Paul's Ghouls and Goblins (of course!)

Strictly come dancing is not the only weekend entertainment that is celebrating Halloween.

Here at Barnacre Alpacas we have been discovering that the origins of Halloween can be traced back to the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any seeds, but got the next best thing with some fruit and nuts.

First up in the fruit corner we have our master knitter, Carol. So overjoyed with the Newcastle win over Sunderland that she used Hughie's carded fleece to perform an ancient Halloween ritual of celebration.

Nice one Carol you didn't even drop a stitch - and what shiny eyes you've got!











In the nut corner, and forced to lament the loss of his Wearside heroes, Dave, master carder and world renowned AAA (assistant alpaca apprentice) was not to be outdone.

Hell hath no fury like a Macca scorned and Halloween is a chance for him to perform a ritual of revenge. Even cat is joining in!

Scary Paul

Scales and nails

My parents have arrived today for a few days which is nice, mum hadn't even had chance to take her shoes off and I roped her into her first job - holding Gianmarco's Masterpiece whilst I cut his toe nails. Whilst she was feeling keen we did Tenzing's as well as his were looking a little long.

Mum also came laden with some more knitting stock, so I need to get it washed tomorrow so that it is ready for next weekends farmers market at Morpeth. Be there or be square!

Hughie was very pleased with is many visitors, he's had lots of people to say hello to today and he does like to meet 'his public'.

This evening I have weighed a few of the cria, all are gaining nicely which is good although Minimus has remained the same this week which isn't very good.

Peep Bo!

Not much to report today so I thought you might like to see a picture of Lualeni playing peep bo!
Lualeni is a fantastic white maiden female with a fabulous fleece. Her first fleece was 14 microns and her second fleece is equally as stunning at 16 microns with an SD of 2.9, CV of 18.4 and 0.4 over 30.

We mated Loopy Lou as she is affectionately known to Gianmarco's Masterpiece earlier in the year so we are hoping for great things from this union next year, only another 6 or so months to wait.

Whose been where

I've just been down loading some photos and had to laugh at this one I managed to snap. Palm-Olive one of our young girls who has to copy her mum Molly's every move. You can always find Palm-Olive in close proximity to her mum. Both girls are hilarious, Molly is bonkers in a nice way and Palm-Olive, a Remarque daughter, is like a big bouncy ball of fleece.

After more fleece sorting, I returned home this afternoon to some very clear kitten footprints on my kitchen island! After having stern words to the girls and cleaning away the evidence before Paul returned from work to see it, I went off to feed the alpacas and was trying to think of the source of the dust.

This evening I managed to establish where said dust had come from when I spotted a pair of eyes peering over the top of one of my kitchen cupboards! By this time Paul had returned from work and spotted said naughty kitten.

Felling trees

It has been another long fleece day for me, in readiness for the Scottish National Fleece show. I won't bore you with the details but at least it now feels like we are getting somewhere.

As if I'd not seen and dealt with enough fleece during the day I have just been doing a little spinning with some fleece from my own herd. Super soft baby fleece which will hopefully be white when it is washed!

You may recall earlier in the year I mentioned that the woods were being taken down behind the girls winter grazing fields. Typically whilst the fields have been empty the work seemed to cease, until the girls returned.

I moved the girls a couple of weeks ago now and the workmen have returned to fell the trees. I'm not sure whose enjoying who the most the girls keeping an eye on the workmen or the men watching the alpacas.

When I got home this evening the bit directly being the field is almost clear, there are only two trees left and a fire burning with all the bits that are obviously no use to them.

All fleeced out

I am all fleeced out today, I've been doing some preparation with Jonathan Russell in readiness for the Scottish National Fleece Show which is being judged next week. All 276 fleeces need checking in, numbering and putting in identical sacks before weighing can commence.

It's a slow painstaking job as there are lots of fleeces which have been entered in to the wrong class, so things are taking longer than we had hoped.

Back at home all is well, the girls were slightly concerned that they were not getting their tea as I was running late. Rory was starving and getting most annoyed that the other cria were charging round and part of the lap seemed to involve either jumping on him or pulling his coat on the way past. I think they were trying to get him to join in the pronking session.

It's back over to Northumbrian Alpacas tomorrow to carry on.................

Let's hear it for the boys

I've been busy today catching up on the jobs that I didn't get done over the weekend, it was a freezing cold start with a very keen frost. In fact the big fleecy wellie liners came out this morning; next step is the wellie warmers!

It did turn into a lovely sunny day mind. The alpacas had visitors, Carol and Dave popped over with some friends, I forgot to ask permission so I'd best not name them. I keep forgetting to ask people if they mind me mentioning them on the blog.

Meketaten, here.....

took a real shine to Dave today and stood for ages having lots of fuss, in fact she got quite upset when he stopped stoking her and following him trying to help herself by rubbing up against him!

I thought it was about time the young boys got to pose, here they are in their usual stance, Tenzing & Sandstorm always come as one, they are almost joined at the hip.

Both these boys are showing great promise, they have very different styled fleeces, but both very fine and highly desirable.

Back to the classroom

Yes Jayne you were spot on it is Minimus, and no Mark sorry I couldn't possibly part with him he is far too cute (don't tell Paul though he thinks he's only staying until I get his first fleece).

Today was day two of the Cameron Holt course, Sire Selection was the subject for today. It was another fantastic course, very informative and of great use to future breeding decisions. It was quite funny Barbara and I are both clearly on similar wave lengths because despite being in different barns and working on our own throughout we kept getting very similar comments and placings.

I made sure Rory got his bottle before I left this morning after Paul's dismal results yesterday. I was also back in time to give him his tea much to Rory's relief.

It sounds like Paul has enjoyed having a rummage through the cria's fleece whilst I've been gone. They are nearly all so friendly this year they happily stand there and let you have a good inspect without having to hold them.

I'm back up at Northumbrian Alpacas doing some preparation for the Scottish National Fleece show this week. It is the largest fleece show in Europe so it is going to take some hard work from all concerned!

Little cutie

I have been on a course today, Identifying and Measuring Superior fleece traits, by Cameron Holt, 'the man' when it comes to alpaca fleece, after all he wrote the BAS fleece show rules.

It has been a really good day with some hands on fleece evaluation which was great, I'm back over at Northumbrian Alpacas tomorrow for the 'Sire Selection' course which I'm looking forward to.

Despite Paul falling to pieces, you were spot on their Mark, I left the animals in his care, it's the first time he's fed them in weeks and it's really taken it out of him - I'm afraid I've run out of sympathy now, I'm a much better nurse/carer to my four legged patients!

As yesterdays photo's received some very nice and very witty comments I thought I'd share the cutest picture I took yesterday with you. I'm not sure how but I forgot to include it yesterday. Isn't he just adoreable.

Cria photo's as requested

Just for Jayne I have been out with the camera today, after we spent the morning at the opticians that it. Paul is not satisfied with his existing incapacity's he thought he needed another. The optician has had to refer him to the hospital with his eyes now!!

Here we have (from left to right) little Minimus, next to Lady Godiva then Rory, my bottle fed boy. Minimus and Rory are both Gianmarco babies and Godiva is from Golden Guinea.Next we have Wynfor (from Legend of Spartacus) closest with Pearson (from Golden Guinea) in the background.

And finally in 'paddock condition' Casiphia, our only Legend daughter this year - you'd never actually believe she lived in the same field as the others would you. Her and Layla like to provide Ursula with a walking snack bar of leaves!

A good excuse to rummage

After a trip into Morpeth this morning to post an order I'd received to a very nice lady in Berwick and a supposed trip to the optician who hadn't turned up to work! I set about a few husbandry jobs.

The final three cria of the year needed their second lambivac injection which all went according to plan, when I eventually caught hold of Freyja, who decided that she didn't want stabbing. Injections is a great excuse to do some fleece rummaging, not that I really need an excuse.

Minimus has the most gorgeous golden fawn fleece with exceptional brightness. Unfortunately however, he has a kink in his tail so he wont be attending any shows in person, but maybe his fleece will make it into a fleece show somewhere!

Since I came back in to the house to warm up I have been sewing labels into the latest few batches of knitwear. I keep telling myself I won't let it pile up, but do it every time then it takes ages. I'm still printing off garment labels then they'll all need pricing up too. The jobs are never ending.

Visitor equals treats

The alpacas had a lovely lady visiting today, but I forgot to ask for permission to name her so I'd better not. Imala was very pleased to receive visitors as it meant she got some bonus carrot and apple, she wasn't too keen on sharing it with the others!

Pearson and Ochre were putting on a nice display of neck wrestling and boys doing what boys do. Niveous came over too just to show them how you are supposed to mount and hang on to the back of a moving target.

Rory is still taking his bottle which is good, he has a coat on this evening as the nights have turned really cold. He wasn't at all bothered by it nor was his mum Geena. She obviously remembers that her baby's often go green (the coat is green) once winter arrives.

Sienna however was not at all impressed with this new green alpaca in the field. She was humming at him and trying to pull it off, when this fails she tried to scratch it off b carefully lifting up her foot and dragging it along Rory's back. She never looked twice at Minimus when I put his on.

For once I am off for an early night, hopefully Paul has already warmed the bed.

More stash and a blue job

Thank you very much for all your kind comments about my flip top mittens, I can't believe how many comments they generated. So I've started another pair today in slightly different colour ways. Then I'll maybe move on to a hat Jayne! Finishing all the ends off takes ages though so it may take me a while.

Whilst on the subject of knitting Carol and Dave popped round this morning, Dave wanted some manure for his veggie plot but he had also ran out of carding so wanted some more fleece. I sent him home with some Hughie and his half sister Mallika. I hope to do a barber pole yarn with this mix.

Carol came with a bag of knitted goodies, three hats and three pairs of mittens. The speed she knits at never ceases to amaze me. Once they are washed I will take a photo of her weeks work - trust me you'll be amazed too.

I'm pleased to say that Rory is once again happy to take his bottle, he'd been refusing it since we moved them on to the fresh grass. The novelty of lush grass has obviously worn off, either that or the cold has prompted him to want nice warm milk.

I'm hoping to weigh him and a couple of the other tomorrow, I was going to do it this evening but we had a rain shower and I like to do them when they are dry.

There was another blue job on the list today, I'd got a flat tyre so it needed changing. I can't believe how many punctures we've had in this car, I wouldn't mind but they always happen when I have to change the flipping tyre.

We've not long had a full set of new tyres so they've been put on with one of the noisy gun things (I'm sure someone will tell me what they are called), anyway even with my muscles I could undo all the nuts; even after jumping on the bar! Thankfully Colin one of my neighbours came to the rescue.

The grand unveilling

You may recall last week I talked about my latest knitting project, flip top stripy mittens, well here are the finished article, even though I do say so myself I am very pleased with them.

This latest addition to the shop shows off a number of our Barnacre herd, here goes for the roll of honour:-

Nefertiti - Dark brown

Imala & Gabby mix - light fawn cuff

Veruschka & Irraquoy - winter white main colour

Chiquita - mid fawn rib at fingers

Hughie - light fawn stripe at top of the flip

Contemplation

I was woke in the early hours of this morning by the police helicopter which was hovering with its search beam shining in Hartburn. One local family were woken to the news that their young son would not be coming home having had a very nasty car accident.

Events like this really put things into perspective and make you appreciate what you have. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

On a much brighter note I took the camera out with me this morning, we'd had the first frost of the year so I thought there might be some nice photo opportunities. However the alpacas had either been in the shelter and were frost free or like Loki here had been sun bathing and were just damp.He is enjoying his new vantage point, now the girls are in their winter field her gets a good view of them! He is very much the big macho following commencement of his stud career this summer.

Take your pick

I was out with the camera this afternoon taking some shots of the latest knitwear for the shop when I caught Smudge choosing her log for tonight's fire!Smudge is somewhat of a hot house cat, so much so, in a previous house (and what now feels like a previous life) we used to have a sauna which Smudge loved. She would sit outside the door in the winter evening crying until you switched it on and let her in.

She isn't daft either, she'd sit on the top bench and try and push you off if you got in her way - until you started to drip then she left in disgust! So it should come as no surprise here she is early this evening.

An up hill struggle

It's been another busy day, I got to use another of the boys toys today seeing as Paul's out of action.

Anyone who knows us or has visited Barnacre will know that the sit on jobs like cutting the grass and harrowing are Paul's jobs, whilst the manual jobs like poo picking, stacking hay and scrubbing out the trailer are my domain.

Well today I had a sit on job on the list, some of the grass needed cutting. After we'd managed to fix the lawn mower that was. The John Deer had somehow managed to get a flat battery but thankfully Dave came to the rescue with a battery charger.

Whilst I was cutting the back lawn the mower cut out and I couldn't get the thing working again, in the end I decided I'd have to push it back to the garage. Part of our back lawn is on a slight incline and yes you guessed it the mower was at the bottom and needed pushing up hill.

I managed to get it back to the garage and came in to ask Paul's assistance to reattach the battery charger (I didn't dare do that in case it blew up or something!). I tried to start it up so Paul could hear the noise it was making and can you believe it the bl**dy thing started - I was not happy seeing as I'd had to push it all the way back to the garage.

Before it decided to die on me again I got all the required grass cut and cleaned the machine and put it away again. It's a good job I did get it finished because tonight it is raining.

This evening I have finished spinning the last of Mary's fleece, I am looking forward to doing a different colour as I've seen enough black to last me a while. No doubt Carol has almost used up all the black I took earlier in the week!

Meals on wheels

The girls have settled nicely into their new field, they had obviously been eating so well that when I went to give Rory his bottle at lunchtime they were all sat chewing the cud, every single one of them.

Rory wasn't in the slightest bit interested in his bottle either, so he is no doubt full from the nice lush green grass.

I had to laugh this evening as Layla had obviously been rolling in leaves and was walking round with a collection stuck to her, which Ursula was happily picking off much to Layla's disgust. In the end she went tearing off to her mum Willow, humming away, you could tell from the look on her face she was saying something along the lines of 'Tell her mum she's pulling my fleece'.

After a trip to Morpeth this morning to get some pain killers for Paul, milk for Rory and petrol for the quad I have been harrowing the girls resting field. This is something Paul usually enjoys doing, driving round the field at speed generally causing a mess! Today he was only able to watch me out of the window.

Winter declared!

We have declared the start of winter today in that the girls have moved onto their winter grazing.

It was hard work moving all the girls on my own as Paul is out of action, where's my AAA when I need him?!

Initially I needed the girls to be down at the side of the house so I could get them into the trailer, which was a job in itself because the builder across the road were taking a tin roof off the barn and making a huge racket so the girls were not keen to head that way.

They start their winter grazing at the back corner and work their way round so unless I drive them in it would mean walking through nice fresh grass and they'd just stop and put their heads down!

It wasn't too bad actually, took me absolutely ages but we got there in the end, with all the mums and babies I had to make three trips as I didn't want anyone being squashed. They probably would have got in two at a push but it's better to be safe.

Here they are enjoying the fresh grass and exploring the boundaries, as is always the case Gabby is leading the way.

Having stuffed far too much grass down their necks (from back to front) Willow, her daughter Layla and Gabby's daughter Lady Godiva were exhausted and needed a rest!

I also managed to get Guinea's toe nails cut this morning, I noticed at the weekend they were getting very long. Thankfully, despite him being a big boy, I managed on my own, he is very was behaved and stood nicely for me.

Spots and stripes

Knowing my alpacas inside out and back to front is something I pride myself on, it is an essential part of alpaca ownership getting to know your alpacas.

Today I noticed something new on Hughie. Hughie is a very special alpaca, not only is he our only gelding he is very friendly. Like his mum Duchess, Hughie has a spot, here they are together when Hughie was born over three years ago which clearly shows Duchess's spot.

Hughie's spot is not quite as big as his mums and it is behind his left ear. He has another tiny one on his foot but since he got bigger you would never see it unless you knew where to look. This was the only photo I could find where you could actually see the spot!

Anyway today I found another spot! Well I say spot it's more a small gathering of fawn fibres but I know it's new, it has definitely not been there before; how odd don't you think.

Now for the stripes bit of my title, I am busy knitting a pair of stripy gloves which include yarn from Hughie incidentally. Hopefully they will be finished in the next couple of days so I will share a photo with you before they go on sale.

It's behind you

Little Miss Irraquoy spotted something at lunchtime but what it was I have no idea. I was out in the field when she screeched the alarm call and ran from behind me with some of the youngsters that were in her general vicinity.

LMI isn't usually the one who sounds the alarm but she had obviously seen something that nobody else had. They grouped together in the middle of the field and stared into the woods. I went to have a look and she was obviously worried for my safety as she screeched again and I headed off.

I couldn't see or hear anything strange so I don't know what it was, but they soon forgot about it when they saw me with a bucket of sugarbeet!

This afternoon I headed over to Carol and Dave's to drop off some more black yarn I'd spun and pick up more carding and knitting.

Dave is now a AAA, Apprentice Alpaca Assistance, Paul is going to be out of action for a little while following surgery last week so Dave kindly offered and helped me with some husbandry work in Friday. He was a great help, and thankfully didn't go home too green, despite Carol expecting otherwise. He obviously wasn't put off by anything either because he offered his assistance again today if I need any help with anything.

Natural weaning

It seemed mighty strange this morning having no Kazuo come to meet me, the rest of the gang came mind; Pearson, Ochre and Godiva.

Kate appears to have decided that it is time Ochre was weaned and she's not letting him feed. He is only four and a half months old but has been in excess of 30kg for quite some time so he is plenty big enough, in fact he is almost the same size as Chiquita who is three!

She did the same thing to her daughter from 2009, Midnight Star, who incidental is not welcome near her mum at any price. I do find the family dynamics very interesting.

It will be interesting to see if Star follows the example set by Kate when she has cria of her own. Oonagh certainly treated her first baby, Kealeni, the same way Blossom treated her when she was reunited after weaning. Poor Kealeni still keeps trying to get some sort of acceptance from her mum buts she's having none of it.

A teary goodbye

Just a very short blog tonight as I am very tired after a long day yesterday and an early start this morning getting up for the Formula 1 qualifying which never happened!

Today was the day that Colin and Karl from Willowbank Alpacas were coming to collect the girls and their cria that they recently purchased to take them to their new home in Leicestershire.

I had the four of them, Alice & Kazuo and Katia & Ginny at the side of the house ready when they arrived. I also made sure I'd said my goodbyes before the men came - I didn't want them seeing me get upset. I knew I would cry!

I am sure Lisa & Karl will want to tell you all about them on their blog in the next few days so I will just share a couple of photo's of them being loaded into the trailer.



And Kazuo's final kiss through the trailer, I will miss them all but he is really special.

Special delivery

I've had another productive day, first thing, well after everyone had been fed and watered, I headed off into Morpeth to post some knitwear that has been specially ordered, someone will get a nice parcel in the morning courtesy of Geena.


I also needed some tiny black buttons for a hat I'd knitted, I knew exactly what I wanted so thought I'd struggle but the shop had just what I wanted - fantastic.


I was back in plenty of time to give Rory his lunchtime bottle which he took eventually. For some reason this morning he didn't want his breakfast, he met me at the fence this evening though to make sure he got his supper.

As the sun has been shining again and the boys resting field had dried out I gave it a good harrow to spread the mole hills and drag out the dead grass and moss. It now resembles a rally car track but it will come back better for it I'm sure. A pesky mole has been back already though!

Events update

I really didn't want to get up this morning, when I eventually got to sleep last night (don't go there!) it didn't seem more than five minutes later that the rain on the windows woke me up.

It was still raining this morning, however by the time I had finished the morning feed and clean routine the rain had just about stopped - typical! The girls were particularly pleased with their hay this morning, they are definitely getting ready for a change of field.

We have been updating the website again, the events page is now up to date with details of the remaining fairs we will be attending, some with and some without the boys.

It's always a fine line booking these things, because we only use yarn from our own herd our stocks are not only unique they are limited, so once it's gone it's gone. The online shop is up to date so if you have your eye on something it's an idea to get shopping early for the dreaded C word.

Finally I just thought I'd enlighten Rosemary about my 'dead' hands. I have Raynard's disease so the circulation in my hands isn't good which means my fingers are very often white or purple - hence Paul says they look dead.

I have mentioned your rock solution Barbara , however it seems to have fallen on deaf ears; I am still waiting for the ring I was promised on our 10th wedding anniversary which was over 7 years ago. I've offered to accept a new alpaca instead - I can use it's fleece to knit myself some gloves, that will help :-)

Fleeced in the camera shop

I'm still spinning Mary! I'm on my last bobbin now so hopefully I will be able to ply it before Friday - that is when I will see Carol and Dave next, so Carol will have more black to knit with.

As the sun has been shining I have been trying to get a couple of fleece shots, which is never an easy job. We bought a new camera earlier in the year and I've never liked it but that's another story. I was talked out of getting an SLR by the man in the shop and Paul, remind me not to listen in future.

When you are trying to get a good fleece shot finding a clean bit is usually a good idea; this is not the easiest job in the world with Kazuo and that's before you even switch the camera on! You also need about four pairs of hands, one to hold the alpaca, one to open the fleece and another to take the photo.

After a number of attempts this is declared the best Kazuo shot of the day. For those of you interested Kazuo was our first Gianmarco's Masterpiece cria and is heading off to Willowbank Alpacas with his mum Alice very shortly.

Fleece photography always ends up in an argument here, Paul complaining my hands look dead (hence they aren't in the photo), or I'm not holding the animal at the right angle or they aren't perfectly still or me complaining that Paul is rubbish at taking photo's or doesn't open the fleece correctly..... need I go on!

So pleased to see you

It has been a lovely day today, the sun always helps to make you feel much happier don't you think.

I weighed little Minimus this evening and he is just short of 15kg now, not bad for a 4kg birth weight. He still has his pj's (waterproof coat) on at night to save him having to use too much energy to keep warm, he can put it all into growing!

Paul has been out of action for a while so hasn't been in to see the animals for over two weeks now, but this evening he had a walk into the field with me. Oonagh was so pleased to see him, it was really sweet. She came straight over to him clucking away and exchanged a kiss, she has clearly missed him.

I'm still busy spinning Mary's fleece, but if you are reading this Carol I'm plying some for you at the minute so it won't be long!!!!!

So much for dry

So much for a dry day today it's been pouring pretty much none stop until tea time. It was so bad some of the girls actually ventured into the shelter for the first time ever! I don't know what it is about the shelter in their current field but they really don't seem keen to use it.

The bad weather has meant that I have got more spinning done, I was hoping to have finished the black by then end of tonight but that's not going to happen even if I sit up half the night. I'll keep trying though.

The rain has even stopped the kittens from venturing far today which has meant they have been causing havoc around the place, much to Paul and Smudge's annoyance!

According to Countryfile the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow so hopefully I will get the rest of the fields cleaned and the boys now resting field harrowed.

A game of shuffle

It has been lovely here today which made a very nice change after yesterday's miserable weather. Thankfully Kazuo has dried off and doesn't look quite as much of a scruff today; he has to be the dirtiest alpaca we've every had. He loves to sit in water and roll in mud - not a nice combination!

We have been talking about moving the boys round as Hughie, Loki, Legend and Marky needed fresh grass. I was hoping that I would be able to reunite all the boys back together over winter and introduce Sandstorm and Tenzing . This would help with the game of shuffle we play with fields here at Barnacre and we would only be using one field at a time rather than three.

Today was the day for the move so I let the four big boys into the channel who immediately began munching it. The plan was to let Golden Guinea out and see how they got on. Since Loki became a man (serving the ladies) Guinea has taken a rather strong dislike to him. I think it has something to do with the size of Loki's manhood - which incidentally he has great pleasure in showing off, which doesn't help!

Anyway to cut a long story short after having to intervene and distract Guinea on a number of occasions I decided it was safer to leave him on his own. It only takes a minute for them to do some serious damage to each other.

Next I introduced Sandstorm and Tenzing (last years babies) to the big boys, after a sniff exchange they all settled down and are happy together so I let them into the field. This evening all six happily shared their troughs so I'm happy.

I have been able to get out with the muck truck today which was good, but after all of the rain we've had it was like removing concrete in places and the pipe weighed a ton. At least the boys fields are now spotless so I will be able to harrow the now resting fields tomorrow.

What a difference a day makes

Today has been horrible, I can't believe what a difference a day makes. So it was inside jobs for me today.

I had some husbandry jobs to update on the spreadsheets and the latest cria weights to add on. That was before we got to the website, which still needs lots more work.

I did manage to take a few photo's before the rain arrived of the latest knitwear to get in the online shop. I've done the necessary with the photo's, cropped them and named them so I just need to get them on the website now.

I have also been doing some spinning, but before I would allow myself to do that I had a hat to sew up. I have also been over to see Carol and Dave to drop some things off and to pick up the last of the Nefertiti fleece Dave had been carding. Carol was working on a lovely new scarf pattern she'd designed.

I am trying to get the Mary finished this weekend, hopefully Carol and Dave won't read this posting or they'll be chasing me for the yarn on Monday!