{May 16, 2011}

This is the lone skein I purchased at the NH Sheep & Wool Grower's Festival. It was sheer luck that I came across the Dirty Water Dyeworks booth as I had no idea there were vendors in that portion of the fairgrounds (wonder who I missed last year?...). The kids and I had gone over to watch the border collie sheep herding demonstrations and just so happened to see the other vendor tents set up. After we watched the dogs and sheep for a bit we headed over to peruse the goods. As soon as I entered Dirty Water Dyeworks I fell in love with a sweet little shawl knit up with DWD's Bertha in Pixie. The dominant colors were various shades of green, yet there were also hints of blue and brown running throughout. Although I figured there would be none left in that colorway, I was surprised to find a single skein still left. I'm not sure what I'll knit with it but I'm hoping that the color turns out as beautiful as the shawl did. I will say that the woman running the booth, presumably the owner, was super sweet and very helpful. And the yarn is incredibly soft, too.

On to the pic...{click to view full size}

{May 15, 2011}

Yes, yes...I know...I took this yesterday. But come on...how can you resist that face (and also it's been raining like mad here so I'm stuck indoors)? Okay, maybe if you're not as in to sheep as I am you can. I can't, however, so you're stuck with another sheep photo. This breed of sheep (Tunisians) are my favorite breed--in so far as I know without 1.) ever having truly spent a lot of time around them, and 2.) not having a lot of knowledge on the various sheep breeds. Still, I get all giddy when I come to the "Tunis" and will linger the longest at their pen while I dream of having a flock grazing in a pasture by my house. What? You don't do that? You should, it will make you smile. ;o) I promise this is the last sheep picture I'll post for awhile. And by awhile I mean at least a couple of days.

Taken with my iPhone and edited with the Photoshop app.

On to the pic...{click to view full size}

{May 14, 2011}

The kids and I went to the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Grower's Festival this afternoon and, just like last year, we had the most fun petting and fawning over the livestock. Naturally my favorites were the sheep (although truth be told I go ga-ga over pretty much any animal) and I spent plenty of time loving on any who would allow it. Megan's favorites were the goats although sadly there weren't very many of them. Ian dug the bunnies, so I kept telling him to stick one in his hoodie. Alas, he's too upstanding to do that. ;o) We also thoroughly enjoyed watching the various types of dogs herding sheep around a large paddock. The intelligence, focus, and speed of those dogs is just amazing. One thing that surprised us was that alpacas make a sort of whining baby sound. There were two of them in a fenced booth that kept making the noise, almost as if they were talking to each other. I wasn't sure if it was an "I'm upset" noise or just what they do. I did take a short video of it and will post it later.

Despite being surrounded by literally tons of gorgeous fiber, I behaved myself and only purchased one skein. Course the fact I still have a huge bag of fiber just waiting to be spun, and plans to take spinning classes so I can actually spin the stuff, may have had something to do with my restraint.

These two ridiculously cute lambs (one ram, one ewe) were a mere 9 weeks old. Their wool was thick and soft and their pink noses totally did me in. I met their owner, a lovely woman, who told us the mother had died shortly after giving birth. The lambs have been bottle fed and hand raised by the family, thus making them extra friendly. We chatted some more about keeping sheep, then I finally said goodbye to the little darlings (to say I could have stayed with them all day would be an understatement). Naturally it just made me want them all the more...naturally.

Taken with my iPhone and edited with the Instagram app with the Hefe filter applied.

On to the pic...{click to view full size}