Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2016

Kylee and I went to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival a few weekends ago.  We were lucky that even though it had been very rainy leading up to the festival, it wasn't raining the day we went.

We got there pretty early and made a beeline for the fleece sale barn.  I was on a mission to find a fleece with curly locks that I could dye.  I wanted a Bluefaced Leicester fleece, because they typically have nice curly locks.  The sale barn was PACKED, with both people and fleeces.

We managed to find a fleece after looking through several dozen, and then we got in line. There were volunteers taking turns holding a sign up so people could find the end of the line.


We waited....and waited...and waited.  The line was moving fairly slowly, and we ended up waiting for over an hour to pay for the fleece.  We looked at lots of neat knitted items while we waited, because everyone wears their best knitting things to Sheep & Wool.  I saw this really great knitted then fulled (felted) bag.

Waiting-in-line selfie!

After we found a fleece, we started making our rounds.

We went by the Sarafina Fiber Art booth and saw some amazing felted animals.

We saw some alpacas.

Kylee picked out some roving so she can spin some custom yarn.

We took a rest and took a few more selfies. We were feeling pretty punch drunk by then.

On the way home, we stopped at my friend's house to meet her new baby boy.

Here's what we ended up bringing home. We got some roving, a t-shirt for Kylee, a Border Leicester fleece, some washed curls, a pound of wool batting for wet felting (a pound is a good bit), a pound of BFL roving, a pound of Merino roving, and some kettle corn.

Here's a picture of a sample lock from the fleece I bought.  The funniest part? There were fleeces there from flocks from all over the state, and the fleece I bought came from my neighbor's sheep!

Catch Up

Here are some pictures of what's been happening around here lately.

We got a few inches of snow the first weekend in March.  It was a wet snow and clung to everything. Very pretty!

I got my hair partially dyed blue!  I wanted something fun, and figured a pop of color would be fun!  It's hidden under the top layer of hair, so it's not super obvious right away.  I love it. It's been about 3 weeks now, and it's starting to fade a bit, so I will probably have it dyed again in a couple weeks. I may add some purple in next time!

I hadn't made a cake in a while, so I made a rainbow cake. Fun with food coloring!

Elmer loves to follow the sun beam around and lay in the warmth, even if that means he has to lay on boots!  Silly boy.

My brother and his fiance just bought a house, so we went for a visit and helped them get some work done before they moved in.  David and Chris worked on patching drywall, and I primed one of the bedrooms.  Devin and Kylee helped with a little bit of everything.

Peppa, one of the New Zealand does (rabbit doe, not goat doe) had a litter of kits.  She had 9, and 7 are still with us.  This is her second litter, although she didn't make a nest for the first litter and they all froze.  She's doing a great job so far with this litter.

We dyed eggs yesterday, and Angie, Isaac, and Ernest came over.  David and Ernest stayed outside talking to David's Aunt Nancy, and the rest of us got to work.  I forgot to get pictures of the finished eggs!

I was making deviled eggs, and I saw how some people put the hard boiled egg white in dye, and then they have Easter colored deviled eggs, so we tried it with a few of the eggs. It looked neat, but I prefer my deviled eggs white I think.

We had lots of dye left over, so I put it to good use. I got some white roving and had some fun making some rainbow roving.

I'll have to get a better picture of the dry roving.  I'm surprised at how bright the colors turned out!  Now that I look back at these pictures, I notice a theme.  I guess I've been a little tired of the dreary winter, because I have been loving lots of color lately!

Kylee helped me make some egg rolls today.  We baked them, instead of frying them. They were pretty good, but I added too much ginger to the filling. I'll have to tweak my recipe (no recipe, just a little of this and that tossed in a bowl) and try again.

*crickets*

I haven't been blogging much lately...not a single post in over a month.  I am struggling with it.  Blogging used to be fun for me, but for the past while it has felt like a chore. I love looking back and reading my blog to see what we were up to (as a sort of diary), but I won't have anything to read if I don't start blogging again!  

Here are a few random pictures of what we've been doing these past weeks.

Kylee set up her easel and paint stuff on the deck (months ago, when it was warmer out).  

Chris came to visit and Elmer stared at him in adoration.

 Buford found a very comfy spot on top of all of the pillows.

Isaac (2nd cousin) came to spend the night and the kids took turns reading to him.  

 
Elmer went outside to potty and completely missed the deer nearby.

But then he saw it and the deer ran away.

 

 
The goats got some stumps in their pen.  Goats love stumps.

Elmer was playing outside and broke his dew claw.  I had to clip it off and wrap it because it was very tender.  He's fine now.  

I farm sat for a friend and the kids learned how to halter and lead a pony.

I'm not sure why I took a picture of the sheep and the wheelbarrow, but here it is. 

My Golden Laced Cochin rooster, below. 

We had a nice, 60 degree day, so the bunnies got turns running around in an exercise pen outside. 

Then I clipped their nails and brushed them, and ended up with all of the hair on me.

We went through a mud season.  It rained every day for 10 days.  After that, it rained some more.  Luckily it isn't muddy any longer.  I was getting so sick of it, and I know the animals were too.

I weaned a litter of 10 rabbits from a first time mother.  She did a fabulous job raising them.  

Elmer has some odd sleeping positions.














I ordered coats for the dogs.  Buford's fits him great, and he seems to like it.

Elmer's was WAY too big on him, but it fits Ida perfectly!  The poor goats haven't grown a decent winter coat, since winter has been relatively warm so far. These nights in the low teens are hard on them, so they're in the barn for a little while until the temps are a little warmer.

We're potentially getting snow this weekend!  If so, I'll post pictures.