I went to a shearing Saturday… in Middleburg, just a few back roads from the shop. 

With mixed emotions, I watched the men flip the first llama.   He didn’t want to stay down and fought hard, it must have hurt, kicking and such on that concrete.  Although, once they had been sheared they seemed lighter on their feet and much cooler.

I watched  a total of seven alpacas and 5 llamas get a hair cut.  It was a fairly breezy day and little puffs of fleece blew about the pen, finally reaching it’s destination just outside, alongside the road.  Brown, white, black…a needlefelter would have made great use of what was just lying in the road.

The owner of the llamas had his first animal sheared and they were starting to bring in the 2nd…the fleece from the first was still just lying there in a pile on the floor. Someone asked what he was going to do with it…”I don’t care, I don’t want it, do you want it?”  The alpaca breeder responds “I don”t want it”.  It took about 1/2 a second before I blurted “I’ll take it!” 

So…once fiber poor, I am now fiber rich!  I have bags and bags of llama which…gives me a great excuse to have a play day! 

We just received in everything you might need to make this: 

Which is Jojoland’s Swirl Shawl.  You can find the pattern (Swirl Shawl) and the yarn (Melody) at www.LocalNeedle.com.

Jojoland yarns are “long”-striping where one color fades into the next, making a really unique garment.

We currently have Melody, which is a superwash wool perfect for the shawl pictured here, or for socks.

And then we have Harmony, which is Jojoland’s lace-weight or cobweb yarn. 

Which you can use for something like this: 

Mema as we knew her, most others knew her as Opal, passed away 2/15/08.  She was my husband’s mother, my daughters’ grandmother. 

Opal was a very stylish woman, and unlike most of her time, even tho she had a son she had a full time job just about all of her adult life.  She loved leopard prints and proved that when she wore her scarves/jackets/belts/jewelry and even boots.   She had a lot of scarves, a lot of costume jewelry and lots and lots of shoes.   

After she passed, the girls wanted to go thru her jewelry, which we did, and we grew a new appreciation for costume necklaces, broaches and clip-on earrings.  It has generated a new craft of “spying the jewelry” she was wearing in each picture of her past.  

Opal could find a bargain and wear it like no other, she could wear a $4.00 K-Mart tee and make it look extraordinary.

She retired from the IRS, and had the perfect job there, cashier.  I knew what it was like to be an upcoming professional in the 80’s, I can’t imagine what it was like in the 60’s, even more the man’s world then.

Pa or Papa or Willis Carl to most, was her husband of over 50 years, my husband’s father and my daughters’ grandfather.  He passed away on March 27, just 5 weeks after Opal.

He had a way of wearing a hat that I just loved.  He was always the first in line for food, generally would be wearing some of it when he was done, but no one cared…because he was a very honorable man.

After just 6 weeks of being overseas during WWII, at the age of 22, he lost his left leg by stepping on a land mine.  I never heard him complain about it or about anything else, ever. 

He was a judge in Washington Cty, FL in the 50’s and retired from Sears selling appliances, I believe. 

What most remember about him was the dry jokes that could make anyone laugh…for him, the joke was in the telling.

He called Opal, Sugar. They were so sweet together, she’d get mad at him (not really) because he couldn’t hear and she had to keep repeating herself, then when he finally understood… he’d nod in agreement and follow it with a joke.   

They both loved the Lord and there’s no doubt that they are now with Him. 

She no longer has asthma, he can now hear and walk on two legs. 

It was a blessing to know them both, I thank them for Carl and for what they taught me in life.  They will be forever missed, and never forgotten.