We have finished shearing our alpacas and had our open house.  Both were a lot of fun and provided opportunities to meet new people.  My friend, Ben Clark and I have traditionally sheared together as a team while my husband, Marty did blade sharpening and changing.  Unfortunately, Ben was sick and unable to help me this year.  Fortunately, Brian and Nicole Tait along with Nicole's stepdad, John from Pilgrim's Reward were interested in learning how to shear.   So the Taits came to our rescue and rolled up their sleaves to help.  I am not sure they realized just how much they would be doing, but they never complained and just jumped right in.  By the end of the day I turned the 3 of them loose to shear an alpaca all by themselves and they did a great job.  I think they are ready to do their own shearing.

My daughter, Gina, and my friend's son, Andrew, were a great deal of help.  They had the advantage of youth (both are teenagers) and good physical fitness so they were a big help with the alpacas.  The day after shearing we set up the farm for an open house to sell the yarn from 2008, freshly shorn raw fiber, and alpaca products.

The day was unseasonablly warm for April and the alpacas were feeling good about their new haircuts.  This weekend, we sorted through our fleeces to decide what to process ourselves, what to turn into yarn, and what to send to the AFCNA.  I also attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and stocked up on some new dyes, silk, and felting needles. 

We will help 3 small farms do their alpacas and one llama over the next week or two (if it ever stops raining), but the big all day shear jobs are done!