Monday, July 19, 2010

What kind of cat carries your golf clubs?

Today’s post title is a nod to Billy Jonas’s most excellent song, the title track of his CD, “What kind of cat are you?”  We listened to this CD nonstop all the way to, through, and from North Carolina.  My kids adore it (thanks to Kristina for bringing it to our attention!).  Seriously, you have to read the lyrics.  Better yet, don’t read them – listen to the song first (see link at top), so you can try to answer the clues.

Anyway, one of the “cats” in the song is the kind of cat that carries your golf clubs – a CADDY.  I’ve been meaning to tell you that we saw llama caddies on our trip.  We left our campsite one day to go to the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock and drove past a golf course.  S1 and I both did a double-take as we rolled past – were those llamas or alpacas carrying people’s golf clubs?  We thought we were seeing things.  I asked our campground host about it later in the day, and he just smiled.  “It’s Tuesday – Tuesday is Llama Day,” he said.  So there you have it – some people are using llamas to carry golf clubs around.  NC truly is a fascinating state.  I didn’t get a photo myself, but luckily, the NYT has covered this llama caddy phenomenon – here’s their photo:

Camelid segue… I don’t have any llama fiber to tell you about today, but I did finish my Jacob-alpaca yarn – close enough? IMG_6787 My batt was labeled 3 oz, but my finished yarn is 2.5 oz (71 g).  That’s 140 yards of 2-ply.  You’ll notice if you look closely that this is pretty uneven.  The fiber contained a lot of lanolin, and the Jacob drafted quite differently from the alpaca (the pure white spots are alpaca).  It was sticky.  I decided not to fight it and just spin it as it wanted to be spun.  The yarn bloomed a bit after setting it in a hot bath.  The result is quite fluffy and pettable.  It will probably work well as a hat.

I’m so stoked that I finished this in 2 days – I spun all the singles on Saturday and plied on Sunday.  What’s next from my pile?

Hint: something purple.

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