Darling Buds of May

Here's an update on Flame, the little llama boy that was born last December in minus 30 C.

You may recall that I had gone into the barn one night for no apparent reason (I think I was checking to see whether or not the night light was on), when I found a shivering little boy still covered by his caul, sitting upright on the barn floor.

His mom, Rosebud, is the oldest female I have, and although I suspected she was expecting, I had no idea of the actual date, because her pregnancy was quite unplanned. At least by me. You can't leave even a woolly llama out in -30 temperatures, so I picked up the infant and carried him into the heated shopfront of the barn, lay down some straw for him, and turned up the furnace so that it was about 5 degrees C. His mom joined him and they stayed there for a few days.

I worried that he may have been frostbitten. It was hard to tell how long he had been there -- he was sitting upright rather than lying down (they are born lying down, and gain the upright position after about an hour), and he had the by then crispy membrane still on him. So possibly he was there for a few hours. In any case, frostbite shows up in calves as bites to the ears and frequently the feet. Calves who are frostbitten often lose their feet entirely, hence my concern.

I examined little Flame, and his feet looked OK. But as you can see, his ears suffered a little, and he lost the tips. But he nursed well on Rosie, which was a big plus for her because she lost her last cria because it was unable to nurse, even with my assistance of standing it up underneath her.

This is Flame's little cousin, Panda. Panda was born last September, to his mom Tanya, and dad Brown Sugar. Tanya is notable for being the llama that wedged herself between a corral fence and a 1700 lb hay bale in January, also in very cold weather. We had to disassemble the fence in order to get her out, and even after that she would not stand up for over a week. During that time, I covered her with a Turkish carpet which froze into a shell around her, and her little boy Panda stood with her. I was afraid that her milk would dry up, which would not have been a disaster, since Panda was already on hay by then.

But when she finally decided to stand, she was OK, and Panda was nursing within a day. They are both doing well, and Tanya shows no sign at all of her downtime.

Here's one of the projects I'm working on at the moment. It's a summer top that was started in Elann's Esprit, a cotton/elastic mix. This sample will soon be ripped out because it's far too small, since the elastic of the yarn is incredibly springy. I've restarted this yarn in another pattern, I include these photos merely for the edification of those of you who may be trying to work with Esprit.

It's actually a light shade of turquoise, not blue. The pattern was from "Knitting Lingerie Style" which I intend to remake in a different, non-springy cotton.

Although I swatched a sample, it wasn't until I got a substantial piece of garment made that I realized that the elasticity would not work to my advantage -- it was just shrinking back too much. It could be stretched out to the correct size, but it wouldn't hold its shape that way, instead it would sproing back to its smallest size. It also has a slightly crepey (yes, crepe, as in wool) quality which means the stitches do not lie flat, but are slightly bumpy, and therefore the lace has lost definition.

I intend to make a tank top, something that the stretchiness will assist, and I'm making it up instead of following a pattern.

I like the yarn though. It would be great for bathing suits and kids' sweaters. It is very elastic and firm, not like Rowan's Calmer for example. It's far more robust than that. Great for clinging garments, at a gauge of approx 26 stitches/4 inches.