby was much smaller than we anticipated. Chalcedony's cria turned three weeks old the day after Dee delivered and she was 23 pounds at birth. Dee's cria was only 22 pounds. Chalcedony, Dee and Dazzle were all bred on the same day last year. First time moms frequently deliver smaller babies but with Dee's large size and capacity, I did expect a larger cria, even for her first one.

So, we are still patiently waiting for Dazzle's cria to arrive. She's getting bigger and bigger!

First Snow of the Season

2011-10-08T17:12:00.000-06:00

We were under a Winter Weather Advisory starting last night through tonight at 6 PM. They called for 3 to 8 inches of snow in our area. Usually they are wrong and we get virtually nothing. This time, however, they were actually right for a change! We got at least 6 to 8 inches of the white stuff. I measured the snowfall on a table on the deck this morning and it was at 5 inches but it was a heavy wet snow so I'm sure we got more than that and it snowed more after I measured it. Most of it has already melted because it has been so warm lately.

But I did get photos of River, our new standard poodle puppy, playing in the snow for the first time. At first he was really hesitant to go out in it but once he was in it, he jumped and romped and played....like a puppy!

Pippin, our YorkiePoo, wasn't all that impressed. He preferred staying on the areas where I shoveled.

Temps are predicted to get back into the mid to upper 60s here this next week so we'll enjoy a little Indian Summer then.

Cria update

2011-10-01T18:34:00.000-06:00

Our newest little cria is growing stronger every day. We're pretty sure she was born at least a week to 10 days early because she was so weak and her ligaments were so soft when she was born. However, she is running around the pastures now and making new friends. She and Rosie are quickly becoming BFF's.

Here are Rosie and Autumn Shadow - they are about three months apart.

And here is a photo of Phoenix taken today - he is now almost four months old.

We have two more females that are due any time now. Here is Dazzle, who is pretty much taking things in stride, just lounging around eating. It looks like she has swallowed a basketball (or two)

And then there is Dee - who is not the least bit happy about how she feels right now. Her ears are almost always back like this lately.

Dee doesn't look as big as Dazzle does but it is because Dee hasn't been sheared so her wool covers her baby bump. And, Dee is larger and has more capacity than Dazzle so she doesn't show quite as much as Dazzle. Which one will deliver first?

And, another photo of little Autumn

Thank you for visiting Split Rock Ranch!

Another new cria at Split Rock Ranch -

2011-09-24T18:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a great day here at Split Rock Ranch. Yesterday morning I discovered the very first freshly laid egg by one of our Rhode Island Red hens! She was soooo proud of that egg!

After doing chores and while I was filling water tanks, I noticed that one of our females, Chalcedony, was laying by herself off in "the birthing corner". I observed her getting up and trying to poop but not much came out. Then she would go lay down and roll to her side for awhile and then back up. Then she would stand and act like she was trying to poop again. I knew she was in labor. I came into the house to get towels and the "birthing bag" that contains iodine for the umbilical cord, etc. I was going to come back in and grab the camera but by the time I got back out to check on her the nose was already presenting so I just got some of the other female llamas moved to another pasture to give Chalcedony some space. Soon the front legs and head were out and I just went up and wrapped a towel around the baby and caught it as she was dropping to the ground. I was thrilled - it is a girl!

Above: Newborn cria with her Dam

We picked up the cria (baby llama) and moved her over to a small area where we always put the new moms with their babies so they can bond and nobody will step on the new baby that way. We caught Chalcedony and put her in with the baby and gave her a bucket of water, some hay and some grain.

Here is a video of the brand new baby.

And here is a photo of the little girl today.

And a close-up

We haven't decided on a name yet. We are considering Onyx, Obsidian, and Ebony. Onyx and Obsidian are related to Chalcedony and are both black substances.

But since she was born on the first day of Fall, the Autumnal Equinox, we are also considering Autumn.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T09:53:00.000-06:00

Another llama for our show string - Wheatfield's Spencer

2011-09-20T13:50:00.000-06:00

While we were at the LOCC Fall Classic Llama show and the Rocky Mountain Regional Llama Show over Labor Day weekend, we fell in love with this young male llama. His name is Wheatfield's Spencer. His owners/breeders are retiring and getting out of the llama business so they wanted to get their animals placed into new homes.

Spencer was already entered into the LFA Fall Harvest Show and the LFA Futurity Show on September 16-18 so we agreed to have them show Spencer at these shows and we would figure out how to then get Spencer here to Colorado from his home in Kansas. Spencer came to Colorado yesterday with some friend's who live 20 miles to the west of us; they had also attended the LFA show and sale so they brought him back home with them. We went to pick Spencer up last night.

I fell in love with Spencer's color and his adorable face. His color is a gorgeous rose gray and the fiber is incredibly silky soft.

Just look at his fiber!

Spencer placed first in his class and then took Grand Champion Heavy Wool Male at the LFA Fall Harvest show!

I checked Spencer's other placings that I could find on-line and see that he also placed first and Grand Heavy Wool Male at the Nebraska State Fair this summer.

Stay tuned for more of Spencer as he grows up here at Split Rock Ranch!

Rosie is looking awesome!

2011-09-14T10:39:00.000-06:00

Split Rock Champagne & Pearls, aka "Rosie" (I was going to name her Roses, Champagne & Pearls because she looked pink when she was born but that name is SO big, we just decided to call her Rosie and shortened the name to C&P) is now almost three months old and is growing up nicely. Her fiber is not as pencil locked as it was when she was born but we're hoping the lock structure tightens up as she ages. And, her fiber is this incredible champagne color now with silver and dark gray points.

Our new puppy - River!

2011-09-13T15:59:00.000-06:00

You might remember that I did a post back in April regarding the passing of our little toy poodle, Gigi. I was totally devastated by her passing and have been grieving for months. We wrestled with the idea of getting another puppy but wanted to put some time behind us before doing so. We considered getting a mini Schnauzer puppy and I even found a puppy here in Colorado that I fell in love with - look at the heart on his side!

But, hubby was hesitant to get another small dog for several reasons. We have heard that Schnauzers can be big barkers. Strike one. We have heard that Schnauzers can be snippy with other dogs. Strike two. I don't want to get a little dog with "small dog syndrome". Strike three. So, as much as I adore this little puppy, we decided that he just wouldn't fit our current lifestyle.

Then we went to a llama show over Labor Day weekend and some friends of ours had brought their black standard poodle with them. He is a gem. It really made both of us miss our little Gigi. So, we thought perhaps a standard poodle might be the best choice for us. We really missed the poodle personality - they are so smart and so easy to train. After we got back home from the llama show I started doing an internet search for standard poodle puppies in Colorado and found a breeder who lives less than two hours away from us. She had two dogs listed in her ad - one of them was a black male standard poodle named River, which was exactly what we were looking for. I emailed her and asked if River was still available. He was. Long story short, after being told that River might be sold on Friday, I woke up Saturday morning to an email saying that the breeder refused to sell River to the person who looked at him Friday evening and if we were still interested we were welcome to come visit. We went and saw River and both of his parents, along with his parent's pedigrees and fell in love with him. River is calm, sweet, laid back, fun loving, obedient and a stunning dog with excellent conformation. I haven't been able to get good photos of him since we brought him home because he rarely sits still for more than two seconds when I'm trying to photograph him. So, for now I'm sharing his photos from the breeder.

Here is River's paternal grandsire, JC Pioneer's Kaiser. Kaiser was the #1 standard poodle for 2003/2004 - he was the first silver standard poodle to achieve this!

Saturday morning while we were getting ready to leave to go meet River we got a call from the shelter saying that it was time for our foster kittens to go to the vet for their neuter surgeries on Monday. So, it was good timing because now I don't have to keep track of a puppy and two small kittens!

New Foster Kittens!

2011-08-22T10:18:00.000-06:00

We have two new foster kittens. A little gray and white male named Squeakers and a solid black male named Stormy. Both are long haired kitties. They aren't related but they came into the shelter a couple of days apart so they were fostered out together and they have become best buddies. Poor little Squeakers was found in someone's crawlspace all by himself. He had a litter mate but a dog killed it. ;o( So, needless to say, Squeakers came to us terrified of dogs. However, he is getting braver and braver around our two dogs so we think he'll eventually be fine to place in a home with dogs.

Here is Squeakers, lounging on his little bed on hubby's desk in his home office.

And here is Stormy with Uncle Munchkin. They are snoopervising.

Cria and Goat Update

2011-08-01T19:19:00.000-06:00

Sorry its been awhile (again) since I posted but I've been super busy around the ranch and keeping up with the auction for my niece on Facebook.

I wanted to share some additional photos of the little Nigerian Dwarf goat kids I got recently. These little guys were both born in April so they are a little over three months old now.

This is Gladiator

And this is Darrel

They LOVE to climb and jump on things. I put this ramp up to the top of their house and they love to run up it and then jump off and run back to do it again and again and again.

Today when I went out to check on things, I found the two of them curled up sleeping in the shade on top of the chicken run. Darrel was asleep on the tarp at one end and Gladiator was curled up sleeping on board that I have sitting on top of the run to protect the opening into the chicken coop from rain. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and as soon as they realized I was outside, they woke up and jumped off, running to me to say hello. They follow me everywhere like little puppies. They even wag their tails like a dog! They really are very cute. Sometimes annoying...but cute.

And here are some updated photos of Phoenix and Rosie. They are grazing while Rosie's momma, Minnie Pearl, is resting.

And here is Phoenix with his half sister Dazzle (they have the same dam) drinking out of a puddle after the rain.

And here is Rosie, posing for me. I finally managed to get several great photos of her standing still!! We are more and more impressed with Rosie every day. She has such incredible fiber and the color is awesome. Her personality is absolutely precious. We just love her!

We should have at least one more cria in late September/early October. Dazzle is bred to our silver ALSA Halter Champion, Tempis Fugit.

Sorry, she was very busy eating and drinking!

Online Auction to Benefit my Niece, Alena

2011-07-21T13:59:00.002-06:00

I am holding an online auction on Facebook for the next week or more. The proceeds of this auction are to benefit my niece, Alena, who is recovering from uterine cancer. She had surgery in late June and is unable to work for six weeks. She had to borrow the money to have the necessary surgery to remove the cancerous tissue. Her insurance would not cover the surgeon's fees and those fees needed to be paid up front before the surgery would even be scheduled. While she is unable to work, she does not have paid vacation or paid sick days so she is without any form of income for six full weeks. This means she does not have the funds to pay even her basic necessities of rent, utilities and food. So, I decided to do not only the Chip-In event for her, I also decided that an auction would be a great way for people to get some beautiful goods and the proceeds would go to a very good cause.

In the auction are some handspun and hand painted yarns that were donated by a wonderful customer and friend, Cassandra.

And a handspun skein of Falkland wool yarn spun and donated by Marlea in Wyoming.

Also up for bids is a hand dyed skein of wool dyed and donated by Lydia of Prairie Fire Soapworks & Fiber - on ArtFire.

Also available is some extremely yummy olive oil donated by Kitehawk Farm: Kitehawk 100% Organic Arbequina Olive Oil - 250 mil bottle. Estate grown and milled at Kitehawk Farm, located on the lovely central coast of California.

And two big boxes of soy wax scented tarts for use in a tart warmer - each box contains 25 two ounce (2.0 oz) tarts (over three pounds of tarts!) donated by Auntie Di's. You can find Auntie Di's on facebook, on her own website and on Etsy.

Another gorgeous item up for bids is a stunning chalcedony bracelet handmade and donated by Patty of Broken Teepee Designs in Montana. Broken Teepee Designs is also on Etsy.

I donated a first shearing llama cria (baby) fleece. I normally would never sell a cria fleece but I wanted to donate something that I thought would sell well and this fits the bill very well.

My niece, Alena Scott, is a also very talented artist. She makes some incredibly beautiful mosaic pieces of art. Some of these pieces are available for sale right now in the auction on Facebook. Here are her pieces available in the auction:

A mosaic candle holder

A candle holder or candy jar (has a lid)

A mosaic frame that holds a photograph of a rose (taken by Alena)

A gorgeous patio table or tea table

And a framed mosaic wall piece titled "Green Mask"

Other people have donated items to the auction and I will be adding those over the next few days as time allows. I will be adding some Mary Kay cosmetics, handmade earrings, a handmade angel "ornament" and other items.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated items or money to the Chip-In Event! The outpouring of kindness, generosity and love has been amazing and the entire family is extremely grateful for everything that everyone has done to help. Of course, all the prayers are very much appreciated and have made such a difference in the healing process.

If you are interested in bidding on any of these items, you can find the online auction HERE.

Catching Up

2011-07-14T13:21:00.000-06:00

I apologize for not posting much lately but I've been pretty busy. Our daughter got married on June 25th in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The weather was perfect and the ceremony was very touching.

Here is the happy couple.

The week after the wedding, our new chicken coop/house arrived. Mid-May I got five Rhode Island Red pullets. One chick died within a few day, most likely from shipping stress, and another one died a couple of weeks ago and I have no idea what happened to her. I found her dead in a box in the chicken run one morning. So, we have three pullets left. They are growing like weeds! The first week, I swear you could watch them grow right before your eyes. I would check them first thing in the morning and then throughout the day and every time I looked in on them, they were bigger than the time before. Once I moved them outside to their run, they grew quickly and it was a lot easier having them outside, rather than inside in a large cage (a lot less messy in the house!) They slept in a pet carrier in the run until we bought The Chicken Hilton for them. They wouldn't go into the new house so I picked one of the girls up and set her inside. She came squawking out of there like a bat out of you know where! Hmmm...so the first night they slept in their crate. I decided I hadn't spent all the money on The Chicken Hilton just so it would look good next to the run, so I removed the crate and put some of their food inside. They weren't buying it. So then I put a light in the house and they at least trotting up the ramp and had a look inside. Then, I got an ear of corn (their favorite treat) and broke it into a small piece and a larger piece. The small piece I dropped on the floor just inside the door. They all fell on it at once. I then set the larger piece all the way across the house on the floor and soon one at a time they came in and started eating the corn. Now they love their house and spend every night in it and are sometimes in it during the day, just chillin'. They are now 9 weeks old and look like chickens, not chicks. Rhode Island Reds should start to lay eggs when they are about 4 months old so they're about half way there. The chicken house has a nesting box attached to one side of it with three nest sections in it. We purchased a second nesting box that can be attached to the other side of the house at a later date when we have more chickens.

Here is The Chicken Hilton. I cut a section of the chicken wire from the run just large enough for the little door on the opposite side to flop down, creating a little ramp for them to use to enter the house. I stapled the chicken wire to the side of the house so nothing can squeeze through and get into the run or the house.

Here's how it looks with the second door open. I am not letting them out to free range yet as they still aren't big enough.

And here is how it looks from the other side of the run. Notice the chicks playing in their water pan. I put a paving brick in the center of the pan to hold it down and to give them something to stand on. They love to play in the water.

And above is a close-up of the chickens - sorry, they're all mooning us!

Next post I'll tell you about another recent addition to the ranch!

Please Chip In

2011-07-08T13:53:00.001-06:00

My niece, Alena, was diagnosed in April with uterine cancer. Because she does not have medical insurance that covers the surgeon, they would not schedule the surgery until she came up with the money. She was able to borrow the money for the surgery and had that surgery on June 24th. She is not able to work for six weeks so is unable to pay for her rent, utilities, food and living expenses. I have set up a Chip In account for her in the hopes that we can get enough money to pay her expenses until she is able to return to work. I would also love to be able to get enough donated to help pay back the money she borrowed to get the surgery.

The surgeon told Alena that she believes she got all the cancerous tissue during the surgery so radiation and chemo will not be necessary. This is extremely good news, especially since over two months went by between discovering the cancer and getting the surgery.

Alena is a very talented artist who makes beautiful mosaic pieces. I will post photos of some items that she has for sale so if you would like to purchase them, the money will go towards her expenses.

Here is Alena with her three daughters.

Anything people can donate would be greatly appreciated. Even $1 would be helpful to help offset her expenses and medical bills.

And, of course, prayers and positive healing energy are always appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity!

Rosie is growing up!

2011-07-03T07:15:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo of little Rosie that I took yesterday. I just love the color of her fleece! And that face...she's such a cutie pie.

Wordless Wednesday - The newest critters at Split Rock Ranch

2011-06-29T10:07:00.000-06:00

Another new cria at Split Rock Ranch

2011-06-27T19:32:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday we had another bundle of joy delivered at Split Rock Ranch! Minnie Pearl gave birth to a gorgeous rose gray/silver suri female cria at approximately 3:30 PM on June 22nd.

Here is how the baby looked immediately after birth (I knew Minnie was in labor so I was in and out all day long, checking on her and I knew when she was close so I brought out towels, the birthing/vet bag and my camera ahead of time). Crias (lama babies) are born with "toe caps" on their feet to prevent their toes from tearing their mother during the birthing process. You can see the white caps on the baby.

It doesn't take crias very long before they attempt to stand up. They are pretty wobbly at first and take a few tumbles before they master all four legs at the same time. Here is the baby after she wobbled about for a little while.

I had fed her mother a flake of alfalfa on the green mat and the cria rolled around in it so in this photo (above) she's full of alfalfa flakes.

And here she is (above) after she has mastered all four legs at the same time. Her mother is resting and awaiting the delivery of the placenta.

Many times, the cria uses their mother as a "crutch" to help keep them from falling over. They circle around and around and around their mother, leaning against her to help them balance.

The rest of the female herd is anxiously awaiting their opportunity to inspect the new arrival and greet her properly. We like to keep the new mother and her cria separated from the rest of the herd until the mother has passed the placenta and the cria is stable on all four legs. This also gives them the opportunity to bond and keeps the rest of the herd from crowding or knocking the cria down and stepping on it.

After the mother has passed the placenta and the new cria is walking about fairly well, we let them back in with the rest of the herd. Above, Phoenix (born 6/4/11) is greeting the newest cria, under the watchful eye of Minnie Pearl.

Phoenix got a little too excited about the new baby and tried to jump on her. Fortunately, Tina Fey (the red llama) stepped in just as Phoenix tried to jump on the new cria.

And here is how the new baby looked about 18 hours later. She is finally all dried out. And she sticks very close to her mother!

We are still contemplating what to name the new cria but are considering Roses, Champagne & Pearls (roses and champagne because she is rose/gray/silver in color and pearls because her mother is Minnie Pearl.) Some have said they think they name is too long and suggested Champagne & Pearls but I have been calling her Rosie so I think she will most like be named Split Rock Roses, Champagne & Pearls aka Rosie.

Here is a photo of the sire of this cria - his name is Shimmering Sands.

Happy Birthday Black Jack!

2011-06-15T07:50:00.001-06:00

Our oldest llama hits a huge milestone today - he turns 20! This is Ivory Pond's Black Jack. We bought Black Jack in the spring of 1998 for our daughter, Jackie, to use as a youth performance llama. Black Jack was almost 7 years old when we bought him and had been used by quite a few youths in the show ring.

Here is Black Jack and Jackie after winning first place in every event and Grand Champion in her youth class at the 2001 Sangre de Cristo Llama Show in Westcliffe, Colorado. At this show they got a perfect score in two out of the three classes. They missed one point in the pack class because Black Jack didn't step on the last step coming off the bridge. The judge said he rarely gives perfect scores and he was actively looking for something to "ding" them on but couldn't find anything until the missed step in the last class. So out of a possible 240 points they scored 239 points!

Here is a compilation of the awards won by Jackie and Black Jack over the span of four show seasons.

Grand Champion Youth Performance

2002 Rocky Mtn Regional Championship Show
2002 Colorado State Fair
2002 LOCC Fall Show
2002 Boulder County Fair (1st in all events)
2002 LOCC Spring Show
2001 Rocky Mtn Regional Championship Show
2001 Kiowa Creek Youth Show
2001 Sangre de Cristo Youth Show
2001 Boulder County Fair (1st in all events)
2001 LOCC Spring Show - Ultimate Grand Champion
2001 Banana Belt Llama Classic (1st in all events)
2001 Western Slope Llama Classic(1st in all events)
2001 Ntl Western Stock Show (1st in all events)
2000 Ntl Western Stock Show (1st in all events)
2000 LOCC FallClassic Llama Show
1999 Western Slope Llama Show
1999 LOCC Spring Llama Show

Reserve Grand Champion Youth Performance

2000 Sangre de Cristo Youth Llama Show
1999 Banana Belt Llama Show
1999 LOCC Fall Classic Llama Show

Top Ten @ 2000 Grand Nationals - Public Relations

4th Place @ 2001 Grand Nationals - Pack Class 4th Place @ 2002 Grand Nationals - Pack Class
7th Place @ 2002 Grand Nationals - Public Relations
8th Place 0verall @ 2002 Grand Nationals

I'll write more later as a tribute to Black Jack, who we affectionately call "the bestest best llama in the whole wide world".

Chillin' on a Sunday Evening

2011-06-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

Elton has the right idea for how to spend a Sunday evening!

Updated Photos of Midnight Phoenix

2011-06-10T09:56:00.000-06:00

I went out to take photos of a fire burning about three miles to the south of us and when I was coming back from the turnout pasture I went in to see little Midnight Phoenix. He started posing for me so I got a couple of really good shots of him practicing his show ring stance. He is four days old in this photo. You can see how much different he looks from his newborn and day old photos! Phoenix is going to be our next halter show llama. He has the same style and presence that his grandsire, Midnight Hour, did.

A new Cria at Split Rock Ranch!

2011-06-08T11:50:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, June 4th, Split Rock Winona Wildfire gave birth to a beautiful 30 pound male cria (baby llama). I suspected that Winona was in labor that morning but we already had plans to go to Colorado Springs to celebrate my birthday and my Dad's birthday. We always celebrate our birthdays together and this was a milestone birthday for Dad - his 75th! He proudly announced that he made it three-quarters of a century. Since Winona has had three other crias and wasn't a first time Mom, we felt comfortable leaving for the day. When we got back home a little before 5 PM we noticed that one of our studs was pacing the fencing in his run and we didn't see any of the females when we drove up so we knew something was going on. I left my purse and everything else in the car and headed out to the pasture to see what was going on. As soon as I got to the end of the privacy fence around our back yard, I saw that all the girls were gathered together under one of the big pine trees in their pasture. I knew that meant that either there was a brand new baby just born or she was still in the process of giving birth. I hollered to DH that we had a baby and he ran into the house to get clean towels and the birthing bag. I saw that the baby was partially out; his front legs and his head were out but his shoulders were stuck. DH came back out with towels and birthing bag and he grasped the front legs of the cria and gently pulled to loosen the shoulders. The rest of him quickly slid out into my waiting arms. We toweled him off an pulled the birth sac off him while all the females, including momma llama, sniffed and hummed to the new arrival. I sprayed the umbilical cord with iodone and DH carried the cria to an area where we normally put newborns and their Moms so they can bond without all the other llamas intruding. I gave Winona some grain to eat while her cria started trying to stand.

I went back to the car and got my purse, etc. and changed into my work clothes, grabbed my camera and went back out to feed the horses and our two elderly llamas who are not in large pastures where we have bales of hay so the llamas can free feed. By the time I got back to check on the new cria, he was up and toddling about.

Here is a photo of him when he was first on his feet.

And here is the other side

I haven't used the video feature on my digital camera until recently and I was surprised at how easy it is to use and download the videos! Here is a short video I did of the cria as he was toddling about trying to figure out where he was supposed to nurse from.

When he finally got his sea legs and had nursed, we opened the gates and let them go back in with the rest of the female llamas so everyone could say hello to the newest member of their herd.

Here he is with his momma, Winona, before we let them back in with the rest of the girls.

The dam's name is Split Rock Winona Wildfire; she was born at the height of the Hayman Fire in June of 2002. The sire's name is Midnight's Kemui Yama, which is Japanese for Smoky Mountain; he was born during a wildfire across the road from us in June of 2006. This is his first cria and we are thrilled with him. This cria was born during the wildfires raging in Arizona and the air here has been filled with smoke for days now.

Here is Kemui Yama

We knew that we wanted a name with "fire" in it or something that gave the sense of fire. We also wanted to include Midnight in the name in honor of his paternal grandsire, Midnight Hour who passed away from cancer this past January. Somebody suggested Firestar, which we liked. But Midnight Starfire rolled off the tongue easier so we were considering those names. But then someone who read the story about his background suggested the name Phoenix - to represent rising from the ashes of fires, which is perfect! So, we are going to name him Split Rock Midnight Phoenix. He already answers to the name Phoenix so we think it is perfect for him.

Here he is the next day when he was about 20 hours old. He was all dried out and fluffy so he looks totally different than he did in the first photos when he was still damp.

We expect Midnight Phoenix to be our next halter show llama! He will be eligible for shows as of November 4, 2011 so he'll miss this year's show season but he'll be ready to go for the 2012 show season! We're hoping he'll follow in his sire and grandsire's footsteps.

All Gave Some - Some Gave All

2011-05-30T01:00:00.001-06:00

While Memorial Day weekend marks the "official beginning of summer" it is also a time to remember those who served our country and paid the ultimate price. Thank you to those who have given their all to protect, defend and serve our country. All Gave some, but some gave all. I love this song by Billy Ray Cyrus - "Some Gave All"

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2011-05-27T10:09:00.001-06:00

I want to wish everyone a relaxing, safe and fun Memorial Day weekend! What do you do to celebrate the official start of Summer? Do you go camping? Do you have a cookout on the patio or deck? Share your special way of celebrating this weekend.

We don't have anything special planned for this weekend. We were supposed to be attending and exhibiting at a llama show but the show was canceled due to the outbreak of EHV-1 (equine herpes virus). The show was canceled as a cautionary measure so that exposure to the camelids was reduced. So we have an unexpected "free" weekend!

We plan to set up our smoker and smoke a chicken, a cornish game hen and a couple of hugs slabs of Alaskan Salmon. We'll have enough meat to last the entire weekend without having to cook every day.

Tomorrow we'll probably start shearing llamas and trim toenails as needed. Then we'll relax the rest of the weekend and enjoy our time off.

And I have new rose bushes to get planted. I bought these a couple of weeks ago at Lowe's for only $5!

To help kick off summer and to celebrate the long holiday weekend, I'm having a sale in my ArtFire store! Use the coupon code Memorial 10Off to receive 10% off everything in the store!

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 10.00 % On
All Items

Use Coupon Code:

MEMORIAL10OFF

during checkout.

Holiday Decorations

A New Rescue Kitten - Mowgli

2011-05-17T07:59:00.000-06:00

Saturday afternoon our daughter called to tell us that our son had called her wanting to know if she could come get a little feral/stray kitten and take care of it. Apparently a momma kitty had kittens under the bay window at our son's house. While she was moving kittens to a new location she either dropped one or he wandered off while she was moving the others. Our granddaughter found a kitten and picked it up and brought it into the house. Momma didn't come back for him. So, they called our daughter, knowing she has experience with raising tiny kittens. We went down the mountain to Colorado Springs on Sunday to see the kitten. He is one of the cutest little kittens I've ever seen. Because our daughter works a full-time job and because this little guy is young enough that he needs to be bottle fed, I offered to take him and raise him. It just makes more sense because I work from home and can feed him every few hours without any problems. I think he is probably about 4 weeks old. One of our male cats, Munchkin, was a rescued feral kitten that we also bottle fed and he loves helping to take care of kittens.

Here is little Mowgli

And here is little Mowgli with Uncle Munchkin

And I took a video with my digital camera (I've never used this feature before!)
I had just fed little Mowgli his bottle and Munchkin was laying behind us on the chair so I set Mowgli up with Munchkin and Munchie started to clean little Mowgli.

Isn't Munchkin just the best surrogate Momma cat?! He loves taking care of kittens.

Lalo and Kitten

2011-05-10T19:38:00.000-06:00

This morning I came out of my office and found Lalo, our former foster kitten, a Tonkinese mix male, "hugging" one of the foster kittens. I ran back into my office and grabbed the camera and managed to get a couple of good shots of them. snuggling. I just love how my cats get along so well with the foster kittens!

New Foster Kittens!

2011-05-09T21:54:00.000-06:00

We have new fosters kittens! Last Wednesday we picked up three little eight week old kittens - all dilute orange tabby males. Eli, Elmo and Elton are their names.

Here are the three of them - for some reason they insisted on sleeping on the toilet seat - go figure.

It is Elton in the back, Elmo in the middle and Eli in the front. Its hard to tell them apart just looking at them so the shelter put different colored collars on them with their names written on them. We're learning to tell them apart by personality though. They are probably the sweetest, friendliest litter of kittens we've ever fostered.

Eli is quiet and reserved, a bit shy, but he loves people and is perfectly content to sit in one of our laps and purr. Or he's happy laying on the sheepskin rug in Jim's office. Elton, on the other hand, has earned the nickname "Mountain Goat" or "MG" because he climbs everything. He can't sit still; he has to be on the move and exploring everywhere. He's learned that the dogs are fun to play with but I think he's getting tired of getting a bath when playing with them. Annie, my Aussie, loves to lay down with Elton between her paws, licking and licking and licking on him. And little Elmo is in between. Sometimes he's content to lay in one place and nap and other times he's off with Elton playing.

Today I was taking photos of some new fleeces and I got some really good pics of Elmo playing on the back of the chair.

But soon it was nap time for little Elmo.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T06:56:00.002-06:00

Wishing my Mom and all the other Mom's out there a very Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T08:11:00.001-06:00

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter today.

My Fleeces are Back from the Mill!! Llama Rovings Now Available!

2011-04-21T19:40:00.002-06:00

Several months ago I sent three fleeces to the mill to be processed into roving. I sent a first shearing fleece from our gorgeous silver/gray male, Tempis Fugit. This fleece has been sitting in my studio for a few years, waiting for me to decide what to do with it. It was extremely clean, ultra-soft and an incredible silver/gray color.

Here is a photo of Tempis Fugit - he has earned enough Grand Champion awards at halter to earn his ALSA Halter Champion award!

And here is a photo of his first shearing rovings

I also sent in Tempis Fugit's second shearing fleece. It processed into a similar roving that is slightly darker and only slightly less fine than the first shearing.

These rovings are available for sale. I will probably hold back at least one bump of the first shearing for my personal spinning stash. The rest is offered at $4.50/oz for the first shearing fiber and $4.00/oz for the second shearing fiber.

The first shearing fiber bumps are as follows:

8.3 oz = $37.35

10 oz = $45.00
10.6 oz = $47.70

I have an 11.6 oz bump in stock but I think that is the one I will hold back for my own stash.

The second shearing fiber bumps are as follows: (all prices are plus shipping/handling)

8.2 oz = $32.80

10.8 oz = $43.20
12.1 oz = $48.40

I had some gorgeous rich dark chocolate brown rovings available from a first shearing of Primoris Filius (First Son in latin - he is Tempis Fugit's first son) but that fiber sold quite quickly. I'm going to share a photo of the llama and the fiber though, because it is so gorgeous!

Here is Primoris Filius aka Fil after shearing

And the bumps of his first shearing roving

My Somewhere Over The Rainbow Collection made it to the Front Page of ArtFire!

2011-04-18T08:41:00.003-06:00

My Somewhere Over The Rainbow Collection made it to the Front Page of ArtFire this morning!

Happy Monday everyone!

Sorry, I've been AWOL again - A tribute to Gigi

2011-04-10T17:15:00.000-06:00

I apologize for being absent from the blog, yet again, recently. I have a very good excuse and this time it isn't good news.

On March 29th our little toy poodle, Gigi, started vomiting. She seemed to feel okay otherwise so I wasn't too alarmed. I fed her some boiled rice with low sodium chicken broth on Tuesday night and she gobbled it down but vomited some of it back up. I thought it was perhaps because she had eaten too fast on an empty stomach. On Wednesday when she showed no interest in food but was drinking plenty of water and throwing up some of the water, I decided to take her to the vet, just in case.

We decided that since she had a normal temp and wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms we would start with a conservative approach first. The vet gave her an injection of Cerenia to alleviate the urge to vomit, gave her some SQ fluids and sent home a box of 5 Cerenia tablets to give her for the next five days. She had a somewhat restless night on Wednesday and seemed to feel better on Thursday. Thursday evening she was a bit more restless and uncomfortable so I put her little bed in the bathroom and turned a nightlight on for her. I put her water bowl and food dish right next to her bed and woke up several times throughout the night to check on her.

Friday morning she was really groggy but I had given her some Benedryl the night before to help her sleep (the vet gave his approval for the Benedryl) so I didn't think much of it. She came into my office with me and curled up in her bed behind my chair. All of a sudden she gasped and went rigid. I immediately picked her up and tried to get her to stand up, which she was unable to do. I picked her up and carried into hubby's office across the hall and he agreed that something was most definitely not right. I called the vet's office and they told me to head in right away. I was still in my bathrobe and slippers so I quickly dressed while hubby kept an eye on her. We put her in the car on the front seat on a towel so I could keep an eye on her while I drove her to the vet's.

It is at least a 30 minute drive into town and my little girl crossed The Rainbow Bridge when we were about halfway into town. She crossed over with my hand on her and my voice calling the angels to guide her. After she stopped breathing I was sobbing so hard I was afraid I was going to pass out so I had to calm myself down before I had a wreck. I continued on to the vet's office and carried her in, sobbing to them that I thought she was already gone. Fortunately nobody else was at the vet's office so they got me in immediately. The vet listened for a heartbeat, then put his arms around me and gently told me that she was gone. I was hysterical. I couldn't believe it. He started to tell me what my options were for her and I immediately told him she was coming back home with me because I wanted to bury her someplace where I could visit her grave. The vet gently wrapped little Gigi in the towel and carried her to the car for me and placed her in the passenger seat. He hugged me and told me how very sorry he was for my loss and while I was sobbing hysterically he urged me to please come back inside until I was a bit more calm; he was worried that I wouldn't be able to drive home. So I went back inside and his staff hugged me and told me how sorry they were, handed me a box of tissues and offered me a private room if I wanted it. I spent a little while crying and blowing my nose, then thanked them for everything. I asked them to please send me a bill for the visit and the vet told me there was no charge whatsoever for what he had done for me. He hugged me and said "we love you, please drive home carefully". I assured them all that I loved them and thanked them for all they had done for me and for Gigi.

I am so grateful to my vet and his staff for their compassion, not only for the animals that they treat, but for the people who share their lives with these animals. Several days after Gigi passed I received a beautiful Rainbow Bridge card from the vet along with a hand written note telling me that Gigi was obviously a very loved and integral part of our lives and to please remember her with love and cherish the good memories of her.

I think for the first few days I was just numb. I would do things like look around for her to ask if she wanted to go outside. Then when the numbness wore off I would think of Gigi and realize that she was never coming back. Last night was incredibly gut wrenching for me. When I thought of her, I felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. I cried and cried last evening.

I know to some people, it is "just a dog". To those who know that our companion animals are so much more than that, thank you for understanding how very difficult it is when we lose one, especially when it is sudden and unexpected.

Gigi

May 4, 2000 - April 1, 2011

RIP my sweet little girl

More Fun Fringed Scarves!

2011-03-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to create some fun fringed scarves that weren't as labor intensive or as expensive as my usual Extreme Fringe and Fabulous Fringe scarves. I came up with these scarves made from handspun yarn for the base scarf - both in wool - and a poly faux feather yarn. I hand crocheted the base scarf - I don't use patterns - I simply crocheted about 160 loops, turn, single crochet across, turn, double crochet across, turn, single crochet across, turn, slip stitch across and tie off ends. Then I cut fringe approximately 14 inches long from the faux feather yarn skein - 160 lengths of fringe. I then hand tied one section of fringe to each and every double crochet stitch the entire length of the scarf - fold yarn in half, slip folded end under the double crochet stitch and pull the ends through the folded loop across the top of the double crochet stitch, pull tight.

The first scarf I crocheted using Noro Kureyon wool in red/brown/gold (it has some burgundy in there, too). The faux feather yarn color reminds me of mink so I called this scarf "Mink". "Mink" is available for $35 in our ArtFire store.

The next scarf I crocheted using a handspun thread plied merino yarn in Peacock colors. I used some faux feather yarn in matching Peacock colors. I love how this one looks! This is called....of course..."Peacock". Peacock is not yet listed in the store because I have someone interested in it but I have to drive to Colorado Springs so she can try it on to be sure she isn't allergic to the wool yarn used in the base scarf. If she is allergic to it I will list this scarf in the ArtFire store and will find a synthetic man-made yarn to make her a Peacock scarf that she can wear.

These scarves remind me of feather boa scarves. Only they are much more durable and extremely soft. And they shouldn't be too warm, either. The wool fringe scarves are fairly warm with all that wool fringe but these are much lighter weight and the poly doesn't hold heat and warm like wool does.

We should be having llama babies, called "crias", this spring starting hopefully in May, so I will finally have something besides yarn and scarves to talk about!

Peacock Neck Warmer SRR OOAK Hand Crocheted Original Design

2011-03-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Since I discovered my stash of Peacock colored yarns recently I went on a creative binge with them. Here is another neck warmer that I created using the yarns.

This cozy neck warmer is a Split Rock Ranch One-of-A-Kind Original Design created by using three strands of yarn at a time; one strand of handspun merino that has been thread plied, one strand of handdyed mohair boucle and one strand of poly flag yarn in Peacock colors of teal, blue and purple. The trim is acrylic feather yarn that adds a flirty and fun touch to the neck warmer.

Measures 27 inches across at the neck line and approximately 33 inches at the ruffled base of the neck warmer and 6.5 inches from top to bottom. Warmer closes with a fun flower shaped metal button. The feather yarn has been left long to create some modest fringe at the front of the warmer.

Nice and soft and so much fun to wear!

This neck warmer can be found in our ArtFire store. Look for Peacock Neck Warmer.

Autumn - Fabulous Fringe Scarf - Another Split Rock Ranch Original Creation

2011-03-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

I recently finished this scarf using some fabulous yarn that I bought from YarnMarket.com. It is spun by Natalie at Namaste Farms using locks from her own Wensleydale sheep to make it. This is similar to the Extreme Fringe Scarf but the fringe is yarn cut in varying lengths and then hand tied onto the center and outside edge of the scarf. I used the Wensleydale Long Locks yarn and a skein of my own handspun that I found in my stash. It coordinates perfectly with the Long Locks yarn!

Here are the yarns together - my two-ply handspun already crocheted into the skinny scarf and laid with the Long Locks yarn - could they be any more perfect together?!

And the finished scarf. The scarf is 8 feet long including the fringe - 6 feet long without the fringe at each end. It is 1-1/2 inch wide not including the fringe. This is the scarf just draped around the neck and tied with the organza ribbon that I ran through the center section of the scarf.

And here is the scarf put on with the center in front and the ends looped around the back of the neck and over the opposite shoulders.

And I honestly don't remember how I created this next look. But it is more like a neck warmer or collar than a scarf.

And a close up of the scarf so you can see the detail of the fringe better.

I will share more finished projects soon!

Sorry I've been AWOL, but I really have been BUSY!

2011-03-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

So sorry it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Losing Smokey really knocked me down for a bit. I'm just now getting used to the idea that he is no longer here. And I still cry when I think of him (like right now). But, I have so many other animals to care for that I cannot stay sad for long, the others need me. We haven't gotten a call to foster any kittens yet this year either. Maybe that's for the best because I'm fairly certain if I had a foster kitten right now I wouldn't want to give it up when the time came.

But, I have been keeping myself busy with fibers. I will share with you what I've made in the past few weeks.

The last post I made was Wordless Wednesday and it was this Extreme Fringe Scarf

This scarf is another Split Rock Ranch One-of-A-Kind Original Design creation. The base scarf is handspun from a merino/bamboo fiber blend batt purchased from Hanks in the Hood and spun by Brenda Vance at Split Rock Ranch. The merino/bamboo yarn was plied with a viscose thread in a gorgeous copper color. The fringe is tailspun yarn handspun by Esther at JazzTurtle Designs using some gorgeous long Teeswater wool locks. Tailspinning is an extremely labor intensive spinning technique that results in some stunning extreme lock yarn with a price tag that reflects the time and effort involved. Teeswater sheep originated in The United Kingdom and are relatively rare in the United States. It takes a couple of years growth to reach the long staple length so the price tag on the Teeswater long locks is higher than that of more common shorter staple length fibers.

This scarf is named "Verdigris" and is available for sale in my ArtFire store. Here are some additional photos of it, showing various ways to wear the scarf.

I won't bore you with what else I've made in the past few weeks - I'll do another blog post soon with more projects to share!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

More Cowls

2011-02-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you a few more things I've made. Each of these accessories is a OOAK Split Rock Ranch Original Design. I did not use a pattern, I just improvise as I go along.

Remember the Peacock long scarf? Well, I used the rest of that skein of yarn and then found some coordinating yarns in my personal yarn stash to finish making this cowl.

This cowl has loads of texture and those fabulous Peacock colors! Warm, fun and fashionable, I believe this cowl will garner loads of compliments when you wear it.

The Peacock cowl is available for sale in our ArtFire Store.

Then I decided to use two of the same yarns that I used on the bottom part of the Peacock cowl and made this cowl. I used a handspun wool yarn plied with a coordinating colored thread and a hand dyed skein of mohair boucle yarn held together. Then I crocheted a row of the handspun lincoln locks eyelash yarn and wove through a purple organza ribbon. I called this the Mermaid Cowl. This cowl was given to someone who signed up for the Handmade Pay It Forward on our Facebook page several weeks. ago.

And, by request, I then crocheted another cowl using a cotton/rayon yarn. This person lives in a warmer climate and would love the fashion look of a cowl without the warmth of wool.

So, here's my Melon Cowl. Feeling a little melancholy? Let our Melon Cowly cheer you up!

The Melon Cowl isn't listed yet but will be available in our ArtFire store soon.

Later I'll share photos of another hand knitted scarf in really bright colors - I called it Neon Rainbow.

Life on the Ranch

2011-02-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Three Amigos

Smokey, Buff Ruff & Boots

Sorry I have been AWOL for awhile. One of our older cats, Smokey, developed symptoms a few months ago when one of our foster kittens, Blackberry, was diagnosed with calici virus. Because it is a virus, pretty much all you can do is manage the symptoms. Blackberry recovered very quickly but Smokey developed anorexia, which is a common side effect because one of the symptoms of calici virus is mouth sores. By the time Smokey finally decided to start eating again he had lost quite a bit of weight and muscle tone. For weeks I was enticing him with every soft food I could think of: meat baby food, canned cat food, yogurt, cottage cheese, scrambled eggs, canned salmon, canned chicken, canned white albacore tuna (less mercury than most), etc. I put fresh food out for him every couple of hours all day long and he was finally eagerly eating every time I put food out for him. I had to stand there to be sure he ate it and not the other cats and the dogs. But I believe Smokey's liver was already damaged and starting to fail. He seemed to be gaining weight. He is a former feral cat that doesn't allow you to pick him up or put two hands on him so I wasn't able to get him onto the scale to weigh him but just looking at him and putting hands on him when I could, I felt that he was gaining weight, albeit slowly.

We debated euthanizing Smokey but he had such a strong will to live that I couldn't bring myself to do it. I figured if the time came where he told us he was no longer willing to fight, we would help him cross over.

Last Thursday Smokey did not meet me in the kitchen eagerly awaiting his breakfast. I found him curled up in a patch of sunlight near the wood stove. He showed no interest in food all day long. He seemed to be a bit constipated and had what we call "poodle butt" - where they get poop crusted on their bum. He would not allow me to gently wipe him clean. When I tried to help him by pressing paper towels soaked in warm water on his bum, he hissed, yowled, bit and scratched me. Finally Thursday evening we put him in the kitchen sink and hubby held him with leather gloves on while I gently sprayed his bum with warm water until he was completely clean. I put Smokey in the bathroom on a kennel heater with a soft fluffy towel, fresh litter box, fresh water and a small plate of canned cat food. He licked at the cat food and curled up on the kennel heater. When I went in Friday morning to check on him, he had just passed away. His body could no longer keep up with his incredibly strong spirit.

We buried him Friday afternoon on a south facing slope in the adult male llamas' pasture, facing south towards the lake. RIP Smokey.

Because Smokey was a feral cat, I know that the 10.5 years he spent with us as an indoor cat were far better than he would have had as a feral cat, especially as an outdoor cat. And I know he lived much longer than most ferals ever do. I'm just glad we were able to provide him with a loving, supportive home as long as we did.

Here is Smokey snuggling with Blackberry and Blueberry last September

Peacock SRR OOAK Original Design Hand Knitted Long Scarf w/ Fringe

2011-02-14T06:00:00.002-07:00

Recently I saw a new yarn listed in Cool Climates shop on Etsy and fell in love with it. It is a component yarn, which consists of several commercial yarns tied together. Here is how Rachel describes the yarn in her listing:

Made from many commercial yarns tied together. The yarns contain all kinds of fibers including wool, mohair, cotton, synthetics, tencel and more. Some are handspun and hand dyed. Some top name brand yarns including Colinette "Fandango" and another Colinette hand dyed wool (can't remember the line). There is also some Noro "Kureyon." A dramatic colorway of deep emerald, spruce, green, teal, turquoise, violet, and some lighter blues and greens.

This yarn is very similar to Prism's "Wild Stuff" and "Cool Stuff" yarns.

I grabbed a set of size 19 knitting needles (they're HUGE) and started knitting. I didn't use a pattern, I just went with my intuition and cast on a certain number of stitches and then just used a simple stockinette stitch until the scarf was the length I wanted. I then found some yarns in similar colors in my yarn stash and used those to make the fringe.

I debated on whether or not to bling this scarf up a bit more by attaching fringe all along the scarf but decided the yarn was so spectacular that it didn't need any special stitches or special bling to make it look incredible.

The scarf ended up being 6 feet 4 inches in length with 9 inches of fringe on each end for a total of 7 feet 10 inches in length.

Here is the finished Peacock scarf.

You can wear this scarf so many different ways. Put the scarf on "backwards" against the front of your neck and flip each end over the opposite shoulder and bring back around to the front.

Or, simply drape the scarf around your shoulders. You need to be really tall for this one because it will probably be halfway down your legs if you aren't!

Or, fold the scarf in half, drape it around your neck and pull the ends through the loop.

There are so many different ways to wear this scarf. Use your imagination and your fashion savvy to come up with all kinds of different ways of wearing this incredible piece of fiber art.

Proud as a Peacock, that's how you'll feel when wearing this gorgeous fashion accessory!

For sale in our ArtFire store.

Valentine Sale in the ArtFire Store

2011-02-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Valentine's Day I am offering 14% off selected sections of the ArtFire store. Basically it is everything except spinning, knitting and felting supplies. Handmade scarves, yarns, fibers, etc. are all fair game.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 14.00 % On Select Studio Categories

Use Coupon Code:

BEMINE

during checkout.

Handmade Dolls

Wordless Wednesday - At least somebody enjoys the snow

2011-02-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Modified & Improved Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer

2011-02-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I created a long skinny extreme fringe scarf using some wool and silk yarn and a skein of tailspun yarn for the fringe. Normally these scarves sell very quickly but this one has sat in the store with lots of views but no buyer. I didn't know if it was the color of the scarf or the design that was the problem. This was the only scarf with this particular design so I thought perhaps that was the issue.

The scarf portion was "limper" than I wanted it to be. I wanted the scarf to be fluid and drape well but it was too fluid for my taste, at least for these scarves. Last weekend we went shopping in Colorado Springs and ended up at Hobby Lobby since it is next door to Office Depot. Ribbon just happened to be 50% off so of course I couldn't pass up a SALE, especially on something that I use all the time. I selected a variety of ribbons in rust/copper/maroon/burgundy in a couple of widths. I chose a couple of the colors that best matched my Spiced Curry scarf and wove ribbons through three rows of the scarf. While I was doing this, I didn't pull the ribbon all the way through the scarf at first. When I looked down on the table and saw the scarf bunched up I realized it would look awesome ruched into a neck warmer!

Here is how the scarf looked originally

And here is how the scarf looks after putting the ribbon in it

A huge improvement, in my opinion.

And here is how the scarf looks ruched into a neck warmer

Now I absolutely adore this scarf/neck warmer! I'm still playing with ideas on what to do with all that ribbon when the scarf is ruched into a neck warmer. But overall I think the change is so much nicer than the original design, and so much more versatile, too! You can wear it ruched into a neck warmer, long and straight, wrapped around your neck a couple of times, folded in half and the ends pulled through the fold; your imagination is the limit to the number of ways you can wear this gorgeous scarf. And I love the rich colors, too. Let me know what you think of the modified and improved Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer!

This scarf is available in my ArtFire store: Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer

Foster Kittens Update - Mickey was Adopted!!

2011-02-01T16:58:00.001-07:00

Good news! Mickey, one of our last foster kittens, got adopted yesterday! I don't know who adopted him but I'm hoping it was a family with a couple of kids who will play and play and play with him. Way to go Mickey! I really wanted to adopt Mickey but DH said we didn't "need" another cat. Then when the time came to take Mickey back to the shelter, DH had also fallen in love with him so he said if Mick wasn't adopted in two weeks we'd go get him and adopt him. The two weeks was up today. Just in the nick of time...

Reflecting on a Llama Legend

2011-01-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Midnight Hour probably isn't a legend in the rest of the world but in our world he was quite the man! I have been thinking over the past few days since Midnight passed away, trying to remember all of his offspring and who has them now. We only used him as a stud 9 times and got 6 females and 3 males. Only one of those males is still intact, the other two have been gelded. All of his daughters have been sold - leaving us with only one male out of Midnight Hour, Kemui Yama. Kemui has already started following in his sire's footsteps in the show ring. He took first place in his class, Grand Champion in his Division and Reserve Best in Show the first time we showed him.

So, a walk down memory lane - Midnight Hour's offspring:

Midnight Kachina

Mustang Sally

Midnight Rhapsody

Caballero Rojo (Red)

Gypsy Rose

Midnight's Amazing Grace

Midnight Moonbeam

Midnight's Kemui Yama

RIP Stage Stop Midnight Hour - A True Champion

2011-01-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

I just received news that one of our former llamas, Stage Stop Midnight Hour, lost his battle today with cancer. We sold Midnight Hour about a year and a half ago to some very wonderful new llama owners who fell in love with Midnight. It was a really tough decision to sell him but we had retained several of his daughters and one of his sons so we felt like we could let him go to a good home since we still had those bloodlines in our herd.

We purchased Midnight Hour from Stage Stop Llamas when he was only a couple of weeks old in July 1997. We had decided we didn't "need" any more male llamas (we already had two) but Jim fell in love with Midnight Hour and we made the decision to purchase him. We have never regretted our decision. He was an amazing animal.

During his show ring career, Midnight did very well:

ALSA Recognition of Merit at Halter
2000 & 1999 Grand National Top Ten Finish
Grand Champion 1999 NWSS &
Grand Champion 1999 LOCC Spring Show
Reserve Grand Champion 2000 NWSS
1st place 2000 LOCC Spring Show
1st place 2000 Laramie County Fair
1st place 2000 LOCC Fall Show

We made the decision to retire Midnight Hour from the show ring after the 2000 show season and he sired some beautiful crias for us and other llama owners. He only sired a couple of males and we own the only intact male from Midnight Hour, Kemui Yama. Kemui is following in his sire's footsteps in the show ring.

Rest In Peace Midnight Hour - you will be missed.

Catching Up

2011-01-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much blogging lately, mainly because I have been so busy with so many other things I just haven't had time!

Update on our latest foster kittens - Mack and Mickey - Mack went to the vet for his neuter surgery last Thursday and was adopted on Friday! GO Mack! Mickey was schedule to go to the vet for his surgery on the same day but a few days before the surgery was scheduled he started vomiting at night, had loose stools, was sneezing and his left eye was watering. We made the decision to hold off on his surgery to allow him to get better first. On Monday the shelter called and asked if he was good to go and wanted a current weight on him. I weighed him and discovered he had lost 1.5 ounces in a week! I know that doesn't seem like much but when we're talking about a kitten under 3 pounds, that's a lot of weight - it worked out to over 3% of his body weight. I thought back to any changes we had made recently and remembered that I had started to add the kitten food that they feed at the shelter and thought that perhaps he was allergic to it. So, we removed that food from his diet and he hasn't vomited since then, his stool has firmed up and he is no longer sneezing. His eye is still runny but we're treating it now with eye drops. He also gained back all the weight he had lost and is far more active than he was when he wasn't feeling well.

I have been very busy crocheting new creations. I revised my Mermaid extreme fringe scarf and added additional tailspun yarn fringe on the ends to "beef" it up a bit. It then sold right away.

I also sold the Wild Flowers scarf that I recently created - this scarf was a variation of the basic extreme fringe scarf that I've been making. I was able to get two skeins of the tailspun yarn and was able to make a long (over 6 feet) scarf and put the fringe on all of both sides, creating a very full and very vibrant look! This scarf sold immediately.

I had yarn left over after making the Wild Flowers extreme fringe scarf so I decided to make a cowl out of these same yarns. Here is Wild Flowers Cowl - available in my ArtFire store.

And, I also finished a work in progress - Cottage Rose - a hand knitted triangle shawl/scarf made from hand painted wool yarns. Cottage Rose is also available in the ArtFire store.

So, you can see that I really haven't been slacking off, I truly have been extremely busy lately! Now it is time to take a break from creating and start working on getting all my paperwork organized to prepare our taxes. I always dread this time of year because I am usually so disorganized but this past year I did a much better job of sorting, logging and filing my paperwork so it shouldn't take me nearly as long to get it all done this year. I might even actually have our taxes prepared before April 15th for a change!

Wordless Wednesday - Wild Flowers

2011-01-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

Start the new year right with a holiday sale!

2011-01-01T09:57:00.002-07:00

One of the things I started doing more in 2010 was knitting and crocheting. I bought numerous skeins of handspun art yarn from other fiber artists for my yarn stash and the designed scarves, etc. to showcase those yarns. I've posted most of the already in this blog but I'm going to share a few photos of my favorite pieces from this year.

I found a skein of handspun tailspun yarn from JazzTurtle on Etsy and immediately envisioned a long skinny boa type scarf using that yarn as fringe. I handspun merino wool roving into yarn to create the "canvas" for the fringe and created "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". This scarf sold immediately.

I created several more scarves similar to this one. Two have sold and two are still available in my ArtFire store. Still available are "Spiced Curry" if you like warm colors.

And if you prefer cool colors, there's "Mermaid" - also in the ArtFire Store.

I bought a fabulous skein of handspun art yarn called "Chinese Lantern" from Cool Climates on Etsy, then designed and created this gorgeous long scarf called "Chinese Lantern". This scarf is available in the ArtFire store.

And another hand knitted scarf designed and created using handspun art yarn from Cool Climates - "Mums The Word" - also available in the ArtFire Store.

So, to start the new year out right, I'm offering a 10% discount to the first 5 purchases from my ArtFire store of any of these scarves or any other scarve or handmade accessories in the "Handmade Accessories" section of the ArtFire store. Use coupon code HOLIDAY10OFF at checkout.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 10.00 % On Select Studio Categories

Use Coupon Code:

HOLIDAY10OFF

during checkout.

Steampunk

Happy New Year everyone!

2010-12-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a chance to do another post today looking back on 2010. I'll try to get to that in the next day or two. Today was a busy day that flew by. I cannot believe 2010 is over already!

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year filled with many blessings!

Happy New Year - Reflecting on 2010 - Foster Kittens

2010-12-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

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..... ll . .`•.¸¸ HAPPƔ ƝƐW YEAR
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Where has 2010 gone to? It seems we just celebrated Christmas 2009 not that long ago.

Looking back on 2010:

We fostered 15 kittens from the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter - that is a record for us! We were blessed with some adorable kittens this year. First (in February) were Thelma & Louise (rescued from the helipad in Victor) who had new homes even before we took them back to the shelter in late April, followed shortly thereafter by the nekked as a jay bird bottle fed kitten, Jellybean (found in a trash can at a gas station). Then came Barbie and Kenny and a week later their sister Krissy (all rescued from a trailer park in Woodland Park - Krissy was found almost dead in a trash can). Immediately after Jellybean, Barbie, Ken & Krissy went back to the shelter in July we got Magpie & Raven (found outside at the Children's ARK in Ute Pass - Magpie was a "special needs" kitten). In August we got Black Jack, Blackberry, Inky (who we called Blueberry or "Boo") and Soot (who we called Ace of Spaced or "Ace") all slender little short haired black Oriental kittens. When I picked Ace and Boo up from the vet's office, it turns out Ace had been switched with Espresso (another black kitten who had been at the vet's for neutering that same day - also from the shelter). We kept Espresso because he needed some socialization work. He went back to the shelter in mid December and I was bereft without kittens in the house! Two days later the shelter called and asked if I could take in two more kittens - of course I could!! So we picked up Mickey and Mack and they are still here. I am in love with Mickey but hubby says we already have enough cats and don't "need" another one. Sigh...it is so hard sometimes to foster these little love bugs and then take them back to the shelter when the time comes!

Tomorrow I'll reflect more on what we did in 2010.

Christmas Carolling

2010-12-26T16:59:00.002-07:00

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas Filled with Peace, Joy and Love

2010-12-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

This is an old photo - it looks like we won't have a white Christmas this year. At least we'll be able to make it over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house!!

Stay warm and safe - enjoy the holiday with family and friends. I'm so happy we have a wood stove to keep us warm!

Etsy Featured on ABC Nightline!

2010-12-17T18:45:00.002-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Smitten With Kittens

2010-12-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

No rest for the weary - or is that no rest for the wicked?!

2010-12-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been very good lately about keeping up with the blog or visiting my favorite blogs! I've been really busy trying to get these scarves done in time for the holiday shopping season.

Recently I posted photos of my "Herb Garden" shawl and my "Autumn Splendor" long skinny scarf. Both of these sold last Friday! I was so excited when I opened my email and saw that they had sold.

The yesterday I posted a photo of my "Summer Meadow" scarf for Wordless Wednesday. That scarf is also sold and on its way to the new owner.

I finished another scarf in the series - this one is called "Spiced Curry" - very warm and spicy!

This scarf has a 52% wool/48% silk base which has incredible luster and drape to it. The fringe is Wensleydale locks tailspun and crocheted along one edge of the scarf. The scarf is available for sale in my ArtFire store. You do not have to be an ArtFire member to purchase on Artfire! I have several other hand knitted and hand crocheted scarves, cowls, etc. available in the ArtFire store so please take a look around if you visit.

And this morning I finished up another long skinny scarf - this one is called "Mermaid". It isn't listed yet but will also be available in the ArtFire store. So, whether you like it hot - or cool - we have something for you!

I have three skeins left of the tailspun yarn so I am currently spinning a merino wool roving for the base of one scarf and am debating on the yarn to use in the last scarf. I have two matching skeins of dark rainbow colored tailspun yarn and was thinking of running the fringe down both sides of the scarf but don't think the wool/silk yarn I chose is sturdy enough to support two rows of fringe, unless I modify the scarf and make it skinnier. I'll probably do a skinnier scarf and put one skein on before making my final decision.

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Meadow

2010-12-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Autumn Splendor Long Skiny Boa Scarf Finished and Listed!

2010-11-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Remember my Somewhere Over The Rainbow long skinny scarf from a couple of months ago? That scarf sold right away after I listed it (actually it was spoken for even before I had a chance to list it - I shared photos of it on our Facebook page.) After making that scarf I started a search for more extreme tailspun yarns and finally located someone who makes these fabulous yarns. I bought several more skeins of tailspun yarn and started going through my fiber stash in search of the perfect coordinating fibers to handspin yarn to make the scarf "canvas" to showcase the tailspun yarns.

Yesterday I finally finished the second scarf in this series - called "Autumn Splendor". I almost didn't buy this skein of tailspun yarn but am really glad I did because I found the perfect coordinating merino roving in my fiber stash.

This long skinny boa type scarf is hand crocheted out of handspun wool. Then the tailspun yarn was painstakingly crocheted along one edge to create the gorgeous fringe of the scarf. The tailspun yarn is fiber art at its finest and is the highlight of this stunning piece of fiber art.

Sure to garner lots of positive comments and compliments when worn!

8 feet 3 inches (99 inches) long
1-1/2 inches wide
fringe is from 4 to 7 inches in length with the average being 5 inches long.

Extremely versatile, you can wear this piece so many different ways. Simply drape it around your neck or wrap it around a couple of times to create a full cowl with trailing ends. Or use it as a belt. Your imagination can provide many ways to wear this fine piece of fiber art.

Available for sale in our ArtFire store! Here is the direct link to Autumn Splendor.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-25T08:05:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you enjoy a wonderful day with family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for!

And tomorrow officially kicks off the holiday shopping season! I will be having a Black Friday sale in both my Etsy and my ArtFire stores tomorrow! Use code BLACKFRIDAY10SALE to save 10% off everything in the stores!!

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 10.00 % On
All Items

Use Coupon Code:

BLACKFRIDAY10SALE

during checkout.

Handmade Purses

Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along - Cornucopia

2010-11-22T10:30:00.002-07:00

Above is a collage of the finished skeins of yarn from the very first Split Rock Ranch Spin Along. There are two Navajo plied yarns, one singles and one two-ply yarn. I love how these turned out! Great job from the spinners who participated! And check out Lisa's finished scarf crocheted from her yarn! What a fabulous way to use the yarn Lisa!

Herb Garden Shawl is DONE!

2010-11-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

I finished the Herb Garden shawl yesterday. It was snowy off and on all day yesterday so I didn't get good photos taken until this morning. The photos still aren't that great but they'll work. It was windy out this morning so I took the photos on the back deck where it is a little better protected from the wind. I didn't want those lovely locks getting blown around! I'm so happy with how this shawl turned out.

While waiting for the tailspun yarns to arrive, I found a batt in my stash that I thought would coordinate perfectly with the Herb Garden tailspun yarn so I started spinning it. I ended up with enough yardage to make the shawl, with some left over. I hand knitted the shawl using a pattern from Namaste Farms on yarnmarket.com. I had envisioned a triangle shawl/scarf to use as a "canvas" to showcase the tailspun yarns and was so thrilled when Natalie posted the pattern on Yarnmarket. I then crocheted the tailspun yarn along two sides of the shawl and along the back of the shawl, just below the neckline. I had just enough yarn left over to do a small tassel in the center back of the shawl.

This shawl is now available for sale in my ArtFire store! I will also take payments or do a layaway plan if you want the scarf but don't have the funds right now.

I need to get some nice shawl pins or picks. The bamboo chopstick doesn't quite cut it!

On the needles - Herb Garden scarf/shawl

2010-11-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a shawl/scarf made from handspun wool yarn. I bought the fiber from Hanks in the Hood and spun it up into a slightly thick and thin navajo plied yarn. I'm knitting until I run out of yarn; I have 126 yards to work with. After I'm done knitting the shawl/scarf I will wash it, block it and then will crochet the tailspun yarn on the side edges. I hope it turns out as well as I envision! Here are the yarns I'm working with.

Today I completed the first triangle shawl/scarf using this pattern. On this scarf I used ribbon and yarn to create tassels and attached them along the sides. This scarf is going to be a gift.

This scarf is made from handspun wool/mohair yarn and hand knitted.

The photos didn't come out the way I had hoped they would. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it kept blowing the fringe all over the place. But, you get the idea.

A Spectacular Sunrise!

2010-11-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

We got up early this morning, even with the time change. Animals don't do time changes; their internal clocks don't recognize Daylight Savings Time or the cessation of it. Hence, we got to witness this spectacular sunrise. None of these photos are photoshopped in any way - I haven't even downsized or cropped them; I just downloaded them off my camera. The entire landscape was bathed in this fabulous red glow. Enjoy!!!

Sale in the ArtFire Store

2010-11-06T18:22:00.002-07:00

Through Sunday November 7th, save 10% off all handspun and handpainted yarns in the ArtFire store.

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 10.00 % On Select Studio Categories

Use Coupon Code:

B8FCCBD83C-625727FD01

during checkout.

Handmade Toys

Chinese Lantern Hand Knit Scarf from Handspun Art Yarn

2010-11-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Remember the scarf I made a few weeks ago called "Mum's The Word"? Well, I bought another skein of handspun art yarn from the same fiber artist/seller, Rachel at Coolclimates on Etsy. This one is called "Chinese Lantern" and oh my gosh is it gorgeous! Rachel posted photos of Chinese Lantern on her Ravelry page and I immediately sent her a message telling her I wanted this yarn. I knew right away I wanted to make another scarf but I wanted this one to be different from Mum's The Word. I wanted something wider with more of a "canvas" to show off those fabulous Chinese Lantern flowers!

Again, I had another project on the needles and was going to finish it up before starting on Chinese Lantern but I made the mistake of setting that gorgeous skein of yarn on my work table next to the computer and it kept calling to me. So, I grabbed a pair of #13 knitting needles and started a scarf. I made the pattern up as I went along, letting the yarn tell me how many stitches to make and how wide to make the scarf.

And here is "Chinese Lantern" the scarf!

Materials: wool, mohair, firestar, tencel, bamboo, recycled sari silk, fabric flowers, silk and alpaca yarn

Lush fall colors of pumpkin, spruce, cedar, rust, pine, saffron, copper, tangerine, jade and celadon.

Scarf measures over 7 feet in length and 5 inches wide.

Stunning texture and color to this yarn.

Pattern is my own design.

There are so many ways to wear this scarf. Drape it around your neck and wear it straight and long. Its long enough to wrap around your neck a couple of times and still have some to drape down the front. Fold in half, drape over your shoulders and pull the ends through the loop. Your imagination is the only limit to the number of ways you could wear this scarf!

Sure to garner loads of compliments and looks!

Chinese Lantern is available for sale in my ArtFire store. If you are interested in this scarf but don't have the funds right now, I can hold it for you or do a layaway plan. Just contact me or leave a comment here and I'll respond.

Misty and Foggy - Long Skinny Scarves Made With Handspun Luxury Yarns

2010-10-28T13:58:00.001-06:00

I love silver and gray - they coordinate with so many different colors. I think gray may even be the new black - the color that never goes out of style. Over the years I've spun lots of different silver and gray luxury yarns using ultra-soft alpaca, llama, lambswool, bamboo and other fine wools to create some gorgeous yarns. I finally decided to dig into my silver/gray luxury yarn stash and create something. I came up with "Misty" and "Foggy" this week.

"Misty" - Hand crocheted long skinny scarf made from handspun yarns and a novelty "fur" yarn in varying shades of silver and grays. Alpaca, llama, wool, mohair and bamboo. 61 inches long with 7" fringe at each end for a total of 75" in length - 2 inches wide. Even if you wrap it around your neck twice there is still some left over to drape down the front. Use it as a scarf, a lariat necklace, a belt or use your imagination!

Foggy

Foggier

"Foggy" - Hand crocheted long skinny scarf made from handspun yarns and a novelty "fur" yarn in varying shades of black, silver and grays. Alpaca, llama, wool, mohair and bamboo. 67 inches (5 feet 7 inches) long with 6" fringe at each end for a total of 79" (6 feet 7 inches) in length - 2 inches wide. Even if you wrap it around your neck twice there is still some left over to drape down the front. Use it as a scarf, a lariat necklace, a belt or use your imagination!

I used some of the same yarns as the "Misty" scarf for this one but Foggy has a darker side and a lighter side - foggy and foggier - for two different looks!

Both of these scarves are available in our ArtFire store. Click on the link on each name to go directly to that scarf's listing.

Psssstttt: Check it out in the right hand column - a coupon code for a SALE on Misty, Foggy and Mum's The Word scarves!!!

Mum's The Word

2010-10-20T17:25:00.003-06:00

Last week I did a trade with another fiber artist - Rachel at Coolclimates on Etsy. Actually she bought some of my batts and I bought a skein of her yarn. The yarn is called Hyakkaryouran Hana - after a Japanese textile.

Here is the Hyakkaryouran Hana fabric

She strung fabric chrysanthemum flowers and leaves on pink cotton thread and plied with a chunky spun yarn consisting of wool, mohair, tencel, bamboo and recycled sari silk in a spring-summery mix of pink, peony, fuchsia, coral, apricot, mint, lime and salmon.

Here is the yarn before spinning

I immediately fell in love with this yarn and was so glad that Rachel had asked me if I was interested in trading some items. I got the yarn several days ago and it has been sitting here at my work station in a zip lock bag, calling my name. I already had a silver/gray long skinny scarf on the crochet hook and was going to finish it first but this gorgeous yarn was calling to me over and over and over...so yesterday I caved. I knit it up on size 13 needles making the pattern up as I went along. I managed to get all the flowers and leaves on the right side of the scarf and allowed it to roll to the center to create a tube.

Here is the finished scarf - Mum's The Word

As promised, here is the link to the Mum's the Word scarf. You can find it in my ArtFire store.

Fresh off the spinning wheel - Maerchengarten

2010-10-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

I just recently finished spinning this beautiful Falkland roving called Maerchengarten, which is German for fairy tale garden. The colors are so gorgeous - forest green, earthy brown and petal pinks with a hint of gold throughout. I Navajo plied this yarn to retain the beautiful colors. Here is how the roving looked before I started spinning it.

And here is the finished yarn.

This yarn is 342 yards of DK weight and weighs 4.3 ounces. Falkland is soft and squishy and is a very "green" fiber. The listing in my Etsy store can be found here.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

Spinning, Dyeing and Working with Fiber

2010-09-30T19:17:00.000-06:00

I thought I had posted photos of the yarns I've been working on lately and realize in going back through my posts that I've mostly been showing and talking about the foster kittens! Honestly, I do work around here and not just play with kittens all day long!

My latest projects have been to spin a roving that I snagged from somebody on Ravelry who was destashing. The roving is called "Just Figs" and was the March/April spin along roving for the Into The Whirled group. One of my customers fell in love with this colorway but only had one roving and needed more yardage so when I snagged this I asked her if she was interested in having me spin this for her. Of course she said yes!

So, here's how the roving started out. It has lovely purple, russet, gold and soft green in it and they blend so beautifully together.

I spun the first 4 ounce roving and then Navajo-plied it. Navajo plying is also called chain plying. Basically you form a big loop or chain and then ply the yarn back on itself; it is a 3-ply yarn and the beauty of this plying method is you can keep those colors together rather than have them fall where they may, looking more like a barber pole.

I have another 4 ounce roving that the customer originally wanted to have spun two-ply but I emailed her photos of the N-ply yarn and she loves it so much she decided to have me N-ply the second roving, too. I'm about half way through spinning that skein.

Day before yesterday I decided to start dyeing up some skeins of yarn to sell in the store. It takes so much time to handpaint rovings and handspin them; I wanted something that gives me almost instant satisfaction so I hand painted several skeins of yarn. These skeins were dyed in the same dye pot using the same dyes applied at approximately the same rate on each skein. The darker skein is 100% New Zealand wool which is coarser than some wools but it showcases color sooo well and it is a perfect yarn to use for knitting or crocheting something that you want to then machine felt. The lighter skein is 92% wool and 8% acrylic and is a sock weight yarn. I'm not sure if this is a superwash wool or not, the skeins are not marked superwash, but it took up less dye than the NZ wool skeins.

I took photos of the skeins after dyeing and drying and then again after I reskeined them into 2 yard long skeins. I love how the colors look so different after the skeins have been rewound!

I listed these two skeins in my Etsy store yesterday and then posted them on the Split Rock Ranch Facebook page. By the time I went back to get the URL for the second skein, there was only one skein left. The first one had already SOLD! By the time I finished posting the second skein on Facebook and got back to my Etsy store the second skein had sold, too! The woman that I am spinning Just Figs for fell in love with these yarns and wanted to add them to her order.

I was a little disappointed that the skeins turned out so dark and so predominantly purple and burgundy so yesterday I did another dye pot with the exact same skeins of yarn. And here are the results of using less burgundy and purple and longer sections of gold and green.

And here are all the skeins together - even though one set is lighter and has more gold and green, they go together beautifully and they are perfect with the Just Figs yarn!

This morning I sent photos of the second batch of yarns to the customer to see if she would prefer to have the lighter skeins instead. She said she wanted them in addition to the ones she already bought! I was so tickled that my last two days were so productive and that I have a happy customer who will have some serious yardage to work with when I'm done with the next skein of Just Figs and get all these yarns shipped out to her.

I named these yarns Ceres in honor of the Roman Goddess of Harvest. The colors seemed appropriate. I am in love with this new colorway!

Kittens and Pups - What a lazy crew!

2010-09-27T11:25:00.001-06:00

Over the weekend, I caught little Blackberry, under Munchkin's tutelage, harassing poor Rosie, our Cockatiel. Fortunately the bird bites hard enough that once is enough to teach the cats and kittens that she does not make a good play toy. She is, however, good for some cheap entertainment value.

And this morning while I was spinning in the great room, the motley crew is lounging around - apparently they all did a little too much bird watching this weekend!

Foster Kittens Snoopervising

2010-09-23T12:38:00.001-06:00

I posted this on Facebook yesterday. It is my foster kittens snoopervising loading of the dishwasher. My friend Barb put this comment under the photo, which I think is absolutely perfect!
Ah the Itty Bitty Kitteh
Dish Washing Committee

Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough Dancing with the stars Viennese Waltz

2010-09-22T10:53:00.001-06:00

Do any of you watch Dancing With The Stars? I love watching it and this season's line-up is one of the best, in my opinion. I recorded Monday night's episode and watched it yesterday while I was spinning. Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough danced the Viennese Waltz and it took my breath away. I cried watching them. They danced to the song "These Arms of Mine" which Jennifer danced to with Patrick Swayze in 1987 in the movie "Dirty Dancing" - one of my favorite flicks! She got very emotional, remembering Patrick Swayze - it was very touching.

Aspens - Fall Foliage - Colorado - 2010

2010-09-20T12:47:00.000-06:00

We took a drive yesterday to Breckenridge, Colorado, to visit a gallery featuring the work of energy artist Julia Watkins. I fell in love with one of her paintings and bought an original signed 5"x7" framed painting titled Sentient Being II. Appropriately enough it is of an Aspen grove right here in Colorado. The photos of her work don't even begin to do justice to how it looks in person. The original paintings have raised swirls on them and the colors are so incredibly rich and vibrant. You can view more of Julia's work on http://www.platris.com/

And here are a few photos of the Aspens and Fall foliage that I took while we were on our way to and from Breckenridge. Most of the photos were taken out of the moving vehicle with the window down and I haven't had a chance to tweak the photos or crop them but you get the idea. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day that was absolutely perfect.

This particular photo was taken from Main Street in downtown Breckenridge. Isn't it gorgeous?!

The above photo is of a small lake near Blue River.

This photo was taken just outside of Breckenridge

And this final photo was taken just this side of Hoosier Pass

Wordless Wednesday - Relax and take it easy!

2010-09-15T11:51:00.000-06:00

Barbie, Kenny, Krissy & Jellybean Update

2010-09-08T06:47:00.000-06:00

As of last night all of the kittens from the last batch of fosters have been adopted! Kenny was the first to be adopted, followed by Barbie. Kenny was so incredibly gorgeous, that really doesn't surprise me. Krissy and Jellybean got very sick while they were at the shelter so they were in quarantine and weren't available for viewing by potential adopters so that is part of why they took so long to be adopted. They were taken to a PetCo in Colorado Springs a week ago in the hopes that someone would fall in love with them and adopt them together. Yesterday afternoon Krissy was adopted, which left Jellybean all alone. If we had voted on Cat Most Likely To Be Adopted First, Jellybean would have taken that award, paws down. I was chatting online with my daughter when I got the email telling me that Krissy had been adopted. She couldn't believe that Jellybean was still there...alone. Her BF had just come home so she went and told him and he told her to just please go get Jellybean and bring her home! He had already said "I wouldn't be upset if I came home from work and found Jellybean here." (there's a huge hint if I ever heard one!) So, Jellybean is now in her loving furever home. And the best part of it is I get to visit her whenever I want to!! Woo hoo! Way to go Barbie, Kenny, Krissy and Jellybean!

And now Krissy and Jellybean are doing the happy dance!!

Congratulations Kemui Yama! Grand Champion x TWO!

2010-09-06T10:34:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we attended the LOCC (Llamas of Central Colorado) Fall Classic Llama Show and the Rocky Mountain Regional Llama Show held together at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, Colorado. Because we were volunteering to help at the show we only took one llama since we knew we wouldn't have time for grooming or preparation once we got to the show. We decided to take Midnight Hour's Kemui Yama. You've seen him before here on the blog - last summer I did a before and after segment on shearing llamas and Kemui was our model.

We entered Kemui in the Adult Medium Wool Male classes at the two shows and he placed first in both classes and then took Grand Champion Medium Wool Male! We're so very proud of Kemui, especially since he is a product of our breeding program.

Here's Kemui - photo taken last night after we got home from the shows. The wind was blowing, the light wasn't great at the end of the day and we were all dead beat, but here he is!

Kemui is a Midnight Hour son out of Nuance, a female that our daughter bought with her own money. Midnight Hour is our first show llama that we fell in love with when he was born in July 1997. We started showing him in January 2008 at the National Western Stock Show.

Here is Kemui's sire, Stage Stop Midnight Hour

And here is Kemui with his mother, Nuance, when he was just a little cria.

We hope everyone had a safe, relaxing and fun Labor Day weekend!

Happy Caturday!

2010-09-04T18:57:00.000-06:00

We're just hanging out today cuz our foster Mom and Dad are at a llama show this weekend.

Hope everybody has a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!

The Trash Can Kids

2010-08-31T17:42:00.000-06:00

Remember Jellybean and Krissy from the last batch of foster kittens we had earlier this summer? They are the only two kittens left for adoption now and they are being "marketed" as "The Trash Can Kids". Here's the flyer one of the Team Cat members made up for them. Sara, another foster home and Team Cat member taught both Jellybean and Krissy to "sit pretty" and then used that photo for the flyer. Aren't they adorable?!

Remember how much like Yoda little Jellybean looked when we first got her?

Well, take a look at her now!

Isn't she gorgeous?!

I just hope that these girls go to a really good, loving furever home. They deserve a better life than how theirs started.

Foster Kittens Update

2010-08-26T11:49:00.000-06:00

The foster kittens are getting more and more playful with each passing day. Today they are everywhere! They are running, jumping, wrestling and having a grand time. There's still one that is very touchy and if you pick him/her up when they aren't expecting it he/she yowls like you're hurting him/her. It is just a fear based reaction so this one will need additional handling. In my spare time...

One of the females is the smallest of the litter and I call her Booberry. I don't like the names Inky and Soot for two of them and wanted to change the female's name to Blueberry but the shelter nixed it and told me I could call them whatever I wanted to. So, Booberry she is. Her favorite place is to lay in the windowsill above the kitchen sink.

I think this is one of the males but I'm not certain. We'll call this one Ace of Spade (instead of Soot).

And Raven's newest favorite thing is to snoopervise while I spin. He sits on the treadle or puts his paw on the wheel as it is spinning. Needless to say, spinning has been a slow venture today with his "help". He's obviously decided that the spinning wheel is HIS!

I tried to get more photos today of the kittens playing but the flash was turned off on the camera and the shutter speed was way too slow to catch any action shots. Here's one where I tried. Magpie is in perpetual motion! I took another one after this but by the time the camera clicked I got just the wad of tissue paper in the photo - the kittens were long gone.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Finished!

2010-08-19T13:00:00.003-06:00

Back in April I purchased a merino roving from Spinning Awesome Good on Etsy dyed in her Zinnias colorway. I loved the bright colors of this roving and thought it would make an awesome bright yarn for summer.

I started spinning the merino roving and ended up with two skeins of yarn from it. I started spinning thin and smooth but it was taking forever so I decided to navajo-ply the first half of the yarn and spun the second half thick and thin and plied it with a rainbow colored cotton thread. The skein at the top of the photo is the one I used on this project and I made another knitted scarf out of the bottom skein (more on that project later.)

Shortly after I purchased this roving, Esther at Jazz Turtle posted photos of a skein of yarn she had just made using Teeswater locks that she tailspun into an exquisite skein of art yarn. I fell in love with the yarn but balked a bit at the price (not that it wasn't worth the price she was asking because spinning tailspun yarn is a labor intensive and time consuming process) but when Esther wanted to order some of my dyed fibers to use in her fiber art batts we decided to do a trade for the Rainbow yarn. So, I added this incredible skein of art yarn to my stash.

So, with the yarn already spun into two skeins and the navajo-plied skein already knitted up, I decided that the scarf I knitted with that yarn was too lacy to work well with the weight of the tailspun yarn. I decided that the tailspun yarn was such a masterpiece on its own that it really just needed a small piece of "canvas" to display it so I crocheted up a long skinny scarf with the second skein of yarn and then crocheted the tailspun yarn across one edge of the long scarf to create this stunning scarf that I am calling "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Somewhere Over the Rainbow is just over 7 feet long and the fringe varies from 6 to 9 inches in length. You can wear this scarf so many different ways: draped around your neck and shoulders as a long fringed boa, draped around your neck with both ends wrapped around again (as shown in these photos). You could drape it to hang in front as shown or turn it around so that it cascades down your back. Imagine this with a little black dress - and if that little black dress has a plunging back, this would look awesome cascading down the back!

I hope you enjoyed the insight into the creative process that goes into designing and creating fiber art!

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is available for sale in my etsy store. If you would like to purchase it but don't quite have the cash reserves at this time, I would be happy to do a layaway plan for the purchase. Please send me an email if you are interested.

UPDATE: Somewhere Over the Rainbow is Reserved/On Hold!
If you like this scarf and would like to discuss having me make you something similar, please contact me.

More Foster Kittens!

2010-08-17T08:02:00.001-06:00

Can you believe it?! We acquired four more foster kittens last Wednesday afternoon. These four were born under somebody's deck and they managed to catch them to bring them into the shelter. All four are black and look just like Raven. There are two males and two females and I haven't named them yet so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking of using Star Wars names for them - Luke, Leia, Amidala and Anakin, but I'm open to suggestions.

As usual, Uncle Munchkin has taken to his job with ease and spends the majority of his day kittensitting. He's in seventh heaven right now.

Sorry for the crummy photos. The sun coming through the sliding glass door creates a harsh glare and that door is filthy! Dixie and Bandit love to put their muddy paws on it - I've given up trying to keep it clean.

Raven and Magpie were a little tweaked with the new kittens invading their territory but they've settled down quite a bit and now play with them. These kittens were scared half to death when they came in and did a lot of hissing, spitting and swatting at first so I just left them in the crate and set the crate in the bathtub in the bathroom and gave them food, water and a little box and peeked in on them. The first 24 hours they would scramble back to the crate whenever I would open the door. After 36 hours, I left the door to the bathroom open so they could venture out into the hallway. Within 48 hours they had figured out how to climb over the barrier and had joined Raven and Magpie in the great room so we just blocked off the area around the wood stove near the sliding door and let them roam wherever they want to. They're making progress on taming down so hopefully we got them early enough to get them tamed down enough to be adoptable.

UPDATE: The shelter just called to let me know they picked out names for the kittens. They are Blackberry and Inky for the females and Black Jack and Soot for the males.

Another Custom Dye Order - Fall Leaves Re-Deux

2010-08-14T19:09:00.000-06:00

I just finished the first of three braids of custom dyed Polwarth roving in a revised version of my Fall Leaves colorway. I love how this turned out - so rich! I will be spinning this one Navajo ply, where you basically chain ply the single strand of yarn onto itself. Spinning in this manner creates a yarn where the color pattern of the roving is retained and you get longer runs of one color rather than the "barber pole" effect of doing a two-ply yarn. I still have another skein of Treasure Chest on the wheel right now (I've completely sold out of that colorway with custom orders for it spun into two-ply yarns!) So, I'll start spinning this one early this next week.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Blue Grotto

2010-08-11T07:19:00.000-06:00

Blue Grotto

Capri, Italy

Chocolate Cherry Delight Yarn - DONE!

2010-08-10T13:38:00.000-06:00

I finished spinning the Chocolate Cherry Delight merino/bamboo fiber blend batt into yarn. I ended up with 260 yards of a DK weight two-ply. It is really soft and squishy!

What's on the Spinning Wheel - Finished Yarns

2010-08-08T13:39:00.000-06:00

I've had several custom spinning orders lately so I've been pretty busy at the spinning wheel. I love to record my favorite shows and then watch them while I spin and fast forward through the commercials. It really saves time when watching TV shows and gives me something to do while I spin.

First up is a 50/50 Superwash Merino/Tencel roving in my India Spices colorway spun two-ply into a DK weight yarn.

Here is the roving.

And here is the finished yarn. I love how this turned out!

The next custom spinning job was to spin 4 ounces of my Treasure Chest custom fiber blend batts (romney wool, yearling mohair and tussah silk). I ended up with over 300 yards of sport weight yarn and I love the luster and drape to this!

Here are the batts before spinning

And here is the finished yarn

And now on the wheel is Chocolate Cherry Delight - a mixture of milk chocolate merino and cherry bamboo.

Next up is a custom dye order in my Fall Leaves colorway on Polwarth roving. Then I'll spin 8 ounces of it up into a two-ply yarn and 4 ounces into a navajo-plied yarn.

What are you creating?

Another Llama Goes to a New Home!

2010-08-02T09:20:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday morning I got a call from someone interested in one of our male llamas. They were interested in Duke of Pearl, who will be 7 towards the end of August. Duke is a bit of a challenge. He was born several weeks after Jim had his last heart attack and then Jim was involved in an auto accident that December. He was hit from behind at a stop light by a 3/4 ton pickup fleeing the scene of another accident. The accident tore the L4 and L5 vertebrae in Jim's lower back so he was unable to do any llama wrangling for quite some time. Therefore, when the time came for Duke to be weaned and halter trained we were unable to do much more than get a halter on him and lead him to the little boy's pasture. Years went by before Jim felt up to attempting to do much with the llamas so by the time we finally got a halter on Duke again he was a full grown adult full of testosterone. Duke loves to "stir the pot" with the other adult males and he is often the instigator of most of the tussles between the males. So, we priced Duke extremely reasonably but stressed that we would not sell him to first time llama owners. This woman's husband was on a business trip to Boston but they found Duke on our website and fell in love with him. Her husband wanted "a challenge" - hmmm, seemed like the perfect fit!

Duke at weaning

So, last Thursday morning I got up and got chores done and got Duke sorted into a catch pen then had Jim catch him for me. I can usually handle the smaller and tamer llamas all by myself but the tall ones that you really have to reach up to get the halter on I need help. I'm also leery of having the llamas step on my left foot because I don't want to re-injure the broken foot again.

Duke as a yearling

Duke had never been sheared so his fiber was extremely long but amazingly clean of debris. When I sheared him I was shocked to see that he was a gorgeous rose gray and silver color! His fleece has matted tips but I'm going to cut the tips off and that will leave the rest of the fleece the perfect length for spinning and it is sooo soft and such a fabulous color.

Duke was very well behaved and he went home with his new owner that afternoon. I haven't heard from them yet as to how Duke is doing but I am fairly certain that if there was a problem I would have heard about it. They plan to train Duke to pack. Their current llamas are over 15 years old so its time to put a younger boy to work. Go Duke!

Duke after shearing

Foster Kittens Update

2010-07-29T09:55:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a week but things have been pretty busy around here. I wanted to share an update on the foster kittens. They are growing and becoming more and more friendly by the day. Little Magpie follows me everywhere wanting to be picked up and snuggled. Raven is finally over his fear aggression and comes running to see us, too. He loves to be snuggled and loves to play. They're getting very adventuresome and spend plenty of time each day wrestling and tumbling but they still sleep quite a bit, too. Here are some updated photos of the kittens.

When they first met Uncle Munchkin they wanted to nurse.

New Foster Kittens!

2010-07-21T14:07:00.000-06:00

When I took Barbie, Kenny, Krissy and Jellybean back to the shelter last Monday I told them that we needed a little break. Just enough time to get my bathroom scrubbed clean and the carpet cleaned before we took in more foster kittens. Fortunately I got the bathroom cleaned last Tuesday and we got the carpets mostly clean. I got a call from the shelter this past Sunday; they had two little feral kittens that had been caught at the children's ARK in nearby Green Mountain Falls and they needed a foster home for them. We dropped everything and ran to the shelter to get there before they closed and picked these little babes up. One is black and white and the other is solid black except for a little bit of white on the chest and the tummy. I decided to call them Raven and Magpie (I'm sure you can figure out which one is which!) I think Raven is a boy and Magpie is a girl but I'm not good at sexing young kittens so we'll have to wait a bit to see if I'm right.

When we picked them up Raven was hissing, spitting and swatting at everyone. I put on my leather gardening gloves (but only after he nailed me - literally - and got me good on one of my fingers) and picked him up. He was scared but finally relaxed. Magpie was curious and outgoing from the very beginning. I tried to feed them some gruel made of organic rice baby cereal, powdered milk replacer and meat baby food mixed with warm water. They had absolutely no clue how to eat out of a dish. Crap...two bottle fed kittens! I fixed a bottle for them and they drank eagerly. Okay, more work but at least they were eating.

Monday morning Magpie came to greet me and Raven dove for cover. Once Raven figured out that I was the chow wagon, he decided I perhaps wasn't nearly as bad as he first thought I was and he came to get his share of the bottle. I continued to try the gruel only I started offering it to them on the end of my fingers, which Magpie immediately started to eat. Raven would eat out of a spoon! Hooray!

Yesterday morning they came out of the cube much faster and eagerly ate the gruel - off the spoon and then out of the dish. Yippee! Progress!! After eating they both climbed into my lap and played then snuggled with me.

This morning they both came running when I went to feed them and they eagerly lapped up their breakfast out of the bowl. Whew...no more bottle feeding!! They are curious and playful and I am amazed at how quickly they came around. Of course, they are probably no more than 4 to 5 weeks old so they are at the perfect age for weaning and socializing.

When I was looking at Magpie Sunday night I thought she might be a polydactyl cat with an extra toe on her right front foot. After I inspected it closely on Monday I discovered that she only has 3 toes on that foot - two of them are melded together with only one toenail growing out of it. It makes her look like she is giving a Vulcan greeting - "Live long and prosper!" Because of this malformed foot (and perhaps due to their young age) Magpie is kind of tipsy and clumsy but when I read about polydactyl cats it said that it is common for them to have some difficulties learning to walk when they are kittens. I figured it would be the same for her. Look at her foot (the one on your left) and see what I'm talking about.

But they're healthy, happy, playful and curious little kittens and I am sure somebody will love little Magpie even with that unique little foot! She has amazing energy and such a loving personality who couldn't fall in love with her?!

What's on the Spinning Wheel

2010-07-18T07:35:00.001-06:00

Before I show you what's on the wheel right now, I want to show you how the Tuscany custom yarn turned out. I was amazed at the yardage I managed to get out of this roving! I ended up with a 3.8 ounce skein with 403 yards of yarn! I had a bit left on the second bobbin that I Navajo-plied (basically you ply the yarn back on itself) and ended up with 0.3 ounces and 32 yards. The customer wanted 400 - 450 yards of a heavy fingering weight yarn and I dyed up just over 4 ounces in the hopes I would be able to spin that into the required yardage. I love it when a plan works out! The customer was thrilled with the finished yarn and it shipped out on Friday.

And on the spinning wheel now is a merino/tencel roving that I dyed up in a colorway that I called "India Spices" - deep orange, aztec gold, brown and burgundy. It is spinning up nice and thin and is looking incredibly rich. I'll post pics of the yarn when I have it done. I am spinning this up for a friend who loves to crochet and she fell in love with this colorway. The finished yarn should have incredible drape and luster to it.

Split Rock Ranch

Wildflower Shawl - My newest handmade creation!

Happy New Year Sale!

Merry Christmas!

Rocky Mountain Sunrise Shawl

Emma Lea is growing up!

Let the Shopping Begin!

Namaste Farms Online Radio by Namaste Farms | Blog Talk Radio

New Kitten!

Cria Update - They're Growing Like Weeds!

One More New Cria

First Snow of the Season

Cria update

Another new cria at Split Rock Ranch -

Wordless Wednesday

Another llama for our show string - Wheatfield's Spencer

Rosie is looking awesome!

Our new puppy - River!

New Foster Kittens!

Cria and Goat Update

Online Auction to Benefit my Niece, Alena

Catching Up

Please Chip In

Rosie is growing up!

Wordless Wednesday - The newest critters at Split Rock Ranch

Another new cria at Split Rock Ranch

Happy Birthday Black Jack!

Chillin' on a Sunday Evening

Updated Photos of Midnight Phoenix

A new Cria at Split Rock Ranch!

All Gave Some - Some Gave All

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

A New Rescue Kitten - Mowgli

Lalo and Kitten

New Foster Kittens!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Easter!

My Fleeces are Back from the Mill!! Llama Rovings Now Available!

My Somewhere Over The Rainbow Collection made it to the Front Page of ArtFire!

Sorry, I've been AWOL again - A tribute to Gigi

More Fun Fringed Scarves!

Peacock Neck Warmer SRR OOAK Hand Crocheted Original Design

Autumn - Fabulous Fringe Scarf - Another Split Rock Ranch Original Creation

Sorry I've been AWOL, but I really have been BUSY!

Wordless Wednesday

More Cowls

Life on the Ranch

Peacock SRR OOAK Original Design Hand Knitted Long Scarf w/ Fringe

Valentine Sale in the ArtFire Store

Wordless Wednesday - At least somebody enjoys the snow

Modified & Improved Spiced Curry Scarf/Neck Warmer

Foster Kittens Update - Mickey was Adopted!!

Reflecting on a Llama Legend

RIP Stage Stop Midnight Hour - A True Champion

Catching Up

Wordless Wednesday - Wild Flowers

Start the new year right with a holiday sale!

Happy New Year - Reflecting on 2010 - Foster Kittens

•.¸(¸.☆)).__(____. \ \ '| '//`♥´¯) ¸.☆´¯)☆...'.\|/.'☆´ (¸.♥´´¯`•. WIŞHIƝG YOU A..... ll . .`•.¸¸ HAPPƔ ƝƐW YEAR..... ll.☆¸¸...._ll_♥ .¸¸★2011

Where has 2010 gone to? It seems we just celebrated Christmas 2009 not that long ago.

Looking back on 2010:

Christmas Carolling

Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas Filled with Peace, Joy and Love

Etsy Featured on ABC Nightline!

Wordless Wednesday - Smitten With Kittens

No rest for the weary - or is that no rest for the wicked?!

Wordless Wednesday - Summer Meadow

Autumn Splendor Long Skiny Boa Scarf Finished and Listed!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along - Cornucopia

Herb Garden Shawl is DONE!

On the needles - Herb Garden scarf/shawl

A Spectacular Sunrise!

Sale in the ArtFire Store

Chinese Lantern Hand Knit Scarf from Handspun Art Yarn

Misty and Foggy - Long Skinny Scarves Made With Handspun Luxury Yarns

Mum's The Word

Fresh off the spinning wheel - Maerchengarten

Wordless Wednesday

Spinning, Dyeing and Working with Fiber

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