Monday, October 18, 2010

Rhinebeck!

more fall foliage
I finally made it a sheep and wool festival. Yesterday DH and I went to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck, about a 2 hour drive from our house. We could not have ordered better weather. Trees were near peak foliage color. Temperature was cool enough to show off my hand-knitted creations.
I'm shopping for yarn
That's me in the grey cabled sweater, shopping for yarn. At one point, I felt faint, truly overcome by all the selections. I was quite restrained in my shopping (really, I spent less than $60; I'll cover those in a separate post).
A Scotsman selling spinning supplies
We met this Highlander selling spinning supplies.
a master spinner
We watched so many people spinning. DH got into the spinning groove; I think he checked the pricing of every wheel there. I myself am not ready for a wheel, but nice to see he was looking for a good wheel at a good price.
Sheared fleece
Fleece, roving, yarn- you name it. If it's fiber, you could buy it.
adorable baby alpaca
This baby alpaca was so cute, I wanted to take him home.
Young buck for sale
DH wanted to buy this young buck for DD#1.
Of course there were sheep- so many breeds of sheep!
Jacob sheep up close
These are Jacob sheep, a rare and ancient breed that date back to Biblical times. These sheep may be descended from the sheep that Jacob herded for Laban. Jacob and Laban struck a deal: Jacob could keep all the spotted lambs that were born. Apparently Jacob took Mendelian Genetics 101, for it's recorded that he separated the spotted ewes from the solid colored ones, so as to have more spotted lambs.
Judging sheep
We watched some of the sheep being judged. I thought they all deserved medals for cuteness.
We left before the day ended, and still hit traffic on the NY Thruway. Oh well, it won't keep us from eagerly awaiting next year's festival.

5 comments:

Susan said...

The guy in the kilt is Dave Paul from the Merlin Tree. He makes the Hitchhiker wheel.

fleegle said...

Lucky ewe :) Wish I could have gone. Someday I'll get to Rhinebeck. I keep promising myself...well, I have SAFF this weekend as compensation.

Angela said...

Those sheep did deserve medals for cuteness! It looks like you had a great time! Totally wish I could have gone!

Donna Lee said...

We saw Jacob sheep at NJ sheep breeder's show. They are pretty amazing (and slightly scary looking). I have never made it up to Rhinebeck. I'm not a fan of large crowds and I hear it gets a might bit crowded there.

Check out the beginning spinner's group. There's a lot of good info on wheels.

Experimental Knitter said...

@Susan, Thanks for telling me.
@Fleegle, Enjoy SAFF!
@Angela, I did have a great time. Maybe you'll come next year?
@Donna Lee, Sunday was manageable (I too hate crowds); Saturday I heard was much more crowded. Thanks for the tip on the spinning group. I saw a couple of beginner's groups. Which one do you recommend?