Alpacas, Llama and Crochet, Oh My!

Full barely describes this past week; it felt more like 12 days than only 7. Started off last Saturday with the first day of National Alpaca Farm Day.


The Photographer and I drove up to Alpine to visit A Simpler Time Alpacas and Mill.
There were goats


Alpacas


And the Guard Lama

that really kept watch over all these people around his herd.


We received a very detailed tour of their fiber Mill. (No pictures as the area was too small and jammed with people to get a good shoot. See their web page for photos.)

I won't bore you with the work portion of the week. The only fun in there is working at the Yarn Shop I get to see such wonderful things customers and Yarn Reps bring in to show us. One Rep that came in was wearing the cutest necklace that she had designed and had published in Creative Knitter Magazine July 2007 Issue. I tried it and couldn't do all the knit increases in one stitch that the pattern called for so I switched to crochet and came up with a reasonable copy.


I used left over sock yarn and WalMart #6 beads. I'm looking for a small toggle closure to finish it.

My pattern is simple:
String your beads.
Chain a string about a third longer than you want your finished necklace. Then do single crochets in the neck part (remember that you need an inch or so extra on each end to attach your closure.

Then to do the curly whirly part I did 4 triple crochets (a cluster) in each chain stitch, placing beads in each cluster after the first and third triple crochet. Repeat until you've made your curly section your desired length then do single crochets to the end. (My necklace was 1/4 length single crochet, 1/2 length curly then 1/4 length of single crochet.) As you see I'm not a pattern writer; I'll try and answer emailed questions .

Many years ago I bought a small stick of a plant that was called a Perennial Sunflower. Over the years it's grown and grown until now it's a good size patch that grows to 9 feet tall. This is the view out my Kitchen Window
'
Recently I've been told by my second daughter, the Horticulture Student, that it's actual Helianthus angustifolius 'Mellow Yellow'. Watching it blow in the wind is facinating. And the view is constantly changing as the sun moves and the light comes from a different direction. I can't decide if I like the morning sunrise light better than the sunset light. We look forward to it's October blooming as the highlight of Fall in our backyard.


All photos except for crocheted necklace by The Photographer.