Trailing of the Sheep {part 1}

Still exhausted, still don’t have the house in order after our trip but I wanted to post all about it. The thing is that I didn’t realize just how many photos I took! So I am going to break this up a bit and start with day one: Bird nest ball. Isn’t this a great idea?! The sheep dog trials were amazing to watch. I really could have sat there all day but the kiddos really needed to stretch their legs and this was not the place to do so (think of the audience watching the sport of golf but replace the golfers with sheep and a sheep dog and you’ll understand why). I can’t get over how clever and obedient those dogs are. On a side note, I really wish I had a zoom lens to capture all the action up close.We tried to get some group shots of all of us in our sheep hats but it just wasn’t working. The more sweet little ones we add to the mix the harder it becomes to get everyone to look at the camera at once! Individual shots instead. I will try again at some other point.

What we came home with: A shirt for my little lamb to grow into.
This gorgeous wool yarn that I just couldn’t walk away from. I think I might knit another fisherman’s sweater out of it for Baby F. The family selling it was one of the kindest I have ever met and the girls and I enjoyed a nice conversation with them while we watched the father spinning more yarn.
K received a drop spindle and wool as a gift from the family we bought the above yarn from. She wants me to teach her how to use it. It has been a few years now but I am going to try. C and L also got things at the fair as well. C won a lamb in a raffle and L ended up with an airplane. Not very sheep-like but he was happy none the less.

One of my big ambitions for the Trailing of the Sheep festival was to find some local, Idaho wool so that I could dye it with local plants. I figured if anyplace was going to have Idaho wool it would be there. Would you believe that every vendor I visited was from out of state? Most from Utah, Montana and Oregon. My bubble was burst. Then I found Wonderland Alpacas. They are actually located not too far from our home. I picked up a couple of skeins of alpaca yarn to try my hand a dyeing. The owner was telling me she could bring me more if I like it. I have been wanting to knit with alpaca yarn anyways. It might not be what I was envisioning but I think it is still pretty great.

Okay more to come. I think it’s best I save anything else to say for the next post – my brain just can’t seem to function at the moment!