4 More Alpacas

I had seen a recipe in a magazine and then could not find it again when I wanted to make it. Don’t you hate that? Anyway luckily I had read the recipe and can remember most of it. This is my version of a chocolate cherry vanilla 2 layer cake. I used a French vanilla cake mix and mixed some chocolate chips and chopped cherries into the batter. Then put two drops of red food coloring into cream cheese frosting and slathered it on the cake. Then placed chocolate chips on top and whala! Pink Chocolaty goodness. I brought this into the office and it was a big hit.

Chris even got in the baking mode last weekend.


Chris made his famous jumbo cookies.
You can only eat a half a cookie at a time, other wise you might go into shock from sweet overload.


Granny Squares



All over blog land I have been seeing lots of crocheted wave blankets and several granny squares being turned out. I secretly love granny squares but am afraid of the 70’s nostalgia most people attribute it too. I pulled out my Debbie Stoller “The Happy Hooker” Crochet manual and sat down with some Lion Brand Chenille. Believe it or not it took me 4 hours to make my first granny square. LOL. The next two went much smoother once I got the hang of it. I think it would have been much easier if I did them all one color. I am thinking of making 9 more and putting them together for a pet blanket.


4 More Alpacas

Last year I got an email from Michele from Rosehaven Alpacas. She had found my blog and liked the name Alpaca Rose, because her farm name was Rosehaven Alpacas. Chris and I took a look at their website about their farm and really liked what we saw.

We emailed back and forth and finally Chris and I decided to buy 4 of their female alpacas. Here are the lovely ladies we are buying.


Bronte- dark brown female date of birth 8/16/03.
She is described as having dense, fine fiber. She even won a blue ribbon at the 2005 fiber to fashion Spin-Off competition. She will be having our first baby cria of the year with a due date around May 1, 2007.



Mimosa- light rose silver grey female, date of birth 7/25/02
Good conformation and a thick, dense fleece.
I am so excited to add some grey alpacas into our herd and the rose grey’s are even more special and sought after. Mimosa is due to have her baby cria some time in September.


Here she is freshly sheared. I just love her light silver color.



Kiri- dark silver grey female, born 8/2/99.
She is described as a terrific mother. Besides the wonderful coloring this is what drew me to her. I think it is very important for them to be good Mother’s and be experienced to the whole birthing process. The gestation period for an alpaca is a little over 11 months so the baby is very anticipated and you want it to have the best chance possible.


Here is Kiri with one of her baby crias.



Schaherazade – medium brown female, born 9/16/05
She was named after the Arabian princess who danced and told stories to the king for over 1000 nights. I could not help myself she is adorable. She will be bred for the first time this year.


We chose Captain Nemo one of Rosehaven’s herdsires to breed with Shaherazade. He is a solid dark rose grey. He is all that and a bag of chips as far as I am concerned. I hope Schaherazade is pleased with our choice for her. After breeding Schaherazade will have her first baby in 2008.

Rosehaven alpacas have been a wonderful farm to do business with. Comparing them to the farm in Oregon we bought from last year is like comparing strawberries to the annoying piece of gum you accidentally stepped in. I am so glad to have found them and am looking forward to a long farm to farm relationship with them.

Go check out Rosehaven Alpacas Farm website – HERE