Miniature Llama Play-Day

Last Saturday (the 27th) my friend Connie invited me to a farm near Windom to help demonstrate weaving while she wowed the crowd with her marvelous job of spinning llama fiber on her beautiful, double-treadle spinning wheel. I think that her theory was “If Jody can do it (weave), then anybody can do it!” I enjoyed the weaving very much. Connie brought her little two harness loom, already strung with the white and brown ‘warp’ threads. My ‘weft’ threads were brown, and the design was quite bonny, indeed! Poor Connie! She has the patience of a saint, I swear to you. But I only broke the loom one time, and my table runner actually was beginning to look pretty decent towards the end of the day.

But the day was not all spinning and weaving. I got to spend quite a bit of time with the miniature llamas and ‘their people.’ Wow, are they ever cool! They have the most beautiful, enormous eyes with long lashes, and their little llama lips are just so kissable! And besides falling in love with them, I learned a lot of llama facts. Did you know: that llamas are pregnant for 11 ½ months and they only have one baby (while standing up!?) They ‘hum’ as a means of communication, they can be used as pack animals, they make great guard animals, they can live up to 15-20 years. And (last but not least) their fiber may be used for spinning and weaving. It is incredibly soft, and it does not itch at all!

And no, I did not get spit on, but I did hear one of them ‘hum!’ I got to lead one of them around through a small obstacle course, and pet many of them. I even got to feed a beautiful appaloosa stud a cob of corn. Take a look at the pictures of the Miniature Llama Play-Day, taken by Connie. I was so absorbed the whole time that I did not even know that she was taking pictures! Thanks again, Connie, for a fabulous, fun day!

Hey everybody! Look! I'm actually 'looming!"

Doesn't Connie take amazing pictures? Take a look at everything going on in this next photo: I am kneeling on the ground in front of a miniature llama, getting a lesson in 'llama raising' from Bill (owner and breeder of award-winning miniature llamas); other people are leading llamas through the obstacle courses; Bill's wife is taking a picture of Laura, owner of the 'kushing' (kneeling) llama in front of me; and in the background is the beautiful cornfield, a grain storage bin, and the wonderful blue sky that shone above us all day. What a perfect fall day in southern Minnesota!

And here is the most beautiful male llama of the day, as far as I am concerned. Look at his little spotted legs! He is the stud of this farm. Can you just imagine what it would be like to take that (shaved), spotted fiber, and spin it into naturally colored buff- and brown- yarn? How cool is that???

FOOT NOTE: I just looked at friend Connie's blog (Ash Lane Farm, at the top of this page on the left) and she is showing a picture of the little table runner that I made on Saturday!!! I was amazed that it took such a small amount of time to do it, and yet I accomplished so much. I feel like I spent most of the day goofing off with the minature llamas! Weaving on the loom goes very quickly. One could whip out a rug, or a table runner, or a set of place mats in a day. The part that takes the longest amount of time is putting on the warp threads. I am keeping my fingers crossed until 2:00 today, as I am so hooked on weaving (I prefer to call it looming!) that I bid on a loom on ebay, and I am the only one that has bid, so far!