Friday llama blogging
Hey, remember that nice wedding I went to a while ago? Did I mention there were llamas there? There were llamas there. At least I think they were llamas. I'm not entirely sure if these are llamas or alpacas, to be perfectly honest.
But in any case, there I was with the Holga, and there were the llamas (or whatever), so of course I had to photograph them. They didn't seem to mind, though when I rejoined the crowd at the party, someone mentioned that they'd been waiting anxiously to see whether I was going to grab hold of the fence, which was of course electrified (it's visible at the bottom of the frame and behind the llama's head). I didn't. I could see the insulator thingys at the corners and I figured it was probably electric. How else are you going to keep a bunch of llamas inside the fence?
Labels:
flora and/or fauna,
holga pics
19 comments:
The Holga rocks. You've almost convinced me to buy one. And wheeee, llamas!
Wheeeee, llamas! is right, Amy.
Or BZZZZZZT llamas! if the fence has anything to say about it.
I'm going to have to send my son a link to this entry. He can settle the whole alpaca / llama conundrum.
He is anti-alpaca.
I do not know why.
TS
I am a little alarmed at the copious amounts of llamas and llama references in my life of late. I was at the organization I volunteer for the other day and the executive director informed me she'd just purchased three llamas.
And an update, thanks to Amazon, I have purchased my own Holga starter kit. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I am pretty sure these are llamas, but I haven't done the homework. I like to knit with alpaca fleece, though. I will not knit your son a sweater with it though if he's gonna get all uppity about alpacas. I look forward to his analysis in any case.
Uh-oh Amy. You are in trouble now. You have joined the cult of Holga. I can't wait to see your pictures.
You're right about llamas being, like, everywhere all of a sudden. I think we need to demand an explanation from Suzy's son.
I once met several llamas and alpacas at a sheep festival in Vermont. (Yes. I willingly went to a sheep festival in Vermont.) I thought they were some of the sweetest creatures I'd ever met. And they give sweater makings, too! Both llamas AND alpacas! Freely and gratefully! And they mow your lawn!
I can't imagine being for one and against the other. It's like loving only one half of the Pushmepullyou. Inconceivable.
You're a knitter, Sara? [offers the secret handshake]. I totally understand about the sheep festival in Vermont as a travel destination. You're not alone here at alphabitch.org.
Alpaca fleece is probably my all-time favorite fiber to knit with, though I have not knowingly knitted with 100% llama fleece. Alpaca is just the most perfect combination of sturdy and strong, and it comes in a beautiful range of colors but also takes very well to vivid, rich dyes. I like the medium-bulky yarn, but I have a whole pile of very fine yarns in a huge array of colors just waiting to be made into fair-isle type sweaters. As soon as my hands are better, or I stop this infernal typing for a living.
Maybe a knitting machine isn't such a bad idea. Or I should take up weaving, just to deal with this surplus.
oops - 'sturdy and strong' should read 'sturdy and soft,' so as not to be redundant.
And those llamas I photographed (I'm pretty sure that's what they are) seemed very charming. If I ever get a lawn I shall look into acquiring some.
I've thought some about goats, as I like goat cheese quite a lot, but mohair isn't my favorite knitting fiber. And goats have a certain reputation for being ill-tempered.
Actually, sorry to disappoint, but I am a crocheter. I kind of loathe knitting 'cause I kind of suck at it, even though I am the daughter of a woman who was an absolute genius at it and tried like heck to get me to love it, too. However, this woman and her cohorts might just get me to knit again in spite of myself. Scroll down and look at the vegetable-themed baby hats and related projects and you will understand why. Next year, when I have finally finished the afghan I've been working on for nearly three years and unless I can figure out how to translate those veggie hat patterns to single-hook projects, if these baby-nutrition-education-plus-hat projects repeat, I don't think I will be able to keep myself from knitting. (sigh)
I love sheep, though, and sheep dogs, and alpacas, and llamas. I love garments made of their fleece (well, not the dogs'). In the '70s I wore a Peruvian poncho made of llama wool to junior high until it was so small I couldn't get my head through it. And of course I love yarn, though I use it slightly differently.
So, yeah. Sheep festival. Great fun all around, highly recommended. And I agree that alpaca fiber really is splendid stuff.
Y'all impress the daylights out of me. I'm great in the kitchen, but keep me away from all things involving a needle. In high school, I was that girl who sewed over her hand with the sewing machine. I was also the girl who impaled her hand on a knitting needle. We have a store where I live that sells all sorts of alpaca stuff ...it's really quite cool. And yes, alphabitch, goats can be quite nasty when they want to be.
I don't believe it. I HAD A DREAM about a "Holga" last night. It's a camera, right? Kind of square? WTF? Why do I need one? I'm confused.
Help a dreamer out here, I don't remember the half of it. In the mean time, I'll just google . . .
"Have you ever seen a llama eating their pajamas down by the bay" ...in Asheville?
I was in Asheville for Bele Cher a few weeks back, and saw such a sight! The Llama was sporting a fresh henna tattoo and carried a yoga mat.
PS: Thanks for the Limbovision.org link. I have posted more Parkour videos there, and believe I owe you a dinner.
Hedonistic:
Cheap, (VERY cheap) plastic camera. Takes pictures like the afore-pictured llama above ... design flaws in the camera cause it to take pictures with sort of a surrealistic quality to them and hence they've become sought after. Here's the wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holga.
If you dreamt it, you must buy. ;-)
we'll have to start a Holga club in addition to the Vintage Lingerie club.
I have some dream interpretation ideas for you Hedonist, but I'll need to ask a few questions.
What springs to mind first, though, is that a primary feature (flaw, according to some) is that with the Holga you have to give up a certain amount of control. It is unpredictable. It's both more and less random than you expect, and you have to let go of your expectations. Its beauty and value and strengths, in other words, are inseparable from its flaws, which are numerous.
And vergelimbo: any photographs of the llama with the henna tattoo?
Dinner, yeah, soon. Call me. In the meantime I will check out the Parkour videos and dream of running and jumping and running -- thanks for posting those.
And Sara -- there's no shame in crocheting. I actually do both (surprised, anyone?) and I don't think ill of crocheters at all. Knitters are more numerous, I guess is why I made that silly assumption. A thousand pardons :)
The much larger llama is easily distinguished by its banana-shaped ears, impending size, and coarser fiber.
Methinks you have snapped a picture of an alpaca.
Llama
Alpaca
Oops... That should read that you have snapped a picture of a very skinny and puny llama! Drat! If I had paid attention to my own research I'd have seen that the ears are indeed banana shaped! Read....Look...and listen to my little brain and I'd spend a lot less time rereading my errors! Hey, at least now I know the ears are banana shaped! (Which is no great comfort...since one of my great aunts had banana shaped ears!) :>/
Definitely a llama. I know a number of folks who breed them, show them at the State Fair, sell them. They are cool, peaceful critters.
(to the tune of "Love and Marriage")
Llamas and alpa-cas, llamas and alpa-cas,
Go together like a...
okay that's as far as i got.
far enough, I should think. I'm still reeling from your take on 'it's a small world after all.' I'm going to have to sing 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' until lunchtime to get it out of my fucking head.
Insidious, ain't it?
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