The Woolley Farm

I exhibited at the Fiber Center for 5 days, showing dog fur spinning for 2 days, moorit sheep for 1 day, and the jacobs for 2 days. Lots of people were fascinated by the spinning and I managed to teach several how to spin, including Brian who I saw sitting on the rock wall, knitting a sweater. I walked over to check out his project and we started chatting. I asked him if he spins and he said those magic words “I’ve always wanted to try that!”. So I set him up, showed him the basics and let him try it out. He did fabulous! Especially with about 30 people watching his every move. Of course, like every first timer, he thought his yarn was horrid, but I told him how to ’set the twist’ later at home so it won’t be so tangly,  and tagged it up for him with his name, the date, and that it was his ‘virgin spinning’. In another year, if he keeps spinning, he’ll take it out from the drawer and won’t be able to re-create that first-time lumpy/bumpy textural wonder.

Brian had very good coordination and quickly got the hang of spinning. We talked about wheels, fiber, and all things woolly. He was very confident and didn’t get too concerned about being the center of attention for about 45 minutes. I tried not to hover, as it’s important for him to learn by doing, not by hearing me chatter away about it. I kept my eye on him and watched him go from frustration and confusion to the “Wait a minute, THAT’S how it’s supposed to feel! I can DO IT!! I CAN DO IT!!!”  I love that….

 Apparently he really liked spinning — when I just checked out his blog, I see he found himself an Ashford Traditonal! That is my most favorite wheel of all time - no wonder it’s the worlds best=selling spinning wheel and it’s the one I have in my living room. I have over 30 wheels and it’s the Tradtional that I use the most often. Although I do like the looks of the Kromskis….

Brian also told me about the puppet bathmitts he makes and posts the directions for free. Check out the dragon & the frog, my favorites. I can’t decide which to make first! They are too too adorable and just perfect for Christmas presents. I can’t believe he’s a new knitter. And that he designs as well. Some people just are talented (Brian) and some are just NOT (me). Oh well, maybe I can be talented at teaching spinning…. Yeah, I’ll put that in my resume of life. Not a bad thing, I guess….

We’re back from the fair, tired, but full of memories & fair food. Oh, those maple whoopie pies…..

It was such fun having Royal & Sue and Gary & Robbi stay with us for a few days. Kathy & Jo came over and hooked up with us, so the 8 of us had a wonderful time. We all had a blast at the fair, a great dinner at a local restaurant out on the back porch overlooking a waterfall, and a great dinner at Kathy & Jo’s the next night, featuring “BigPig” from the freezer.  Thanks to Kathy, Robbie and Sue-U and Gary and Royal for helping to decorate the stalls at the fair barn, we looked quite spiffy in our black & white bunting and chocolate colored swags for the moorits.

After the fair on Saturday, we decided to go back to Baldwin & find dinner near there. We stopped in Cornish to check out the Apple Festival.  We walked thru a little craft show on the common in Cornish and there was Holly, selling her lotions & potions!  So we had a lot of squealing and hugging and a mini-reunion of the girls.

The big news from the weekend is that I heard Robbie say “Now that I can see their faces, I think I DO like sheep!”. Royal & Brandon immediately tried to sell her something, but she managed to back off rapidly, checkbook intact.

The Jacobs did not fare well in the show. The judge, a friend of the top meat breeder, didn’t even look at the fleeces in the “All other” classes and the final lineup was strictly big to little, with the Jacobs at the ‘little’ end of the line. Everyone was pretty upset and letters have to be written to the fair officials or whoever is in charge of hiring the judges, as it was a loss of a lot of money. My feeling is that is a judge is paid to judge both wool & meat breeds, then he should actually LOOK AT THE DAMN FLEECE on the wool breeds, instead of just measuring their ‘length of loin” & placing them based on how many lamb chops he could get.  Even the sheep superintendent noticed that the judge was not looking at the wool on the wool breeds, so I’m sure he as well will be talking with the fair officials about getting a new judge next year. 

Poor judging aside, our jacobs of course, were the fair-goers favorite and our stalls were wonderful & attractive and informative.

Now it’s back home to unpack and get settled before going to Rhinebeck in 2 weeks. I’m helping with the fleece judging & sale and Brandon wants to show the cashmeres.

Brandon decided to keep both of Betty’s ramlettes, as he liked the breeding lines. We named them Jester (for the split faced one) and Merlin (the other one).  We sold Marble our 18 month old 2 horn guy with the great fleece and coloring. I think his dad was Ashcroft.  Brandon was very sad but we can’t keep them all, a fact which I have to keep reinforcing.

We’re putting together the breeding groups this week, which is always interesting. I like watching them all run around & around tiring out the ram.  I do NOT like the rams fighting when they go back in the pasture after breeding season. It bothers me no end to see them smashing heads, all stunned & bloody till they work things out.

It’s rainy & cold which feels good after 85* last week at the fair. We even have our first fire in the cookstove this morning. I love fall!