When We Last Saw Our Hero

He was being carried around the fiber festival.  Yes, just one week ago, I could still carry him around. 

There's not much room to sit on the large dog bed with him anymore :-o.  I could still pick him up on Saturday, but by Monday evening it was all over.  I've never had a lamb grow as fast as Bullwinkle.

"She says that likes it's a bad thing."

I think it's time you moved out of the house and off the porch, big fat lambie.

"What?!?"

"It's not very nice to say things like that."

"There's just a lot more of me to love!"

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Sorry for the delay announcing winners for the festival giveaway.  City Boy and Janbaby were here all weekend and Jan and I were too busy beating Tim and Jeff in Spades to remember we had other things to do.  Ah, good times ;-D.

Since we had three winning cute lambies in the running, I let Random.org draw three winners - Yarnkettle, Small Farm Girl and Katie.  Suess has a little something from the Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium for Yarnkettle and Bullwinkle and 20 will be sending some new Lamb Camp cards to Small Farm Girl and Katie.  Please drop me an email with your mailing addresses :-).

I'm working to get the Farm Shop updated with all the new Punkin's Patch goodies and a few fleeces still waiting to be skirted.  We'll do a couple more giveaways this week to make that all more fun :-D.

Lamb Camp At The Fiber Festival - With A Giveaway

Bullwinkle wasn't the only lamb in the livestock tent this year.  Madeline Norman from Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium brought a 2 1/2 weeks old Shetland/Icelandic cross that completely stole the show. His own show as far as he was concerned ;-).  What a pistol!  

He was, at most, 10" tall and could jump out of pretty much any pen she built for him and then would run around shopping shoplifting and he has no idea how close he got to being shoplifted himself....except he wouldn't have stayed in my pen either ;-D.

Bullwinkle, on the other hand, was pretty much there because he had to be there.  

"Okay, this tag goes with this bag."

"And I think this basket needs to move over a bit."

"Okay, everything looks good.  Can we go home now?"  Yes, he's standing on Reg's chair.

"Why would anyone want to go home?  This place rocks!"

"Hmm, why are these Hug a Sheep stickers showing a white sheep and not me?"

"Why, yes, I AM the cutest lamb here.  Thanks for coming to my party!"

"I don't really think I like parties."

"Yikes!  20 wasn't kidding when he said all the kids want to stick their fingers up your nose!"

"I'm okay as long as my mom is holding me."

Okay, one last shot of Seuss.  He IS pretty stinkin' cute...

But not as cute as 20!  

The best part of festivals is getting to visit with friends.  For anyone who doesn't know 20's story, that's his real mom!  While he enjoys living in Kentucky, he was sure happy to see Debbie (and Aunt Jenny :-D) and catch up on all the news from Georgia (and Canada!).

Debbie and Jenny were here competing at the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial.  If you didn't go down and watch the dogs for a bit, you really missed out!  The Bluegrass is one of the trials leading up to the National Finals and the competition is fierce and exciting to watch.  

Back in 2010 Serta was a sponsor of the National Finals and the top placing competitors won these huge Serta sheep.  20 is...wait for it...sheep number 20 ;-).  His sweater covers up his number, a big 20 on his side.  Debbie and her fabulous dog Huck gifted him to me...and the rest is history :-).

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So, let's have a little fun and just for fun!  Who was the cutest lamb in the livestock tent this year? Leave a comment (on the main blog) with your vote (or votes ;-) and on Saturday we'll let 20 draw for some prizes.

Thanks Miss B, for all the funny Bullwinkle pictures!  He just looks grumpy...mostly ;-).

Yarn Along - The 2016 Kentucky Sheep And Fiber Festival

20 had to wear his rain gear on Saturday, but was able to ditch the rain coat on Sunday and just wear his mud boots.  With the sides zipped down on our booth we were out of the weather and warm and dry, but welcomed the sun on Sunday just the same.

 

I'm not exactly sure why I picked Petunia for the festival this year.  She's getting some years on her and I worry about stress on all my sheep, but especially the very young or the not so young.  Well, thank goodness for Petunia!

Hershey (hugger extraordinaire), Spud (sweet as they come) and Woody (I'm sure everyone is going to give me a cookie) were apparently having flashbacks to last year's deluge of rain (or something) and decided they wanted No Part of hugging sheep Saturday.

Petunia finally gave a big sigh and stepped up to the front of the pen.  "I'll handle this boys."  She talked to everyone, especially little kids and even baa'ed back at a little boy who baa'ed at her.  It was very clear that she understood there was a job to be done...and did it.

When Elizabeth got too old to stay with the main flock several years ago, everyone wondered who'd take over as the lead ewe.  I was surprised when Petunia stepped up.  There were definitely bigger/stronger personalities in the group, but a calm, clear thinker is always the best choice.  Long live the queen!

The booth.  For some reason it never goes together the same way twice.  This year's set up was especially disorganized, but it came together in the end.  As always, a huge thanks to everyone who works so hard to make everything look so good.

New Lamb Camp cards.

A new design.  I'll post some better pictures later this week.  

A couple of Reg's project bags.  Better pictures coming as there are neat details to share.

The new design on a handy tote.

And a new Mug Shot Mug.

I won Reserve Champion with my Renny yarn :-D.  Can't wait to start knitting!

"I was good on Sunday.  I swear."

Yes, you were Woody.  Everyone had a much happier second day and I appreciate your hard work teaching folks about sheep and different wools and how to best eat cookies and crackers ;-).

There was more to enjoy in the livestock tent.  Bullwinkle might not have been the cutest lamb there :-o  Or was he?  There'll be a Cutest Lamb contest (with prizes :-D) tomorrow!

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While I've handled a lot of yarn lately, I haven't knit anything in forever.  Now that lambing season and intensive bottle lamb season and wool festival season is winding down, I'm chomping at the bit to get started on a couple new projects.  So much fun stuff to do and so little time...

Bullwinkle and I listened to a good book while we were preparing for the festival - the new release from Fredrik Backmann, Britt-Marie Was Here.  I wish he could write a new book every week!

Joining in with Ginny and looking forward to being back next week with some actual knitting to share!

Guess Who WON'T Be Going To The Fiber Festival

Punkin's Patch is once again sponsoring the Hug a Sheep Booth at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend.  Spud, Hershey, Andy, Petunia, Woody and Murphy have agreed to be on the hugging list and we'll pick three or four to take over (probably depending on who we can trick into the trailer ;-) in the morning.  Of course Bullwinkle will be there, too.

In discussing who we would go this year, Maisie's name came up and everyone fell over laughing.  The little darling...  We could bring her, but she'd have to be transported Hannibal Lector style to keep from turning it into a Get Punched In The Kneecap (And Probably Bit And Maybe Kicked As Well) By A Sheep Booth.  Sweet Hershey is a much better choice!

I think the booth looks nice.  I created several new items this spring that I'm pretty excited about including a new Mug Shot Mug, a special My Favorite Sheep tote bag with matching note cards and note pads and new Lamb Camp cards.  There will be several really nice fleeces, a small amount of roving, lots of Lamb Camp yarn, Punkin's Patch t-shirts...

The forecast is - big surprise for spring weather in Kentucky - not great for tonight and part of tomorrow (which is why we aren't bringing the sheep until tomorrow morning), but Sunday is supposed to be nice and it's already slacking up to the south of us, so maybe tomorrow won't be a wash out either.

Regardless, almost everything is under cover so the sheep shopping, sheep shearing, sheep spinning, sheep hugging... should be lots of fun.  There are even tents down the hill at the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial with a handy shuttle going back and forth.  Speaking of sheep spinning, there are several workshops with openings if you are interested in learning something new!

Please come out and see us and hug a few of your favorite (wet ;-) sheep!

The 2016 Fleece Report...so far

As I was well prepared for after the winter hay season, the fleeces could have been better...but they could also have been way worse.  Several have been quite nice, so I'm rather encouraged about some of the rest left to skirt.  

The entire month of May has been either raining, cold, windy, some combination of the aforementioned or else a brief window where we can jump on the tractor and try to keep up with the overwhelming grass growth.  So yes, Bullwinkle and I are scrambling to have enough fleeces ready for the festival this weekend.

Quality Control Officer...for the plastic bags.  What is with this boy and plastic?

Kate babysitting.

Beanie Baby

Lila.  There's a lot of Lila to love again this year.

And a lot of Baaxter as well!  I divided his fleece down the middle to offer as two halves.   

While a pretty color, it's not super soft.  However, it's Baaxter, so someone or two someones may want to spin a fleece of great character. 

More babysitters.  Betsy keeps working on him and he loves his Auntie Reg.  Speaking of Auntie Reg, she's making quilted project bags and has four really cute sheep/knitting themed bags ready to add to the booth.  

Did anyone see Talladega Nights?  If so, remember the part where Ricky Bobby gets to drive the race car for the first time and his buddy Cal runs over and says something about "remember when we got kicked out of biology for playing with match box cars?  Who's retarded now!"  This is Andy, the why would you want that rogue sheep?  What a pretty fleece!

Nap time - what a good lamby.

One more.  It was getting late and both Bullwinkle and I were tired.  Spud had had an emergency re-shear in the heat of the last summer and I figured his fleece was going to be a throw away this spring. He's an over achiever.  Look how much it grew in just a few months.  No wonder he nearly had a heat stroke!

Today Bullwinkle, Kate and I are headed to Channel 36 to help do a promo for The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival and The Bluegrass Classic Stock Dog Trial on the noon news.  We'll skirt some more when we get home.  I'm looking forward to more happy surprises and hopefully some local folks will find some happy surprises this weekend as well :-).

Poor Betsy

I don't know if they just got off to a bad start at the very beginning or if Bullwinkle is just "not a cat person".  They do share the hay pile on the porch pretty amicably, but he sure wasn't happy with her attention last night.  Of course it had been a long day of never ending cold rain, so we were all pretty, um, tired.

I've had some questions about how the new kitchen is working out.  Everything has been fine.  The new floor is a little too slippery for tiny hooves, but I keep a bunch of towels down for traction and, well, you know... ;-)  I think we may have hit a new low in house keeping standards last night though with all the wet dogs, cats, people and lamb.

Here's a short video that ought to bring the health department running ;-o.

"I'm not really a crabby pants.  I just don't like when Betsy throws her tail in my face."

"And I really wish my mom would come sit down with me but she's eating dinner so I'll just wait here patiently because I am a good lamby."

"Or maybe I'll wait over here." 

"It's good to have lots of choices, especially if you have to share your house with Betsy!"

Silly Soay Sheep

You have probably guessed that I've been working on a new set of Lamb Camp cards for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend.  Here are some more fun shots.  Most of you already know who these silly Soay sheep are, but if you don't, go visit Shepherd Life and fall in love with them and all their shenanigans aka Splendid Games.

Much like Jacobs, they aren't much interested in coming in for their close ups.  Except Mira. Remember her from last year?  

"Okay, I'll let you scratch my head."

"Ha ha, just kidding!"

"Oh, why didn't you say you had crunchies!"

"I'm ready for my close up!"  "Do you have crunchies, too?"

A pretty family shot.

"You're not taking pictures of MY baby!"

Soay Sheep, Georgetown, Kentucky