What could be better than spending time with Marilyn at a Sheep Breeder’s festival?

NJ Sheep Show
Marilyn’s pictures are better, but hopefully both show what a nice little show this annual event is. I got a chance to chat with two readers, BJ and Lynn, and both were a pleasure to run into. BJ is quite a successful enabler, as she coaxed me back over to the Jenny Jump Farms booth to make my first purchase at the fair.

These are three natural colors of Jacob roving that I will use to supplement the Jacob roving I bought last year.

Then we slipped over to Almosta Alpaca Farms’ booth, where I ended up buying a few things.

The bag of charcoal gray, is an alpaca fleece in the loveliest shades of black, charcoal and silver. It was softer than silk, and I had to have it, even though it means hand carding it. I also bought a couple of cones of bright alpaca yarn (they were on sale), and two pairs of socks that would keep my feet warm in the Arctic (even before global warming). Here’s a closeup with them turned a little inside out.

Finally, I made a purchase at Flying Fibers’ booth.

This is 10 balls of Wensleydale DK weight yarn and a small ball of Wenslydale roving. Marilyn mentioned how much she enjoys spinning Wensleydale, so I had to get some to try.

Marilyn and I finished off the day with lunch at Mom’s Restaurant in Ringoes, NJ.

It was a lovely day. I will leave you with one of my animal pictures (I’ll post more tomorrow for Mel’s annual breed identification certification test).

This is Helen, BJ’s sheep that won a ribbon for mixed doubles or something like that. Sorry BJ…you’ll have to add a proper introduction to your absolutely lovely sheep and tell readers what she really won.

Current Knitting
Despite all the festival activity, I was able to add four more stars to the tablecloth, and also make all the filler starlets.

It’s getting somewhat easier and faster to make these stars but also more boring, so while I can make them faster, I have less desire to do so. And just think…only 105 more to go.

Readers’ Comments/Questions
Regarding the hiking socks in the last post, Abigail asks, “Do you have a pattern or is it you own?”

As noted in a couple of the last blog entries, the sock pattern is from Kristin Spurkland’s The Knitting Man(ual). It’s a great book, and a great pattern.

Marilyn writes, “And I’m thinking that the swanky Joester probably has no clue as to things Pythonesque or the song in question. You know he’ll have to Google it.”

I can’t imagine many folks of around my age that aren’t familiar with The Flying Circus, unless their parents didn’t allow them a television. Suffice it to say, I’m not that swanky.

About the hiking socks, Ted wrote, “You made the lumberjack socks from Lamb’s Pride? How do you think they’ll wear?

Nancy follows up with, “I’ve done socks in Lamb’s Pride before, and they didn’t hold up as well as commercial sock yarn”

I’ve never used Lamb’s Pride Worsted for socks before, and I’m usually very hard on my socks, so I’ll let you know as soon as I’m disappointed. Although, I won’t be wearing them until it gets a bit colder.