Friday Feature - Will Be On Saturday This Week

Today I'm sharing an idea from the department of "Gee, why didn't I think of that?!?"





These two miniature needle felted sheep are going to be a wedding cake topper for a couple who raise Rambouillets.

Double Weave

More with the creepy spiders?

I love foggy fall mornings. Even during a drought, everything looks fresh and cool and almost mystical. I noticed several double decker spider webs covered in heavy dew this morning and decided to take a photo break. As I've found over and over again exploring with my camera, what you think is there just walking past a shrub in the yard is nothing compared to what you find if you really look.



Not only were there double weave webs,



but triple decker webs,



some tiny, very simple single webs



and big ones, too.



Even webs with little Hobbit Holes.

And then there is this beauty.



What do you think was going on here? Different variety of spider or just a weaver after my own heart ;-).

I missed what would have been a great spider "documentary" a couple weeks ago. We'd had big wind come through and a huge web just outside one of our windows was completely full of debris. I thought about going out and taking a picture, but didn't. I should have. I had thought the web was ruined, but the next morning all the debris had been carefully moved to the outside of the web and a brand new web hung in its place. Don't pass by. Stop. Take a look. Or a picture.

Got Wool?

We had a blast at the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival this past weekend! I think everyone had a blast. Now how often does that happen? We all worked really hard to try to put together the best sheep and wool tent the Kentucky Wool Festival has ever had. I've only been around for a few years and I thought we'd done a good job, but when some of the original festival founders came by and said this was what they'd always hoped it would be, I knew we had.

Not only was the tent completely full of sheep and fiber vendors, it was completely full of quality sheep and fiber vendors. Well, except for maybe one exception.



Dolores Van Hoofen made a brief stop on her whirlwind campaign tour running for President on the Fibertarian Party ticket.

Okay, for those of you not already familiar with Dolores and her bid for President, use the two links above for the whole story. In a nutshell, after Franklin, a very talented knitter, spinner, artist, author (with a new book coming out!), photographer in downtown Chicago ordered two pounds of Romney wool, a sheep, Dolores, showed up on his doorstep.

Fast forward through several years of hilarious adventures (don't really fast forward as you'll enjoy the read), Dolores is running for President. To the delight of everyone in the US and around the world, Franklin has (basically) allowed Dolores to make campaign stops anywhere she is (basically) welcome. Dolores couldn't pass up a chance to transform the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival into the Ken-TACKY Sheep and Wool Festival.



She was as entertaining as we all suspected she would be and made friends (mostly) everywhere she went, especially with Leon (although on second glance, I actually believe he has the same bewildered look on his face as the gentleman learning to spin in the first photo).



Dolores left promptly at the (basically) start of happy hour (aka 3:00) and I know everyone is excited to see where she'll show up next.

Here's a little something to use as "hand sanitizer" for your computer screen.



I want to thank everyone for all their hard work and especially everyone who made a trip out to see what we were up to. I hope you all had as much fun as we did and we are looking forward to seeing you next year at an even bigger and better wool festival.

Friday Feature - KY Sheep and Wool Festival

I'm out at the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival in Falmouth, Kentucky, this weekend. Today is the day the school kids come out and we are all happy to teach them a little about our sheep and wool and what we do with it. The festival goes on through the weekend. If you'd like to enjoy a beautiful drive through northern Kentucky (right next to Kincaid Lake State Park), come on out and say Hay!

Sneak Peek

I always try to have something new in our booth at the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Festival, which, don't forget, is this weekend. This year we decided it should be something for our favorite birds.

Birds love to add bits of wool to their nests (and you know I like to find our wool in their nests :-). It looks to not only help provide structure, but surely also soft, snuggly-ness for their babies as well. We played around with several different designs and have come up with this holiday ornament to hang in our outdoor Christmas trees.



I liked the prototype well enough, but when I saw them start filling the boxes, I had to say, "Now those are pretty darn cute!" I hope the birds enjoy them as well.