AOBA Nationals 2011

El Nino's Accoyo Michelangelo

We had a great time and sales success at Nationals in Denver! El Nino's Accoyo Michelangelo sold for the hefty price of $120,000 (you'll be hearing more about the buyer), and Happy Hour will be heading to Chimera Ranch in Colorado!

Competitors in costume class, aren't they darling?

It was great to see old friends from around the country, to check out the vendors, and then to celebrate our sale with a big group of people at a neat Brazilian restaurant on Friday night. As fun as it was to make the trip to Denver, we are VERY excited with the announcement that Nationals will be back in Louisville, Kentucky next May!!!

The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival was very enjoyable, though sales and traffic were a tad slow for many of us. Most of the vendors were grumbling that the crowds were thin, though people did seem to flock to the livestock tent this year! I had a great time on Sunday, and probably spent more than I made at the incredible booths of high quality fiber, buttons, pottery, yarn and more. Thanks to the organizers, it was bigger and better than last year but as is the case with so many endeavors the marketing budget needs to increase with the event.

We were blessed with a gorgeous, healthy black FEMALE cria today by Michelangelo! I am thrilled, as I'm hoping to maintain some of his daughters in our breeding program and this looks like a dandy.

After an incredibly busy week, I was really happy for a quiet day in the studio yesterday, you can check out my most recent felt creations on the other blog here.

Virginia Alpaca Expo and Blob on the Blog

We had a great weekend at the VAOBA Alpaca Show in Lexington, Virginia, and especially enjoyed the gorgeous fall leaves while driving through the mountains. (It continues to be very dry here, thus not a lot of fall color). We were greeted at the Virginia Horse Center by a 4-H group that helped us unload, a nice touch! The check-in process was especially cumbersome and long, but the rest of the show was run very smoothly. It was pretty funny watching Mary Beth and I walking 13 alpacas to the check-in all by ourselves- we had to stop and de-tangle leads many times!
Two things really stood out- first, there was wonderful youth involvement at this show, something that other shows need to better emulate. There were some particularly adorable costume participants!

The other thing that really impressed me was VAOBA's store for alpaca items produced by the members. There was great participation and a nicer variety of quality yarns and handmade products than I have seen at any show other than that of the SEAA's Southern Select, which is also excellent.

I can't brag about blue ribbons and championships like last time, but was satisfied overall with how our animals did in this extremely tough competition in which we ended up near the top in several huge classes. The highlights were Decadent Cafe- 2nd (her last show, she's being retired now for breeding), Accoyo Optimist- 3rd of 15, Accoyo Michael- 4th of 15, and Michelangelo-3rd of 8 in Get of Sire. It was so nice to see other breeders I hadn't seen in a long time, and being at a show always takes my mind off of politics and the country's problems, if only for a while.

I needed an extra handler for Get of Sire and desperately asked a group of kids if any of them would be willing to show. One boy eagerly volunteered. He asked the name of the animals he was to show, and I told him, "Michael." Then I asked his name, "Michael!" It was too funny. I learned that he lives on a naval base, has moved 13 times in 13 years, and that his Dad has 2 months to go deploying bombs in Afghanistan... reality set back in for a while, and I told him I'll pray for his Dad to come home safely very soon. Anyway, he was such a nice young man and reminded me of my son, Robert. I only hope that Robert presents himself as well with strangers like us.

Another new cria has arrived... bummer, the wrong sex again! This is 5 males in a row now. Okay, I AM happy for each and every healthy, trouble-free cria and they are all very nice- we are truly blessed and I do mean that. But... a girl would be nice very soon.

Now for the blob on the blog. The 5th person to comment and correctly answer what this rather gross-looking thing is will win one of my hand-felted soaps (check them out on my Etsy site).