Sheep and Wool Festival

Just call me "Ringo," circa 1963

We went to the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend and had a great time, but dang it was cold!

It's hard to get good pictures of happy people when some of the people aren't especially happy because they're freezing...

There, that's better.

I love this guy. He's so confident. He wears his naturally curly hair... and horns... with a certain dignity and panache.

Not everyone can do that. My hair used to be as straight as that of my two lovely daughters. No longer. Simply mention the word "humidity" and my hair twists and curls every-which-way. There's no cure, either. It's not curly enough for the "curl enhancers" to work, the curling iron makes nary a dent and - oh, my god! - that's not a thinning patch up there on top, is it?

This little lady - the one on the right - was the sweetest sheep at the fair. All she wanted was attention - petting, nuzzling, stroking - she never tired of it. I wanted to take her home with me. Afterall, she is smaller than Ivy.

We enjoyed watching our first sheep dog trials, if you don't count "Babe." We mostly caught the novice class, which was a hoot. Made me feel better about Ivy's training... or lack thereof.

The best part of the whole show was when a bearded collie enthusiastically raced - and I mean at the speed of light - into the ring straight toward the sheep, then prompty turned around and zipped right out of the arena - through the fence - leaving his trainer stranded all alone in the ring. Well, he wasn't really alone - the three sheep stood stoically nearby.

Then we went to the vendors.

Oh, the vendors!

It was a fiber-loving frenzy, let me tell you.

This gorgeous roving will be used by Melissa and myself to make braided rugs. I bought the book that tells how to do it. Supposedly, if you can braid, you can make one of these rugs.

We'll see...

Then I came upon the rug hooking vendor and found this snowman rug pattern marked down to $35. I was imagining a small wall-hanging, perhaps do-able in 10 or 15 years.

Instead, it's a rather large, though for my skill level, "huge" would be more accurate, rug.

The vendor was wonderful, helping me choose wool colors, giving me pointers, and assuring me that it was, indeed, a great pattern for a beginner.

I must admit, I'm a little scared.

These are kits to wet felt roving onto silk scarves. The photo doesn't do them justice - they really are quite beautiful. Melissa and I decided to give this a try... despite the fact that neither of us wears scarves... They were just so beautiful!



Melissa found this wool roving for only 75 cents a bag.

And finally, I bought these gorgeous gauntlets. They are made from the lower arms of a felted wool sweater, with an appropriately placed thumbhole cut out. They were then decorated with needle-felted flowers. My hands get so cold in the winter; I know I'll love these. Plus, I hope to try to make a pair myself someday and figured I would need these as a pattern, of sorts.

Somehow, we were able to resist the yarn, but it wasn't easy.

I now have enough projects to keep me busy until I reach the nursing home.

Hopefully, I'll be able to finish them by then.