Monday, April 28, 2008

Shepherds’ Extravaganza


We were happy to be able to get to the Spring Puyallup Fair this year, which we’ve never attended before. The fall fair is “the Big One” - the State Fair. But the spring fair is much more low-key, and Shepherds’ Extravaganza is just one part of it. We had a great time catching up with some friends there.

Doug tried his hand at handling a sheep without a halter, a skill that we will need if we decide to show our two rams at this summer’s Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon. The fellow he practiced on was one of the more cooperative beasties. With our rams, even *on halter*, it’s a three-ring circus. The last time we tried moving them to a new pasture, one of them turned into a demon-possessed bucking bronco, and the other one went flat on the ground & wouldn’t budge. So we’ve got our work cut out for us.

We saw and heard a bagpipe band - always one of my favorites. There has got to be some Scot in my heritage. In any case, despite suggestions & begging on my part, my hubby and sons have no interest, whatsoever, in donning kilts or playing bagpipes. Sigh.

On the Home Front




The chickens are growing every day. Wilma is the most adventurous & likes to climb on my shoulder - occasionally up on top of my head. She is a very pretty girl & mugs for the camera almost as shamelessly as our sheep, Anemarie, does. Daisy, the darker gray/rust one, is the only one who clucks. I’m wondering if by any chance she’s a dude. All of the others are still peeping.


And as for the Oregon Shawl, it is coming along well. I’m on row 59/81 of the border, and then, will need to knit a patterned edging all the way around it. A friend has knitted this particular shawl three times. And as lovely as this shawl seems to be turning out, I don’t see myself doing it again. At least not for a very long time. It’s an *enormous* shawl. Yardage is somewhere over 2000. I think I’ll want to try something different next time - maybe circular. But then, I’ve vowed to come off this lace binge for awhile & work on something with cables. So we’ll see what comes next. In the meantime, I’m just slow-jogging along.

4 Comments:

Blogger Dorothy said...

I've never even heard of the Puyallup spring fair! We'll have to give it a try sometime. The fall one is way too crowded. I got such a kick out of Wilma on your head! The Oregon shawl is looking lovely. I Googled it because I wanted to see what it looked like and thought it quite humorous that the pattern page shows it draped over an apparently naked lady! Are we going to get model shots when you're done????

5:21 PM  
Blogger Tina T-P said...

Wow, your chicks are so tame!!! - I couldn't hardly even pick one of ours up, let alone have it ride on my shoulder - they are very cute - isn't it fun to watch them grow up?

When you are starting to work with a halter, try keeping them up as close as possible to you (that stops the bucking bronco syndrome and keeps you from getting a hoof in a "personal" place if they come back at you) Even just haltering them and tying them up to a fence for a bit so they get used to having the halter on seems to help.

Nancy G. came over today and was helping us halter the boys so John could take them to the auction - Arlo, the little !@#$% turned around and bit her on the leg!

Got our wool back from Gretchen yesterday. Will you be at Nancy's next Saturday - I'll bring some for show and tell. :-) T.

7:12 PM  
Blogger inSheepsClothing said...

I finally got to go to the Spring Fair this year- and it was snowing! (At least most of it happens inside.) The Shepherds Extravaganza was great- and somehow the whole event seems to have gotten my DH motivated to have some sheep, so that's a nice unexpected result!

8:52 PM  
Blogger LavenderSheep said...

Have you seen the utili-kilts? I don't think I could get my husband to wear a regular kilt, but one of his friends just got a utili-kilt and he thinks they are awesome!

8:23 AM  

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