I See Ewe

I saw these at Joann Fabrics when buttons were 50% off. I just had to have them!



One has been attached to my crocheted purse which I will be bringing with me to the CGOA conference next week. It is a tiny little decoration but a cute one.

More Sheep

Another email received - this one about the presence of sheep in photos of megalithic sites.

Great photos!

And, if you check out this link, you'll see a photo I took (though no sheep in this one). :)

Counting Sheep

I received an email from the Wales tourism board (a country I must visit some day) that was pointing out less known reasons to visit. The first sentence jumped out at me for obvious reasons.

"You may already have heard about our three national parks, 641 castles and 11 million sheep throughout a country which is ideal for touring."

I forwarded it to Sean thinking he'd get a kick out of the random sheep statistic - which he did - and it led him on a search for more stats. Below are his quickly found findings:

• There are only 3 million PEOPLE who live in Wales! Almost 4 times as many sheep as people--which appears to be the largest imbalance of any nation of the region.
• In Ireland, they have 6 million people and 8 million sheep.
• In Scotland, there are 5 million people, and 9.5 million sheep.
• Also, UK overall has the most sheep of any EU member nation. Total UK sheep population was estimated to be 33.5 million as of 2007. With 22.5 million in non-England areas of the UK, that leaves 11 million sheep for a people population of 51 million in England proper.

In addition to wondering where they house and contain all these sheep, I'm also wondering how many yarn stores there are! Too few, I'm assuming, since when I was in Ireland there were none to be found.

SHEEP!!!!

As I was going through my photos on the computer, I realized I never posted these cute ones of Seamus.







Yes - that is a stuffed green sheep. I found it at the grocery store (of all places) and just had to buy it for him. He loves it and he's able to get his mouth around the belly to squeak the squeaker.

MS&W Festival

I've added a countdown ticker at the end of the blog for this year's Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Last year was my first trip to the event and oh! what a fabulous time I had!

The Queen came down from NYC and we had so much fun. Early in the morning, we were dropped off at the fairgrounds. Our first stop was the t-shirt line. It was a good call to get it out of the way first as the line was obscenely long all day. I snagged a t-shirt and the best tote bag ever. The bag has the following image on it:



As we were standing in line, I couldn't help but snap a few photos. One would expect the food selection to include all types of lamb and various fast foods, but fried twinkies??



And for some reason, I just couldn't stop laughing about this one:



In addition to random food and long lines for t-shirts, there is soooo much yarn and fiber and accessories. The best vendors can sell out within the first hour of the festival so it is best to scope out the vendor list and their web sites before you go.

There are also lots of - you guessed it - sheep. Sheep are groomed, shown, shaved and herded. There are alpaca, too and also a dog herding exhibition. More photos from last year:






But my info about the festival is shotty and incomplete. (Remember - I commute 4 hours a day so by the time I post, my brain is half asleep.) Head over to Knitter's Review for a more comprehensive review.

WARNING! If you go, you will spend LOTS of money!! Bring cash and an ATM card as a back up. Not all vendors take plastic and there will be so many, many things to purchase.

I am so looking forward to this year's festival now that I know what to expect, what to do, and what vendors to visit. The Queen will be making a repeat visit and will be bringing her Mom (one of my other Mom's) along. Oh, the yarn we will buy and the wine we will consume! Huzzah!