Category: Blog

I’m now photo-independent. Which means I have a lot to learn if I’m going to take blog-worthy shots.

I am also now between projects, with the Urban Aran off the needles. I’ve done a couple hats already, and am itching to start another larger project. But that means planning, and I haven’t had enough attention span lately to sit down and really get clarity on what I want to do.

I could go in a couple different directions-

Something tutti-fruiti from deep in the stash

or, perhaps a nice heathery taupe-y shetland paired with deep dark chocolate romney:

With Fall seemingly on the way, I’m leaning towards the latter.

But then, it might not be a bad idea to have a couple projects in the works- If i could stagger their completion, I might never suffer Nothing On The Needles Anxiety again.

Man it’s been hot.

I know that NorthWesterners are widely known to be weather wimps. We often get cranky when the thermometer starts pushing 80F. But this was really something. Think we maxed out at about 96 or 97 on Saturday. The day I was at the Lynden fair with some folks from the spinning guild, doing a sheep-to-shawl demo.

Didn’t sell too many tickets for the shawl raffle (go figure), but we did talk to a lot of interested people about wool and the processing of it into yarn. So that was fun.

Here are some photos form the wool show:

This was the most decorated item, I believe-

I took more pictures of knitted and woven items, but most didn’t come out well (lighting issues).

So on to the fleeces-

Not as many wool sheep here as at the Skagit County fair, but it’s probably just as well this time out. Those in full fleece were a bit uncomfortable in the heat of the day- though this Cotswold guy was in pretty good spirits- he must have been in position to catch the intermittent breeze!

These Romneys were just laying low, sweatin’ it out-

And this pretty East Fresian was happy to be under-dressed for the occasion.

Tomorrow we’re supposed to be back to our not-really-summer-like conditions.

Not a moment too soon.

Yesterday the man and I went to the fair. The weather was marginal, but we still had a nice time.

Saw some horseback riding, 4H dog showing, and of course, the sheep!

Was good to see that the Shetlands were well represented.

Also had Border Leicesters, Cotswolds, Romneys, etc.

Lots of nice wool on the hoof- and some in bags as well, but they weren’t judging fleece until the very end, so we didn’t stay for that.

Here are some photos from the Shetland judging:

Ram lambs-

Yearling Rams-

Ewe lambs- I thought the little ewe in the center with the neat markings was so pretty-

So here she is again. Please note: This photo was not taken by the official blog photographer, which explains the poor focus and composition of the shot (we had to crop the heck out of it). But she still looks really sweet, doesn’t she?

And Champion Ram (winners from lamb and yearling ram classes)- The fellow in front with the fabulous golden wavy locks won.

Next weekend is the NW Washington Fair in Lynden. I’ve entered the Denisee-ized Urban Aran and a skein of yarn from Gigi’s fleece.  Will be there on Saturday spinning for the sheep-to-shawl event, as well. Should be fun!

I’ve finally listed a couple of items on Etsy.com
My “handle” is fullyfleeced.

This is something I’d thought about for a while, and it just took me a bit to pull myself together and get organized enough to make a go of it.

There’s a lot to think about, once you get down to actually making it happen: photos, weights and yardages, descriptions, pricing, shipping policies, etc, etc.

And its harder to take a good picture of yarn than you might think.

So, if it sells, I’ll be starting a sheep fund.
And if it doesn’t, it’s not a tragedy- because I love it, and you can never have too much stash, right?

Right?