One of the many stars of the festival. There were sheep of all imaginable kinds, angora rabbits, goats, alpacas and llamas. Not just for display, either–many of these animals were for sale, of course, in case you want to build out your herd!

An award-winning alpaca. She looks rather happy with herself, doesn’t she?

Some of the freshly-shorn sheep got jackets to protect them from the cold!

A bag of raw wool, ready to be picked, carded and then spun into yarn. I love how it feels and smells!

Speaking of spinning:

There were countless spinning demonstrations around the festival. From modern spinning techniques to older techniques (complete with spinners in historical garb), it was very tempting to pick up a spinning wheel and give this a try for myself. But then I realized that it takes me forever just to knit a project, so I’d really better stick to what I’ve got going and not take on any more hobbies!

… but when you see the beauty of spinning wheels like this one, it is sooooooo tempting!

So much raw fiber ready to be spun… any cat would have a field day with these.

Funnily enough, even though I was looking at booth after booth after booth of yarn, I don’t have a single picture of actual YARN from the whole festival. There was just so much of it that it seemed almost pointless to try and capture the sheer volume of yarn (of every imaginable kind! Including Alaskan Musk Ox!!)

It’s definitely an estrogen-fest—very few men to be seen here, except the ones sitting by a corner, looking bored, those poor guys!—and it’s a great time to shamelessly indulge your more domestic side.

The Sheep and Wool Festival is also a popular destination for Ravelers (ravelry.com members). There was a big Ravelry party on Saturday that I missed, unfortunately, but I did get to go to the meetup on Sunday and meet some fellow members. Many were wearing their best knitted finery. It was nice to meet everyone!
(Here’s my Ravelry account, add me if you like!)

This tote I made from IKEA canvas fabric (bought 1 yard of it). The key I purchased at Portobello Road in London at one of those random trinket stores along the road that sells old findings. Just wanted a reason to put it somewhere I guess. Didn’t have a pattern for the tote. For some reason it looks oddly droopy in this picture, but it’s not.

Other item:

It’s a roll-up knitting needle case, also constructed using IKEA canvas fabric as well as scrap fabric from an old pair of H&M pajama pants that I loved years ago. (I save stuff like this for future projects, what can I say.) I even re-used the H&M pj drawstrings for the cording to roll up the case.

“As some of you are aware of there was a fuel tanker that overturned and exploded yesterday morning in Everett MA. Well I just found out through my sister Debbi that my sil’s niece and her boyfriend and family were one of the houses affected by this disaster. This is her niece Laura. What my sister and I are asking is if there is anyone out there willing to knit up some 9×9 squares so that we can show Laura and Chris that people care. If you can that would be very much appreciated. I know alot of you have holiday knitting to do but anything would help. If you are willing to help you can send them to us by Jan 5. Then my sister and I will put them together. I want to thank everybody in advance. Laura is also the niece of a former employee of mine.”

— from Aunty RaRa’s Antics

Ladies and gentlement of the crafting community, I know we can do this! Certainly a 9 x 9 square isn’t too much to ask. If a lot of crafters get together on this, we could easily assemble a good pile of squares in a short amount of time. Keep an eye on Debbi’s blog as well as RaRa’s blog for details on where to mail in the squares—I’ll also post the address here if she gives me permission to do so. [edit] Please check out the comments to this entry—if you would like the address for mailing in the squares, please email Debbi (in the comments) or me.[/edit]

I’m working on three crafty Christmas projects at the moment, but think of it this way, if the deadline is January 5th, that means you have all of the AFTER-Christmas time to knit a 9 x 9 square…or two or three.

[edit] More details from Debbi, who is coordinating this project, can be found here. Knit-specific details:

“I would love the squares to be 9 x 9. Any color, any weight *although dk or worsted would be best* and I would like it to be washable. Other than that – it is up to you. “

[/edit]

PS: If you’re on Ravelry, feel free to drop me a line or add me there (here’s a link to my Ravelry profile). Perhaps we can start up a group for the 9 x 9 Everett squares? By the way, if you’re a member of my family, I strongly advise you to NOT click the link until after Christmas!