NH Sheep and Wool 2011

So many wooly things to write about and so little time. NH Sheep and Wool was last month, and we had a lovely time.

The plan was to take the boys on Sunday and have a nice leisurely day to see everything. Our Saturday afternoon was fully booked. But as luck would have it, the weather for the weekend was iffy, with the worst of the rain forecast for Sunday. So I got everyone up and ready as early as I could on Saturday (which was not all that early) and headed up to Contoocook NH. I raced through what I could. My goal was to avoid buying yarn and see what interesting spinning fiber I could find. My older son wanted to see the sheep dogs.

We saw some cutie sheep and alpacas, and some sheep dogs trying to herd. One additional difficulty was in my rush I forgot to bring much cash, and I didn't want to use the ATM at the fairgrounds. So I was limited in my spending. I could only buy fiber from sellers that accepted credit cards.

In the end I found Dianne from French Hill Farm in Maine. They have Coopworth sheep and she had 3 one pound balls of roving in a basket. I debated whether to buy one or two. Dianne offered all three to me at an excellent price. I came home with three pounds of Coopworth. Here is what they look like with a business size envelope for reference.



My long term goal is to spin enough to make a sweater. I did a test run and spun up about 40 yards. My 2 ply is a light worsted and knit up surprisingly soft. I hope to start plugging away at this project, but I've got a few others currently in the works that need more immediate attention. I've got a lovely superwash merino/bamboo/nylon blend from Sereknity that I have working on. About 3/4 of it is singles in a plying ball ready to become 2 ply. I'm hoping this will be a light fingering weight. We'll see how it all works out.