(please ignore anything stupid that I may say, including my baby talk. I am powerless in the face of such adorableness)

Hope this brightens your Monday!

PS. If your Monday needs a little more fun, join me here.

Maddie (seen above) is a bit miffed that I haven’t blogged much about her life.

She wants you to know that she was shorn months ago and I just got around to carding her fiber. Simply unacceptable! She was happy to learn the Xiane took the majority of her fleece (she can’t bear to think of it unused!) but chided me on my own slacker-y-ness.

Shera, who donated her very first fleece to my fiber-y pursuits is slightly more relaxed about it, but she would like you to know that I’ll be selling some of her dyed locks (so curly!) and a few batts carded from her fleece.

The fiber will be in the Boutique tomorrow (Saturday, 11/14) at noon (EST).

The sheep hope you like . . . → Read More: Fiber Friday – Sheepies]]>

Maddie (seen above) is a bit miffed that I haven’t blogged much about her life.

She wants you to know that she was shorn months ago and I just got around to carding her fiber. Simply unacceptable! She was happy to learn the Xiane took the majority of her fleece (she can’t bear to think of it unused!) but chided me on my own slacker-y-ness.

Shera, who donated her very first fleece to my fiber-y pursuits is slightly more relaxed about it, but she would like you to know that I’ll be selling some of her dyed locks (so curly!) and a few batts carded from her fleece.

The fiber will be in the Boutique tomorrow (Saturday, 11/14) at noon (EST).

The sheep hope you like it!

Since we don’t have a trailer, we used my mom’s minivan to bring them home. This is no easy task, as sheep don’t understand the whole “hop in” concept.

(if these pictures are shaky, it’s because I am laughing SO hard)

Once in the van, they calmed right down and gave one look back to their former farm.

I was intimately involved in getting them OUT of the van, so there aren’t any pictures of that. (Imagine me holding onto the leash, trying to talk the sheep into jumping down).

Once they were out and into the yard, the youngest one (we haven’t decided on a name yet – I call her Shera (Princess of Power) and the brothers call her Baby) started munching:

The older one, formerly . . . → Read More: Sheep! My Sheep!]]> Friday afternoon, I went with my mom to pick up our first sheep from Hobby Knob Farm.

Since we don’t have a trailer, we used my mom’s minivan to bring them home.

This is no easy task, as sheep don’t understand the whole “hop in” concept.

(if these pictures are shaky, it’s because I am laughing SO hard)

Once in the van, they calmed right down and gave one look back to their former farm.

I was intimately involved in getting them OUT of the van, so there aren’t any pictures of that. (Imagine me holding onto the leash, trying to talk the sheep into jumping down).

Once they were out and into the yard, the youngest one (we haven’t decided on a name yet – I call her Shera (Princess of Power) and the brothers call her Baby) started munching:

The older one, formerly named Itsy Bitsy, is decidedly UN-itsy. My 8 year old brother promptly renamed her Fatty Maddy.

At her age, she deserves more respect, her official name is Madeleine.

Shera/Baby is still a lamb (born this spring) and is 3/4 Cotswold, 1/4 Border Leceister with a super curly fleece. Maddy is 4 years old, always twins and is a Shetland/Romney cross.  Her fleece is the first I ever worked with (last fall!) and it is just lovely and fine and squooshy.

The girls were sheared (shorn?) last week and I’m going to get started on their fleeces this week. If you want some of their fiber, let me know in the comments!

The ladies will be living at my mom’s house, a short drive my place. I go over there a few times of week to babysit my little brothers, so I’ll be taking care of them a few times a week. I just came in from wrangling them, right before writing this!

If you’d like to weigh in on the Shera/Baby debate, let me know in the comments! What do YOU think we should call her?

We left Friday morning, drove to Frederick, MD (note to self:  you must stop at Zazzy’z because there  is not another coffee shop until Staunton).

Frederick’s an adorable town with a nice little downtown with lots of boutiques (like The Muse), restaurants and ice cream.

We met up with Mia and meandered around town.

I don’t eat seafood but my mom loves crabs, so we had dinner at May’s – endless crabs for Mom, a fantastically broiled chicken for me.

Saturday dawned rainy and dreary but I leapt . . . → Read More: Maryland Sheep & Wool 2009]]> Each year, for the last 3 years my mom and I have loaded my car with knitting projects, magazines, and coffee and driven to Maryland Sheep & Wool. The first year, we drove from Ohio – a 12 hour drive! This year, it was  a much shorter trip, just 5-6 hours (depending on how many times we stop for coffee!)

We left Friday morning, drove to Frederick, MD (note to self:  you must stop at Zazzy’z because there  is not another coffee shop until Staunton).

Frederick’s an adorable town with a nice little downtown with lots of boutiques (like The Muse), restaurants and ice cream.

We met up with Mia and meandered around town.

I don’t eat seafood but my mom loves crabs, so we had dinner at May’s – endless crabs for Mom, a fantastically broiled chicken for me.

Saturday dawned rainy and dreary but I leapt out of bed, excited or the festival! Maryland Sheep & Wool is one of the largest festivals of its kind and frankly, it’s overwhelming. I decided a head of time NOT to try to see it all! The same vendors come every year, so I’ve seen them before. I wanted to spend more time in the barns, talking with the farms, watching the sheep dogs and learning about breeds. Somehow, in years past, I’ve managed to completely miss the Breed Barn, where they have a sheep or two of nearly every breed, along with information about the breed! I am, more than ever, smitten with Jacobs

and Corriedales:

After the breed barn, I scoured the fleece sale and ran into the darling Liz of Hobbledehoy. It was fun to pore over the fleeces with her!

I ended up buying two fleeces and leaving them with Ohio Valley Fiber Mill for processing. I’m excited about my first milling experience!

I’m sad I missed Abby, Lauren, Cosette and Guido and his party! Part of the blame is the weather’s while some of it is my innate shyness; when Amy (of Knitty) walked by, I just completely froze!

But sheep and yarn cheer up anything!

After the festival, we rested and then hit downtown Baltimore. We strolled around the adorable Little Italy neighborhood, ate a pizza at Isabella’s and walked to the Harbor.

I wish I had more pictures of everything, but the rainy-ness continued throughout. So you’ll just have to take my word: a fabulous time and well-worth the drive!