Shepherd's Harvest

Saturday Rina and I went to the Wool Festival and had an awesome time. I didn't overspend but did buy a couple of skeins of sock yarn, some sock blockers and handmade soaps (mmmm). We also ran into Christy and her friend Kim and daughter Emily. Besides wandering endlessly thru the 4 barns full of vendors, we watched the Stock Dog show in the outdoor arena, checked out some sheep shearing, had lunch at the 4H building, and wandered thru the Sheep, Goat and Llama barns. Rina bought a drop spindle and some roving (Coopworth, I believe). I may get sucked into spinning someday...just not ready to take on another obsession quite yet.


Back to the festival...the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Completely the opposite of last year...thank goodness! I managed to get a few pictures taken before my camera battery died...I didn't really plan that very well but here are a few of the photos I did manage to snap


One of these things is not like the others....





Waiting for Shearing..... they literally filled the pen in the morning

Sorry I don't have an "after" shot showing all the room in the pen later in the day after they were all coifed and cool. But there was considerable space in there with the newly sheared sheep.


We sat in the stands and watched Bill Gary and Mary Sullivan of Kensmuir, Working Stockdog Center in River Falls, WI work their Border Collies and answer questions about working herds of sheep and cattle with stock dogs. They even had a couple of the people in the stands down to work Bobby, one of their dogs. The dogs were amazing and fascinating to watch. Pure instinct, training and eagerness to work. Comical at times in their focus on those sheep!


Bill and his dog bringing the flock out into the arena ....

Mary and Bobby herding them into the pen

Wish I had more pictures to share but I'm not a photographer...Rina didn't bring her camera this year...although she IS a photographer. ;-) I think she brought it last year. At any rate, Christy had her's so I suspect you will find pictures over on her site this week.

Ramblings and UFOs

This weekend is the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival which is held on at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo (MN)! I'm curious to know who out there is planning to go. I'm planning to go on Saturday. I don't need anything but I will be looking at homemade soap, sock shapers, and whatever else flirts with me to try to get me to take it home.

It rained last year...it might rain this year but at least it will be warm, unlike last year. So it will be good! And since its going to be warm I am NOT going to wear this....
But as you can see here...its finished in time. I purchased the yarn for this at last year's Wool Festival as I mentioned in an earlier blog. This picture doesn't show the true color of the garment. Its a darker charcoal gray than what is represented in the photo. Alas, I am not a photographer and do not own a fancy camera. I am extremely glad to be finished with it because I have so many other projects that are clamoring to jump in my bag!

Here's what shouted the loudest this week

Yes indeedy, I've cast on and started knitting the 2nd Traveller's Stocking (in red Koigu, starting out on size 0's, 2 circulars) finally! I think this was the sock of the month in October or November for the KOTR KAL. I'm glad to have taken the break from them and I am having fun with them again. Who knows...maybe someday I'll make another pair......riiiiight! Well maybe in the next life, ya never know.

And here is the beginning of the Arm Cosies that I'm knitting for those chilly movie matinees and the office refrigeration days...er, summer office environment. I'm using Classic Yarn's Cashsoft Aran which is a blend of "extra fine merino", microfiber and cashmere. This was some of the yarn that I picked up on my first visit to The Sheepy Yarn Shop in White Bear Lake. Rina and I were there collecting charms and hopping around the metro on the yarn shop crawl - 7 Jewels of the Twin Cities thing last year. The Koigu was also purchased that day at Needlework Unlimited.

So while I was sitting here a Pileated Woodpecker stopped to take a drink from the bird bath just feet from my window! The camera was right here but the damn memory card was stuck in the USB drive of my computer! I'm so bummed that I missed that photo op even though I suck at photography! It was a beautiful and rare site in the backyard. We have tons of birds but the pileated doesn't come around very often so it was a special treat.

This is the book I'm currently reading. DF started reading Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series after watching the show on cable this spring. The characters in the book have the same names and the plots are similar but that's about the end of the similarities. Murphy, the cop in the series, is blond and medium build in the book and she is dark and petite on the show. I can see why the change...I think I like the Murphy in the show better. Same with the watchdog from the White Council who hounds Harry (Dresden, the main character), in the book he's middle-aged and kind of heavier....and on the show he's a big hunk of a guy around, oh....28 or 30 maybe. Harry is a wizard-for-hire in Chicago and the Police Dept calls on him often to assist with bizarre, occult-type murders. So far I'm not sold on the book, I'm about half-way thru the first one. I'm just killing time until my other favorite authors release new books. But I could end up liking these...jury's still out.

Spidey 3 was ok. Bittersweet at the end once again. Dammit anyway. Looking forward not to Pirates and Shrek and Harry.

A Fluffy TTFN to y'all!

Now go back and tend to your knitting!