I am not lost!

Last Tuesday morning we met a woman at our local Panera who wanted to interview and photograph us for a paper she was writing for her graduate degree work. She sat with us for over an hour while we enjoyed telling her about our work.

 Of course we had to be knitting too. Our hands can't be idle.

 Her photography skills captured every stitch...

 And even the moments when we were thinking or...

 concentrating.

I love how we always look like we are having fun. Well, we are!

This past weekend was the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York. I wasn't planning on going this year but my Sunday schedule opened up and suddenly I had the time to go and soak up the atmosphere.

I arrived bright and early as you can see by the long shadow. Unfortunately, I was not aware that on Sundays the fair gates open at 10AM not 9!!!

 That's ok! I brought my knitting! So I had something to do while I waited and I had a good view of the pretty trees from my car.

 It wasn't very crowded at all. When I've attended the festival on a Saturday I could barely get up to a booth to see the yarn. Not a problem on a Sunday!

 I've been attending this festival for at least 10 years and this is the first time I've seen a sheep being sheared. He was very cooperative too! Such a Big Boy!

 I wandered around the fairgrounds for almost two hours and saw everything there was to see and didn't buy a thing except lunch! Well, I really just wanted to enjoy the fall colors and breathe in some fiber fumes anyway

 When I came home I noticed my neighbor's maple tree in full glory and had to capture it with my camera. Just breathtaking! Just a few more days to enjoy the colors, if it doesn't rain.

 This afternoon we got to work labeling our items for distribution. And look who joined us!

 We were overjoyed to see Kathleen! She got lots of Chicks Hugs today.

 Busy as bees labeling our scarves, hats, mittens, cowls, and socks.

Our count was 108 items but there are still a few to be finished and added to the inventory. These items don't have our usual baby chicks label. Since they will be left out and about the Albany, New York area they have a special label.

Anyone who finds these items can take one if they are cold.  I'll let you know when distribution begins.

 It was good to get the whole afternoon gang together again!

It's that time of year again!

Amanda and her boys came up for a visit this weekend so we could make our annual trek to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York. Normally, we would not have dragged two babies on such an excursion, but there were no babysitters available this time, so we had to bribe Moose with hot dogs and carousel rides. He was a little whiny but we all survived.

It all started out with the usual pretty knits and yarns.

But this year there was some very cute artwork as well.

And look who we met!!!! It's Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of The Yarn Harlot fame! She signed our books for us while we told her how much we love her writing.

And then she asked to see what the boys were wearing.

Handmade by their mommy Amanda. And their hats had googly eyes too.

Moose was excited to see all the artisans at work. This lady was needle felting animal figurines.

And this lady was spinning yarn. Notice how Moose was concentrating.

He also enjoyed watching this man make woven pictures.

We stopped to look at the fish in the pond but Leo was looking at something else.

As busy as the festival was Moose found time to stop and smell the roses... or ageratum actually.

Moose enjoyed petting the sheep.

And checked out the angora bunnies.

I think the sign on the pen said this sheep was a Cormo. I love the bangs!

The alpaca were out for a walk but Moose didn't want to get too close. The last time he tried to pet a llama it tried to eat his hair!

We got caught in a sudden downpour of rain and ducked under the carousel for a bit of a ride to stay dry.

We got back home just in time for a quick visit with Uncle Drew before he had to run. I think he's giving Leo the rules about not spitting up on his clothes. LOL!

I am glad we had this visit even though it was a short one.

And I think the boys are glad to be going home tomorrow. I have been showering them with kisses until they can't stand it anymore!

Moose and Squirrel? No, Moose and Sheep!

Moose and his mommy, my daughter, are visiting this week and we thought Moose might like to see some animals at the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival. Well, yes, that was just a ploy to get him to join us on our trek for yet more fiber. We drove to Cummington, Massachusetts for this lovely little fiber festival on a glorious sun-shiny day.

Our first bribe, I mean stop, was to see the angora bunnies where Moose got to choose the one he wanted to hold.

He named this one "Toodles" after his pastor's bunny. The soft little guy sat with Moose just a few seconds before he decided it was time to scramble away.

The festival had drop-in spinning and knitting and we watched a customer taking a quick spinning lesson. I loved how intently the young man on the left was watching the proceedings. Another spinner in the future, perhaps?

We stopped at another booth to see the beautiful wheels and fiber and Moose struck up a conversation with this wonderful lady. I think they were discussing something pretty funny here, don't you?

We saw Miss Karin at the festival while she was taking a break from her vendor booth. She walked with us for a while and stopped to buy Moose some finger puppets which he loved!

Moose had to make sure he got all the way to the bottom of the basket to get the best selection. You'll see later what he chose.

I needed a large shawl pin for my heavier shawls and Leslie Wind was making some beauties on the spot. You'll see that later on too.

There was a little play area for the youngsters so they wouldn't get bored and Moose made good use of the facilities.

There's nothing like a good pile of hay to climb!

And what's a festival without a good hot dog? Moose was flirting with the waitress in between bites.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the sheep and head for home.

But we were able to buy some goodies to remind us of the good time we had.

Miss Karin was selling her hand dyed yarns and I made sure I got a skein of "Tree Frog" to make myself a pair of socks.

Amanda wanted to give me my birthday gift early since she won't be making another trip up to my house until after her baby is born. Since she knows I love shawls this was a perfect gift for me.

And while at the festival I found the perfect yarn to make this shawl. And here is the shawl pin that Leslie made for me to wear on the new shawl. I have a few projects on needles at the moment which need to be finished before I can undertake a new one though.

Amanda found some bargains which she will use to make baby hats to sell.

And here is Moose with his finger puppets that Miss Karin bought for him. He now has Kung Fu Panda, Elmo, and we're not sure who the last one is but Moose is calling him "Monkey".

We finished off the day with a quick ride around the block to work off the delicious dinner that Poppop had waiting for us when we returned home.

As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing!"