Oh, I loved this ram. He was so sweet and loved to have his chin scratched. I started by kneeling in front of his pen, and scritching, then tried to leave. Â Oh, no. Â He shoved his head through the bars. Â So I scritched some more. Â Then tried to leave. Â That’s when he climbed up.
A very nice lady, Jane Dixon, was watching the whole time (and I think trying not to laugh), and got this great picture. Â (Yes, that is a new design I’m wearing, and no, you don’t get a better view yet! Â The yarn is Dragonfly Fibers Dance rustic silk.)
Here’s a pic of him I took. He is so handsome. He nibbled on my fingers a little bit. Ever so gently. Oh, I’m in LURRRVE.
Then I fell in love with this little Shetland-with-a-pinch-of-Jacob ram (below), who fell asleep as I scritched him under the chin. Â If I stopped, he just opened his eyes and gazed at me meltingly. Â Oh, yes, they knew a sucker when they found one!
I chatted with his owner for awhile, and managed to scratch another of her ram’s chins (he came up and asked very nicely for me to do so — so for a time, I was scratching two chins at once).
Although there were quite a few very large handsome sheep (not to mention alpacas, llamas, and a couple Paca Vicunas) (pics at the end of the post), I’m really drawn to the little ones, like the Shetland and Icelandic sheep. Â And the Angora goats.
Here’s another adorable little Shetland. Â This guy is 9 months old. Â He’s barely the size of our English Cocker, Rigel (whom I don’t think would quite approve of sheep; Â I think he’d boof at them).
Their horns, nourished by an extensive blood supply, are downright hot to the touch.
What else did I do besides swoon over the animals? Â (I admit I did a lot of swooning — last year I didn’t really get a chance to look at the animals, and honestly, that’s one of my favorite things. Â Good thing I’m also a vet!)
I browsed through the barns and buildings, saying hi to folks I know:  Brooke of Sincere Sheep, Morgaine of Carolina Homespun (which I keep want to call Carolina Handspun), Kimber of Fiber Optic, Sarah and Sam at Cephalopod, Carl and Eileen of Bijou Basin. Carl gave me a skein of their new sportweight yak in a gorgeous green — I can’t wait to use it in a design!
I watched the llama leaping, which was entertaining, but took longer than I thought. Â I’m fine seeing them in pens or walking around!
I ate roasted lamb one day, and lamb kebab the other. Â I liked the lamb kebab better — the lamb was a bit milder. Â I tried and bought some delicious raw cow’s milk cheeses from Sprout Creek Farm. Â (I got the Ouray & Bogart.)
The Cooperative Press party Saturday night was a success! Wing & Clover hosted it in their studio, and we had knitters packed in & spilling out into the foyer. Â I met up with Gryphon of Verdant Gryphon (she was dressed in linen finery!) — that’s Anna Dalvi next to Gryphon.
Sunday, after we broke down the booth (I think we were the quickest done — it’s the nice thing about only having books to pack up!), we had dinner at  Mercato in Red Hook.  Oh my gosh, it was delicious.
Monday I took the train to NYC and met up with my friend Claudia. Â I dozed on her bedroom couch while she was teaching an opera lesson (yes, I was that exhausted), then went to the Natural History Museum (caught the spiders exhibit, fun!). Â We ordered Mexican food in, drank tequila, and played Rock Band 3. Â It was a perfect, laidback evening.
And Tuesday I came home. Â 🙂
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Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for Audrey’s Reversible Scarves book! Â you have til midnight PST tonight (Oct 25).
Coming up: Â A review of Needles & Artifice (with accompanying giveaway) Oct 29.
