Sunday, September 13, 2009

I'd Like to be the FIRST...

To wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Isn't she adorable?
I bought her at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival. This is the first time that I went for 2 days ~ without any sheep. What a blast!

I actually took two classes (knitting short rows and knitting with thrums) and learned so much! I also visited the sheep breeds display. It was fascinating, seeing all the different types of sheep! Best of all, it was SO nice to see the familiar faces of friends that I've come to care deeply for ~ yet see so seldom.

And then there was the SHOPPING!
I got:

This beautiful wicker basket from "The Basket Lady". She makes the most beautiful baskets and prices them unbelievably reasonably. Of course (and this is not the 'good part')...once I had the basket, I felt compelled to FILL it!

I swore I was not going to buy any roving this year. I always get sucked in by the stunning colors of hand painted roving. But this year, I stuck to my guns! Of course, I did get two HUGE skeins of hand painted Alpaca YARN and a beautiful pattern to make myself a shawl. I do so love my shawls! It'll be my Christmas present to ME.

Speaking of gifts to me: While perusing the Vendor's barn for the 50th time to get out of the hot sun, I saw a lovely couple with a display of Books that I recognized and have wanted to buy for quite some time! It was Jack and Barbara Maloney and their TRUE tale of the adventures of a Mid-life couple when they chucked life as they knew it and headed for the Scottish Isles and a life of tending sheep! I think this has got to be a great book for anyone who loves sheep.

I can't wait to read it!! Jack & Barbara are the parents of Eileen at Knot All That and also have their own website called, you guessed it: "Life on the Wee Mad Road"

I also got extra bobbins for my Roberta spinner, three bars of exquisitly "spice" scented Goat Milk Soap, and LOTS more yarn but I'm not talking about that now... ;-)

I admit, I was anxious to get back home to my beautiful, new babies. I left all the animals under the excellent watch of my good friend, Virginia. The sheep were happy new move back over to the side pasture today and Splash and Java got to spend their first afternoon OUT SIDE in the Bluff Country.

Java was so excited that she did a little DANCE!
'You put your left foot in,
you put your left foot out,
you put your left foot in
and you shake it all about...'

Splash just ran around exploring his bright new world.

Oh yes, one other thing I wanted to share:

This is my latest KNITTING project! It's a "Mosaic" pattern and is really EASY! It's my first time doing any type of "colorwork" (I'm intimidated by anything new) and I absolutely love it. The yarn is light Musket (Alice) Shetland and Fawn Shetland, blended with a little mohair. I'll be doing much more of this in the future...

All-in-all, it was a wonderful weekend.
And I'm so glad to be back home!

DREAM says...

"Life is Good in the Bluff Country!"

15 comments:

  1. Hi Nancy, It was good to bump into you at the festival. I swore I wouldn't bring home roving either....don't know what happened but there is a pound of bluefaced leicester upstairs in the loom room! Oh, yes and a wee bit of targhee roving to use with the new trindles I purchased and skeins and skeins of beautifully died yarns.....and the same book you bought. I look forward to living vicariously through their adventure. Really, there is so much lack of control at the conference. Isn't it grand?!?!? Hope your chickens continue to Not eat your garden and flower treasures. Mine are beyond any control with regards to the yummy garden vegetables. Kind of like me and the vendor buildings!

    Enjoy your new babes.

    See you next year.

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  2. It was so nice to see you at the festival, Nancy. We got home on Sunday evening, wtih tales to tell and items to show.
    Very good to see you there.

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  3. I'm so glad you got to go and have FUN! Your acquisitions are lovely, but I think the most impressive thing pictured in this post (besides that beautiful pair of fowl) is that two-color knitting project of yours; SO NICE!

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  4. Beautiful all around!

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  5. ooh you've made me drool! I want to have all those things too, especially the sheep! You have bought such lovely things and had such a good time and reading along, I felt as if I was with you too. Lovely post.
    Blessings, Star

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  6. I have to attend next year and that's all there is to it. That book sounds interesting, I may have to look for a copy myself.

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  7. I'm glad you had a great trip Nancy. It sounds like a lot of fun.

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  8. It was so much fun to see you again...even if it was for such a short time : (.
    ((hugs))

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  9. It was good to see you in person finally, you are a riot! Mom and I can't wait til next year! :)

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  10. Nancy good to see you made it home safely. How wonderful it was to see you again! You are as delightful and beautiful as always. Take good care of those little chooks, make sure nothing gets them when they arn't in their coop, they are so vunerable.
    I'm looking forward to seeing some precious little baby peeps out of them. :)

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  11. I'm glad you had a great time at Jefferson and got to buy some nice things for yourself. I love your two-color knitting project, very pretty! I knew all along that you could do it and do it well.

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  12. Hi Nancy - so sad that I missed you at the festival. I think I must have asked a dozen people about you and tried to find you based on their descriptions of your clothing and appearance but no luck. Corinne even tried to find you for me but it was a wash. We LOVED the show and had a fabulous time. I really must blog about it soon. Hope we'll see you next year.

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  13. You better make your next hooby-fad BASKET WEAVING! Anyway, Im absolutely delighted that you had such a good time this weekend, and from the replies already on your blog, it sounds like you saw a lot of friends who were happy to see you too!! Im VERY happy you're making a christmas present shawl for you; and your new multi color one is gorgeous, but.. my you have a lot done, how could you possibly have done all that WHILE working on the big gray blanket you've had underway for 3 YEARS! You dont even want to finish that do you ;) Anyway, welcome home :)

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  14. Thank you, everybody!
    Gosh, I love getting comments!

    Barb ~ I'm glad that I'm not the only one who loses control

    Gail, Rayna, Corrine & Juliann ~ it truly IS good friends that make the Festival SO much fun! I wish we could get together more often

    You're welcome to 'come along', anytime, Star!

    Christine ~ if you follow the link from the Wee Mad Road blog, it should show you how to order a book

    Thank you, Shula ~ it was a blast

    You too, Kara!

    Michelle and Becky ~ Thanks for the compliments on my knitting. I really feel like I'm cheating because it's so easy. I only knit with one strand of yarn on any given row...

    Claire ~ Corrine did tell me that you were looking for me. Unfortunately, it was when I was leaving and you were in a class. :-( Next year we'll have to PLAN to meet somewhere...

    And to my Beautiful Baby Girl ~ you're absolutely RIGHT! I do need to take up basket-weaving. In fact I have all the supplies that I need. In a box, in the basement. I'll have to get around to that one of these days. As for my Blanket: I most certainly DO intend to finish it! And there will be updates on here. It's just that it is so big, thick, heavy and HOT that I can only work on it during the winter months, when it's 50 degrees in my house and I'm freezing!

    :-)

    Speaking of freezing ~ you better come home soon before the weather turns cold. Then again, that might be a pleasant change for you, after Georgia...(I do so love my BBG)

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  15. My folks came home very excited to tell me that they'd met and spoken with you - mom is a huge fan of yours now, and I think it's just gotten easier to plan that long-hoped for visit!

    After your 'adventure' with bringing your babies to the fiber festival last year, I'm kind of glad that you went on your own this year - sounds like a much more relaxed, enjoyable weekend was had by all.

    Mosaic knitting is fun, isn't it? I just did some on a pair of socks, and it was so fun that I'm thinking I need to do a bit more of it soon. I love your... um, what is that? Sweater? Blanket? Scarf? Anyway, it's lovely!

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