alpacas and cows and sheep, oh my!

More pics from the rare breed show – very picture-heavy post as I went a bit camera crazy!  I love animals and it was a lovely sunny day and there were so many gorgeous tarted-up-for-showing beasts there.

I have decided I want a whole herd of alpaca (is the plural alpaca or alpacas? … anyway) they are so sweet and they have fluffy back leg pantaloooons just like sunshine! although they would probably make an even bigger mess of the carpet.

There were some very lovely cows, all polished to the nines. I think these won prizes, though after the cute black dwarfy ones I didn’t see any of them being shown as by then I was too busy inhaling wool fumes over at the P&M stall.

this baby kept stopping to try & get a drink!

and awww:

shiny!

and then of course there were the sheep, I’ve never seen such a huge variety before. I’m quite amazed we have so many distinctly different kinds of sheep in what is, after all, quite a teeny country compared to some. I do love sheep, there’s something very reassuring about their daftness, their none-too-bright-but-quite-happy-like-that-ness. they always seem very content. and I love sheepy smell too. I used to live on my parents’ friends’ farm/smallholding at weekends and used to love the lambs and the shearing and so on, and the smell and all the rest of it just brings back happy childhood times.

I can’t remember all the breeds, but just look at the variety!

norfolk horn (?):

jacobs snuggling:

black welsh – these were just lovely and an amazing colour – some guy was polishing the ram’s horns with baby oil (in any other context I would have been worried, but it did make them nice & shiny!).

grey faced dartmoor – like big teddy bears!

southdown sheep – they be local, they be:

the phil mitchell of sheep. but is it a boy or a girl?

here’s a little clue. also – that can’t be natural!!!

and of course the kind of fluffy cloud sheep you draw when you’re a kid:

such a fun day out!

anyway, I have some spinning to be getting on with… (housework? jobhunting? whassat?) so off I go. will try & post some spinning pics next time!

on the hoof

have decided to launch myself back into blogging after a decidedly long break – and wordpress has loads of exciting new features, which I’m still trying to get my head round, as I have lots of pictures of lovely goodies to show!

on sunday I went to the rare and traditional breeds show at the weald and downland open air museum. I went with UpKnitCreek from my knitting group, and her daughter, and we had a fab time! Annie had generously offered a lift to anyone who wanted to go and as I am now a new spinner I jumped at the chance to see fleeces and sheepies and so on, also hoping to get a chance to try out a spinning wheel at the P&M Woolcraft stall.

I tell you, it’s fab going to one of these events with someone who actually spins and knits themselves. It’s so nice to wander up to some beautifully touchable fibre and be openly drooling about it and not have people’s eyes glaze over! Well, not just not glaze over, but burn with the glee of someone who has found a fellow addict

I did get to try out a spinning wheel – an Ashford Traveller, which is the one I’ve had my eye on for a while now, as it’s pretty small, but doesn’t look ergonomically unsound, like some of the smaller ones do. It’s also quite cheap for a little wheel, although they don’t seem to come up second-hand too often, in a way I think that’s a good sign! I’m going to keep an eye out on eBay, as I’m not letting myself get one just yet, but if it gets to my birthday and I haven’t found a cheap one, then I think I’ll ask for donations towards a new one for a present.

I got so many lovely goodies…

106g merino silk from P&M

50g bamboo (which turned out to be 75g!)

102 g pink merino from P&M

sample of wensleydale locks - about 120g

a beautiful little 16g bosworth spindle - for fine spinning

and last but not least – and this may possibly indicate how obsessed by spinning I have become, and how insane ambitious I am:

1 kilo (!!) of brown bluefaced leicester

maybe the caption is too small to read – yes that’s 1 KILO of brown BFL to spin myself enough for a lovely jumper from the book ‘A Fine Fleece’, which I got recently, and is absolutely fab. I think I’m going to attempt either the Two Hearts jumper or the October Frost cardy. Not sure which yet – I won’t be starting on it for a while, as I have the Ravelympics and various other stuff to get out of the way first.

anyway, I must get on, so will save all those things for another blog post!

mood swings

I am vewwy, vewwy sewious. If you point that camera at me one more time I may be forced to poo in your shoes.

3 seconds later:

oh go onnnn – rub my tummy, rub my tummyy!!! I love it!! and I know you love me even though I left muddy paw prints all over your floor! I love youuuuu!!

now rub my TUMMY!!