The Renny Sweater

The Kentucky Shepherd's Market on Saturday went really well.  We had great vendors and a good crowd, excellent food, perfect weather and tons of fun.  Auntie Reg was there to keep things rolling in the booth so I was able to teach drop spindle lessons throughout the day and that made my day.

Well, maybe what really made my day was wearing my Renny sweater for the first time.  Yeah, I'd never even put it on after it was finished.  This is not the first time I've done that.  Remember the Rebecca Boone capelet story?  I've yet to wear the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb poncho.

Why is that?  

The Rebecca Boone capelet knit up without a hitch if I remember correctly, but the Renny sweater took years to get the colors right and pattern settled.  I loved both items when they were finished, but I think I was worried the capelet would be too short or I'd look silly wearing it and that the Renny sweater wouldn't fit right or be comfortable to wear or something and then I would no longer love them as much.  

You'd think after learning my lesson about the capelet that I wouldn't be so funny about wearing the other two items.  I wonder if part of the poncho is because of the trauma of losing Abby and Early.  I miss those two lambs especially, but I've also backed way off enjoying all the lambs like in the old Lamb Camp days.  The poncho was made for lambing time.

I got lots of compliments on my sweater Saturday and when I told the story of not wearing it before, everyone understood and one knitter even finished my sentence for me "...you were afraid you'd no longer love it."  

That might be the beauty of gathering together for events like these.  I ended the day feeling inspired and encouraged and...a little less crazy.  And, like the Rebecca Boone capelet, I now love the Renny sweater even more.

I Finally Did It

I've avoided it as long as I could, but finally got coerced into making a drop spindle instruction video.  It took about 42 tries and on try 43 I finally got rolling...and Archie showed up.  That cat.  I didn't want to chance having to try for take 44, 45, 46... so I just kept going and no one was injured during the video and I didn't mess up and use any grown up words ;-).  It's actually sort of funny.

I uploaded it to IG because I know how to do that and it is a link that can be saved and reused.  I'll try to figure out how to post it YouTube next week.  I'm rushing around right now trying to get everything ready for The Fall Kentucky Shepherd's Market Day on Saturday.  It's going to be a really fun event!

If you'd like to learn how to use a drop spindle, here you go.  I'll also be teaching in person at the market on Saturday :-).

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The end of the video got cut off (even IG wanted me to shut up ;-) so I posted the last two minutes separately.

 

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State Of The Fiber Farm Address

I've had some questions about whether we'll be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend and sadly, we are not.  Auntie Reg and I had talked about it, but the way this year has gone so far, I'm incredibly relieved we didn't sign up.  There have only been about two weeks all year that I felt like we could have pulled it off...and this one (even though it's only Tuesday) ain't one of them.

Between not having many any 2023 fleeces skirted yet and having done almost no spinning or other fiber work all year and the 7528 hours it took to knit a stupid simple sweater, I'm struggling to even feel like a real fiber farm/fiber artist right now. 

But...the sheep are happy and healthy. I did finally finish that dang sweater and got to wear it quite a bit before it got hot.  I wove a nice shawl during the Iknitarod.  I've taught a couple of new people how to spin.  We had good shearings here and at Tring Farm and I was able to help Annemarie sell a few of her fleeces.  

Our fleeces are safe and sound and will be ready to skirt, wash, process and spin whenever I'm able to get to them.  I've purchased several really fun looking project patterns including a tiny 7" tall fox who needs 29 pages to come to life.  Wait, what?  29 pages?!?  Yeah...I can't get out of my own way.

Wait, one other "win" is that our sweet little group of spinners, knitters, weavers, crocheters, sewers, hookers, felters, punchers, storytellers (and there have been some doozies :-), bakers, and their cats, dogs, sheep, chickens...from all over the country is still crafting right along via Zoom every Tuesday night.  They're getting stuff done :-D.

So, yes, the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington is this weekend and the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial is going on just down the hill as well.  Both will be lots of fun!  I was talking to one of the local Crafters last week (oh, when I sheared her old sheep, so that probably counts too...if we're keeping score...which I need to stop doing) and we decided, in the spirit of the festival, to do an in person/on farm Crafter's meet up this Saturday.  

This super casual on farm event is open to all the farm friends, not just Crafters.  You do not need to be a fiber person.  If you would just enjoy sitting on the porch or bringing a picnic dinner out to the farm, come on! Everyone and their house cat is welcome...but please leave your dog at home ;-)

I'll be here from 3:00 on on Saturday and would be happy to teach spinning or fiber processing or sheep care...*  You can bring your own wool or spindle or wheel or borrow one of mine.  There are plenty of sheep to borrow who would be happy to teach you how to feed them cookies.

I doubt I'll pull off anything fancy in the way of food or beverages, but I'm sure Auntie Reg won't let us go hungry.  Feel free to bring snacks or a picnic with you or call in a pizza for pickup on the way.  You should probably toss in a chair.

   Update on food - we're going to set up an ice cream bar!  Throw on some nuts and a banana and you've got yourself a nutritious dinner.  Bang! :-D

* * * * *

*I'm also happy to teach fleece skirting, wool washing, barn cleaning, field mowing, flower planting, weed pulling, chicken wrangling, corgi 'wrasslin'... ;-D  

I say all that sort of joking, but if you are interested in buying a fleece, especially if you are new to raw wool, this could actually be a good thing!  I could help you pick one out, we could skirt it (and maybe a few others ;-) together and talk about how to go on from there!

I am also happy to bring out various colors and types of roving, some Lamb Camp Legacy yarn and there are six skeins of Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn left, too, so just ask if there's something you'd like to see.

If you have any questions or need directions, please send me an email.  We are about 35 minutes from Lexington and about 20 minutes from the hotels in Georgetown. 

Fall, Falling, Fallen

Rocky and Jared taking the road less/well traveled this morning.

The last couple of weeks has been a blur.  Well, not really a blur..more of a fog.  Even though I didn't set up the Punkin's Patch booth at the fall Wool Festival this year, I did go up early each morning for an hour or so to help out if needed before the gates opened and the crowds streamed in.  Who came out of the festival sick?  Yep, me.  

So to get a bit caught up, let's see...Bea's growing like a weed and is as sweet as she can be...when she's asleep ;-).  Awake, she's a terror.  Kate is hanging in there, but she had another really close call last week yet somehow rallied once again.  Frankie and Lancelot are enjoying the good fall grass and the let up on most of the horrible summer bugs and the sheep are as well.  

Betsy and Possum seem to have come to a shaky truce...most of the time and while Bea still picks on Betsy a bit, she and Possum seem to have come to a...um...strange truce...but that would make a good story for tomorrow ;-).

Ba-roo!

Last week was a bit of a blur between out of town company, in town company, unwanted company, and, oh, it got hot...which is also an unwanted guest who never pays attention to the pineapple at the foot of the bed :-/.

The Evening with the Sheep was just about perfect and we had super fun guests including some folks who'd traveled quite a few hours to come to the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival and visit the farm.  It was nice to talk sheep and wool and see Auntie Reg and Miss B working the farm shop.  It felt almost like we'd gotten the band back together :-).

Monday afternoon brought an unwanted guest to the farm...a coyote hunting in the front field (!).  Luckily I had the ATV handy and I raced after it "barking" as best I could and chased it off the farm.  I locked up the sheep and stayed on high alert, but didn't see anything on Tuesday.  Wednesday afternoon, two different coyotes came through the front field and I once again did my best Hank impressions and chased them away.  I've not seen anything since.

There could be several scenarios at play here.  They've figured out Hank is gone and are getting bold, a neighbor has done some clearing and disturbed their home habitat or another neighbor has terminally cleared the coyotes Hank spent years training to stay away and new untrained coyotes have flooded in the now open territory.  It could very well be all of the above.

I don't really want to get into a long discussion about how we should or should not handle this situation and why we have not brought in a new guardian dog...  These are very complicated situations and situations we are considering very carefully.  Just know that we are working hard to keep the sheep and lambs safe and our biggest concern is probably the chickens.  What I do want to tell is an interesting story about Salt.  

At 16 years old, Salt is in no way able or expected to intensely guard a flock of sheep even on a small farm.  She is very frail and her hearing is gone, but she still occasionally walks down to patrol the creek and make her presence known and her vision and sense of smell is pretty strong.  If she sees or smells  something amiss, she has a wonderful deep "Ba-roo!" that echoes through the farm and that alone is  still quite helpful...and comforting.  

Salt smelled trouble the other evening.  The sheep were all out doing a last bit of grazing before I locked them up for the night.  There were sheep in the lower paddock, both sides of the wet weather creek and back behind the arena.  I was standing at the gate by the barn watching everyone and she came up beside me and asked to go in.

She walked through the gate and stopped in front of the horse stalls looking to the back of the farm, her nose in the air.  She carefully watched for about a minute and I could see her nose working and then she released the first "Ba-roo!"  

It sounded like her normal "Ba-roo!" which is a sort of a down turning sound, if that makes sense.  The sheep continued grazing.  The second "Ba-roo!" kind of rose at the end...and every single sheep immediately came racing back to the barn.

Hank must have had different barks as well because, like Salt, sometimes he'd bark and the sheep would stay put and sometimes he'd sound an alarm and call them all in.  I hated that I could never tell the difference.  When there was trouble he'd bark constantly until he felt the situation had been handled.  Salt's single "Ba-roo!" gives me more time to think.  I hope there are some coyotes out there who are doing some thinking, too.

Oh, look!  Here's a flashback where you can hear both dogs!  

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An Evening With The Sheep

The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival is happening this year and is "in person".  The Bluegrass Classic Sheep Dog Trial is as well.  Both events will be held following strict guidelines for safety to protect everyone involved. I know many people are very excited about this.  I am too...mostly.  

Saint Tim and I are both vaccinated, as are many people we know.  I'm relieved about that, but I don't consider it a magic shield.  We still wear our masks everywhere we go...and I wish everyone else would as well.  A mask is not a magic shield either, but it's a small symbol of care we can show each other.

I thought about how comfortable I would feel being fully involved in the festival this year and decided to sit out one more year :-/.  I am worried not only about the (probably) small risk of getting sick, but the greater fear of the anxiety of being stuck in a 10x10 plastic tent with someone who didn't understand just how hard it would be to take care of a farm if I even just caught a common cold.

To be honest, I'd probably pick up a donut I dropped on the barn floor and eat it (good grief, who drops a donut?!?), but I walked out of a business the other day because not only were none of the employees wearing masks, but one of them sneezed as she walked in the aisle next to mine.  The thought of handing her my credit card...  I'm obviously not quite ready to leave the farm.

There is so much I'm going to miss about setting up at the festival.  Which sheep would I have taken this year?  Probably Big Moose and Mini Moose.  My Renny sweater is finally finished and would have made a nice 'color and story' display.  I have new (and last year) Lamb Camp yarn to start sharing.  I have a barn full of freshly shorn wool that needs a home and I always look forward to seeing things made with fleeces sold in the past.  

It's weird.  And a bit sad.  But it will all be okay...eventually.  And as I say every night as I shut off the barn lights, "Everybody take care of each other!"...but we also need to take care of ourselves.  The best way I know to do that is to sit out in the barn or field watching the sheep (and now lambs :-)...and that is something I can share.

If you will be in town for the festival or dog trial and are looking for something extra to do or would like to go to the festival, but just can't quite bring yourself to do it yet, but would feel okay social distancing at our farm, we are hosting An Evening with the Sheep that Saturday evening from 5:00 to 8:00.

This will be basically like the traditional Hug a Sheep Day farm parties except that along with gaining pandemic pounds this past year...we also added chickens (2020 was a rough year ;-).  We have a plan to corral them...we think. 

It's just coming out to the farm.  It's not some fancy 'farm to table' experience...well, depending on how the chickens behave (just kidding...mostly ;-).  Bring your own picnic basket, fast food bag or carry out pizza box.  Bring your own beverages (adult is fine).  Might not hurt to bring a chair.  

Bring your spinning wheel, current project, camera, an interest in or questions about sheep or fiber or just yourself.  Bring a mask.  You don't have to wear it the whole time, but if you'd like me to teach you how to skirt a fleece or trim hooves or visit Auntie Reg and 20 in the farm shop, please mask up.

As always, if you have any questions or need directions, please drop me an email.  It's going to be a fun weekend!  Don't forget Sunday's exciting "double lift" at the dog trial.  I'm looking forward to being able to watch it this year and I'll probably make a pass through the fiber festival as well :-).

Kentucky Wool Week

Normally this week would be spent frantically getting everything finished and set up for the Kentucky Wool Festival.  We lost both the spring and fall festivals this year :-(.   We are all not only missing the income those festivals would generate, but also the social aspects of it as well.  Most of us don't get out much.  Those festivals are a fun way to catch up with each other.

The Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office, Kentucky Natural Fiber Center, Kentucky Fiber Trail and Kentucky Wool Festival got together to create Kentucky Wool Week as a fun way for us all to socialize a little on social media and at the same time help promote Kentucky wool and our small businesses.

This year everything is based around a photography challenge. I'm hoping things will be settled down next year and we can expand Kentucky Wool Week to include some educational classes, competitions and fiber gatherings throughout the state.

Today's challenge prompt is Color.  You know, my favorite topic ;-).  Just to throw everyone, I'm going to actually post a picture of a color besides white or gray today!  There is, of course, more to the story. 

Back in August 2018 (yes, you read that correctly) Miss B and I dyed some wool with marigolds.  We had a big bag of yellow and orange blooms and a big bag of yellow and burgundy blooms.  We dyed some white Border Cheviot (PPPP) and some light gray Jacob (Billy Belly and Allie).

I think we used Alum as our mordant.  I'm sure I took a bunch of fun and pretty pictures that would probably remind me, but without a deep dive into the archives, all I have is the above picture...which has been sitting on my desktop as a reminder that I needed to write up a full blog post about this...since 2018. 

We dyed both white and light gray wool in both marigold pots.  I remember that the yellow and burgundy marigolds provided a slightly darker, almost greener, yellow.  You can sort of see that in the picture above.  

I know that I combed all of my share and I believe I spun the brighter of the two yellows.  It's kind of hard to say at this point though because I kept everything in a cute basket on my workbench so I could enjoy looking at it...which I thoroughly did...until I realized the dark rich yellows were fading and I then packed them away :-(.

The marigolds are in full bloom in the dye garden right now and that combined with the color prompt inspired me to pull the still mostly slightly colorful yarn out and finally share some pictures.  I'm now sort of toying with picking some of the flowers and tossing everything back into the dye pot and restoring the yarns to full color. 

It makes me sad to pick flowers though.  I've got plenty of poke weed berries right now though and it wouldn't make me too sad to boil those before they end up all over my car ;-).  Maybe I'll see if Miss B is up for a new natural dyeing adventure.  If we do, I promise I'll post the pictures much quicker.

Regardless, I can now take the yellow pictures off my desktop because I finally did a 'sort of' post about a fun thing we did...a couple of years ago.  I also cleaned out my refrigerator the other day, so look out!

If you are interested in joining in with the Kentucky Wool Week photo challenge, jump in!

One Good Thing About The Pandemic

20's happy he doesn't have to worry about kids sticking their fingers up his nose anymore! Auntie Reg made him his own mask.  The store bought masks were just a little bit too small ;-)

Fiberuary Day Three - Knit In 2019

I'm trying to do I am doing the February fiber challenge Fiberuary again this year.  I enjoy these month long challenges because a. I like a fun challenge and b. I frequently think about things I wouldn't normally and sometimes learn something new either about myself or my craft.  I've also made some great friends following other posts.

Yesterday's challenge was "Knit in 2019".  The obvious first thought was the epic Muffin and Pepperpot sweater. I've used that for a several posts already though, but the only other thing I could think of was a teddy bear sweater I knit over the Christmas season.  I stewed on it off and on all day while caring for a sick sheep and just couldn't get enthused.  

And then it hit me.  I did have another 2019 knit that I hadn't already over-shared.  The Rebecca Boone cape.  The cape I really enjoyed dyeing the yarn for and knitting. The cape I sent off to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival and won a blue ribbon with.  The cape I...had still never even tried on. 

I don't know why I hadn't.  Maybe because I was afraid it wouldn't fit or I'd look stupid in a cape and I would no longer love it the way I did.  I know I'd hoped to wear it during the Kentucky Wool Festival or for the Rhinebeck Blues party, but both events were too warm.  I didn't worry about it though because I knew I had plenty of time...until I didn't.

The sick sheep I'm caring for is Rebecca Boone and she is very sick.  I had hoped it was "just" pneumonia due to the crazy weather, but is most likely a heart problem that has now developed into pneumonia.  The vet was back out this morning and we are trying one more thing, but I don't have a lot of hope.  One thing I can say about Cotswolds though is they don't go down without a fight and she is still fighting. 

So as I sat in the truck where I could watch her without bothering her (she is quite over being doctored) I beat myself up for forgetting to do a "dressed alike" photo shoot with her.  Then I added in never making the Ewen mittens and the PPPP sweater or Renny's steeked flower sweater and...

The only one of those I could maybe fix was Rebecca Boone.  I decided to try and called my neighbor to see if she could come over and take a couple quick pictures while I sat down with her in the barn...and I went in to get the cape...that fit perfectly and I now loved even more.

I had hoped she'd just keep laying down and I could crouch down next to her without bothering her too much, but she saw both of us coming and made a run for the door.  I quickly grabbed a bag of cookies in hopes that would stop her and it did and she even ate two for me while Jennifer quickly snapped a few pictures.  We then hightailed it out and let her go back to bed.

Jennifer got several pictures that most people would think looked fine, but as I know the sheep (and the shepherd) I look at them and mostly see a sick sheep and a sad shepherd...who is wearing a lovely cape she made from the wool of one of her very favorite sheep.  I hope we get another chance to re-take these pictures.

A Special...But Not Really Wanted Guest

We've had a fox visiting our farm for the last couple of weeks.  With no lambs here, I'm not really worried about him or her bothering the sheep.  I do worry about the chickens though and I especially worry about Comby, who likes to hunt out in this same field.  

"Yeah, I see you, too.  I think you are beautiful, but you better beat feet before Hank sees you."

If the sheep are out grazing, Hank calls them in to safety.  Doing that usually frightens the fox away, but if not, he races out to escort him under the fence. 

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“Danger!” Hank, calling in his sheep. Such a good dog ❤️❤️❤️. #livestockguardiandog #sheep #redfox

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Oct 20, 2019 at 6:21am PDT

Hank has been much happier since it's cooled down.  I think the fox is probably less happy ;-).

*      *       *       *        *

The Rhinebeck Blues Party was really fun.  We had a great group of sheep and fiber enthusiasts, the weather was perfect and Auntie Reg nailed the Artichoke French!  The sheep all behaved (because we didn't use Maisie for any of the demonstrations ;-) and the only "workshop" we skipped was washing wool.  Karen taught wheel spinning and wool combing.  I taught shepherding, fleece judging and skirting.  Let's do it again next year!

The forecast for our Hug a Sheep Day farm party this Saturday isn't looking quite as good, but that's several days away.  Hopefully they are just wrong.  It will be fun, regardless :-).  Hope you can join us!

Got The Rhinebeck Blues?

Next weekend is one of the country's best loved festivals, the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, more commonly known as "Rhinebeck".  I've been several times and it's always an amazingly good time.  Here's a fun link with a good short video.  Go watch!

This year a bunch of my long distance friends are going.  Robin and Julie will be there with the Nistock Farms booth (Building 22D) and a group from the Meridian Jacobs Farm Club are flying in from California.  

I really toyed with making the trip to meet up with everyone.  What fun that would be!  Leaving the farm though is very hard for me.  Even though we have great farm sitters, I worry about everyone, especially with so many oldies now.  Add in the 14 hour drive and how homesick I get...and I've decided to stay home.

That's not to say I'm not really sad about it though.  Rhinebeck is one giant party for sheep and wool people.  Everyone wears their best hand knits, there are sheep galore throughout the barns, the shopping can't be beat, you can learn so much in the workshops, the book signings, competitions and demonstrations are top notch...and there are cider donuts and artichoke french ;-).

If Auntie Reg didn't have such a loser friend who doesn't like to leave home, she'd be on her way to New York next week.  Everyone should go to Rhinebeck at least once.  Instead, we decided it could almost be as fun to have a stay at home Rhinebeck party here on the farm.

• We have sheep! Sheep for breed representatives, sheep that are cute, Livestock Conservancy/Shave Em to Save Em sheep, sheep for selfies, sheep for hugs...

• We have shopping in the Wool House.  There is some roving left from last weekend, plenty of gift items, hopefully the 2020 calendars will be finished!  

• I can teach some informal workshops - maybe a beginning spinning class? Shepherding? Fleece washing?  Sheep to Sweater discussion?  I'm open to suggestions!

• I've got lots of fiber related books I could set out for the "author area".

• Everyone can wear (or cast on ;-) their Rhinebeck Sweaters and I will take the portrait pictures.  

• Instead of a competition area, we can just show off our favorite yarns, shawls, sweaters, hats...

• Reg will bring in cider donuts from that terrible (in a good way ;-) donut shop in Winchester.

• And if we get really ambitious we Reg might even try to make the famous Artichoke French dish.

• The best part?  No pan flute music ;-D.  If you've been to Rhinebeck, you know why that's funny.  I actually kind of like it...but maybe not all day ;-).

So if you've got the Rhinebeck Blues, come out to the farm next Saturday the 19th from 10:00 - 4:00.  If possible, please RSVP via email so we make sure we have enough donuts, goodie bags...  Also, let me know what sort of workshop you'd like.  Or just bring a current project and sit on the porch and [sheep] watch.

*     *     *     *     *

NOT to confuse things, the 9th Annual National Hug A Sheep Day Farm Party is still on the schedule for the following weekend, the 26th.  Yes, that will be two farm parties in two weeks :-o.

Hey, any excuse for donuts ;-).

Watching...

...for fall?  For rain?  For cooler temps?  For the upcoming Kentucky Wool Festival?  For a new puzzle :-).

This has been the hottest September I can ever remember.  We are still in the 90s and my "if I can just make it until Thursday..." has been changed this morning to "if I can just make it until Friday."  If this trend of pushing back the end of this brutal heat stretch continues, it's just going to become "I hope I make it..."

To make matters worse, other than a freak rain storm yesterday morning, we have had no rain.  Everything is brown and crispy and when the wind does blow, it's a hot wind that does nothing to help anyone.  Speaking of the freak rain, it rained 2" at the house, but only 3/8" at the Wool House, just yards away.  The rain was that spotty.  

Hank is doing pretty well.  His foot has healed up beautifully, but he's back obsessively licking both of his elbows now and right after I took this picture I had to stick the cone of shame back on him :-/.  They are actually blow up pillows now and if it wasn't so blasted hot, it probably wouldn't be that uncomfortable to wear, but still.

I'm in the final crunch week of getting ready for the wool festival.  My Ohio Valley Natural Fibers run scheduled for last week was cancelled, but they are hoping they can run my roving this Tuesday.  I have my fingers crossed, but am still stressing about a contingency plan if they can't get their machine back up and running.  

I've got a good amount of wool pumpkins made, lots of wool balls, quite a few mini wreaths and I'm finishing up some big wreaths.  I'll also have all the usual Punkin's Patch "swag" in tow and hopefully some felted sheep as well.  The calendars won't be ready until after the festival, but we have plenty of the "...and to all a good night" Christmas cards packed up and also mixed sets of all 15 years.

Tring Farm has eight pretty raw fleeces to sell and for some reason Andy and Tavia's fleeces (two of my favorites) didn't sell back in the spring, so I'll have them there as well.  Everything else is washed and ready to process,  so it will all work out somehow.  

The booth will be full and fun and pretty and if the forecast holds, it should be a great weekend.  We might even be able to wear some wool in the evenings...which seems odd to say after so many weeks/months of not breaking out of the 70s at night.  

I'll believe it when I see it.  I'm watching!

Work In Progress

Sadly not new pictures of my only knitting WIP...which is a basically just a work with no progress :-/.

Just a pretty fleece and a bunch of drop spindles on the porch.  Yep, it's that time of year.  Time to be getting ready for the fall fiber festivals.  I have two coming up - the Millersburg Chautauqua Days festival this weekend and the big Kentucky Wool Festival the first weekend of October...which isn't far away...but it sure feels like it today.  96 degrees this afternoon. 

'Nuff said.

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...this is Hershey.  Remember when Hershey was...Hershey colored?  2013 :-o.  How did this happen?  

He's a beautiful silver now.  This is only 1/3 of his fleece.  It was too big to wash all together.

It sure looks pretty and cool and relaxing on the porch this afternoon...  Luckily now that "August" is finally here (after two months of July apparently) the evenings cool off pretty nicely.  The Wool House Crafters meeting tonight shouldn't be too awful.  Auntie Reg made chocolate cake so that will make it all better...until tomorrow...when it's 96...again.  No break until at least next week. 

'Nuff said.

Back To School Photos

I've been submitting photos for the cover of the Kentucky Wool Festival program for many years now.  Some years I have a photo ready early in the year.  Many years I don't and find myself out in the field at the end of August taking pictures, hoping for that perfect head shot.  I think of this as taking my "back to [the wool festival] photos".  Here are a few favorites.

Maisie!

"What?"

Ah, the innocent kindergartner, Big Moose.

PPPP (Popcorn PeePee Pants), the grand dame.  

The ever enduring Renny.

Handsome Andy.

Spud...the sofa ;-).

Something Special At The End

We...well 20, Pip, Auntie Reg, Miss B and I...had a great weekend at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival.  Tavia, Tabitha and Kaala...won't be going out in public ever again.  They hated it.  A lot.  And Tabitha made sure everyone heard about how much they hated it.  A lot.  

(After you start the video you can click the [ ] at the bottom right to make it bigger.)

This was the 10th year for the fiber festival. Seems kind of crazy when I think about it.  That just flew by!  Here is a quick tour of the booth for anyone who wasn't able to go and would like to take a peek.  You can even hear Tabitha...because I know everyone would like to hear what she had to say...all weekend long :-o.

We were stopped by a road block on our way out of the park last night.  As the person walked up to my truck to explain why the road was going to be closed for a few minutes, she laughed and said "Oh, I don't need to tell you what's going on."  The Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial was over and they were moving 500 sheep into a secure field for the night.  I got out of the truck and walked up to watch.  

Before there was a fiber festival I used to set up my Punkin's Patch booth down at the stockdog trial.  It was my favorite weekend of the year.  I'd be set up close enough to the trial field that I could watch the sheep and dogs all day long.  I'd bring my spinning wheel and my dear old collie Sam.  I made some really good friends down there over the years and it was like the best vacation ever.

I'd stay until the very end of each day because once the last handler finished they'd run all the sheep out into the open field to graze for the night.  That was my favorite.  I love big flocks of sheep and I wonder now if my love of big flocks came from watching all those sheep filter out across that big field each night.  

I didn't have a good camera back then.  Heck, I didn't even know I liked taking pictures in those days.  Maybe that was a good thing.  I might be able to still see things in my mind and heart that I probably couldn't have really captured on film back then.  Now, 16 years later, I pulled out my iPhone and recorded some video as they trotted up the road.

I included a bit of that footage at the end of this compilation.  I did that mostly because it is a treasured memory from my weekend.  A little gift from the universe to a crazy sheep lady who, while she enjoys being a part of the fiber festival, sure wishes there was a way to be two places at once.  

I also included it because there's something of Punkin's Patch significance at the very end.  The man walking past in the red and white striped shirt is Paul Tucker, now one of those good dog trial friends.  But I met Paul long before I knew anything about border collies or sheep or that I even liked sheep.  27 years ago he gave me a little bottle lamb...that I named Punkin.