This curly-haired charmer is just one of many sheep I saw today at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival [correction given in the comments below - this is not in fact a sheep, it's an angora goat!] Many, many sheep. So many sheep. Wow, did I see lots of sheep today. It was lots of fun and I bought a pile of discounted yarn, and I won some gorgeous wine-colored cashmere yarn as a raffle prize, and, most importantly, I found the spindle I was looking for (click the picture! it gets bigger!)
I didn’t know that this was the spindle I was looking for; I thought I was looking for a nice, functional and somewhat decorative drop spindle. This is not a drop spindle; as you can see it has a little bowl it sits in. It spins in the bowl instead of dropping. But, look, it’s an acorn! So druidy.
I have yet to spin with it because I’m still exhausted from spending the day tromping around the sheep show. I also now have a mountain of yarn that I have to play with (some of it can be seen behind the spindle - gorgeous nubby purple yarn that is a discontinued color and so was on sale for a ridiculously low price.)
Edit on 5/7 for Maebius - here’s what I’ve done so far with the purple yarn - it will be a scarf in basketweave stitch. Might do a matching hat but not in basketweave; that would look too much like having a basket on your head.
May 7, 2007 at 10:33 am
Yay Sheep!
Glad you enjoyed yourself, and the spindle looks pretty fun.
(Just wish I could have attended..maybe next year)
you’ll have ot post some pics of the wonderous and lovely things you make from the purple yarn. I like the color.
May 7, 2007 at 2:46 pm
The part of my brain that might have been able to comprehend knitting has shriveled and atrophied beyond any use. However, I do remember passing that sheep show while driving in a car on Route 70. It was a funny sight indeed going 65 on an interstate.
May 7, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Maebius - I’d offer to knit you something with it, but it’s not a very manly color. Hope we can all go together next year. Isn’t there one somewhere in NY?
Anne - so many sheep! it was hardcore. Horse shows and dog shows formed a siginifcant part of my formative years, so I understand people who are hardcore about their animals. It was the knitters that got to me. So many people so serious about knitting! Though I have to admit I feel right at home among knitters - lot of women with no makeup and sensible shoes. I fit right in.
April 27, 2008 at 2:42 pm
“This curly-haired charmer is just one of many sheep I saw today at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Many, many sheep.”
Sorry, these sheep are Angora goats, they deliver mohair fibre. We breed them. I came across your page in google. I thought I let you know.
Cheers
Lilo
April 27, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Thanks for the correction, Lilo. I took a ton of pictures that day and posted that one because it was so wildly cute, but I had no idea that they were not actually sheep and you are the first to point that out. Thanks for breeding such charming animals.
I get all kinds of hits on this post from people using “sheep” as a search term, which I think is really funny because this is the only time I have ever written anything that has to do with sheep. There must be thousands of pages out there that are more informative about sheep than this one. One of the many limitations of Google, I guess.