Urgh

[altivo]

Desk buried at work, I only began to see some of the actual desktop by 5. Tomorrow a consortial meeting and then the (ugh) late shift, so not much will get done then. Thursday's a half day as usual, and I had Friday booked as vacation quite some time back so I can attend the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and take a class there.

No weaving tonight, but spin, spin, spin. One of my two sheep and wool classes requires that I come prepared with two partially filled bobbins, as well as spinning wheel, extra empty bobbins, and lazy kate. So, fill up those bobbins. That's done now. The other class simply requires my drum carder and the small tools that go with it, and that's all set to go.

Now, bedtime.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

A whole festival just for sheep?

How big is it?

[altivo]

Yes. Actually there are probably more of these than there are furry conventions in the US.

The really big one is in Maryland:
http://www.sheepandwool.org/

The one in Wisconsin is pretty good sized, though. It has herd dog trials, sheep judging and sales, breed displays and promotions, and a whole fair of vendors selling fleeces, carded wool (and alpaca,) yarn, tools and vaguely related stuff like sheep milk cheeses, sheepskins, etc. There are also three days of specialized classes in association with the festival, and this year I'm going to attend two of them.

Illinois also has two, and I can think of others in New York, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest just offhand. Those are only the big ones. There are any number of smaller regional gatherings.

WI: http://www.wisconsinsheepandwoolfestival.com/
NY: http://www.sheepandwool.com/
CO: http://www.estesnet.com/events/woolmarket.htm
OR: http://www.blacksheepgathering.org/

General listing: http://www.woolfestival.com/events/fiber-events-festivals-by-date.htm

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a specialised "Great Yorkshire Show."

[altivo]

Something like that, I suppose. The US has an old tradition of county fairs and state fairs that are generalized agricultural exhibits and promotions, held annually in probably most areas. Livestock exhibited and sold, crafts and home arts displayed and sold, and innumerable commercial exhibitors hawking their stuff. A century ago that would have included patent medicines, farm tools, tack and saddlery, and "working women's fancy things." Also fortune tellers, gypsies, road acts, and general shysters and thieves. Now the farm tools, tack and saddlery are pretty much missing here in the midwest, and replaced by auto salesmen, quack medical gadgets and concepts, and a hideous array of extreme political groups and one-trick politicians, religious fanatics, and just plain cranks. The horse racing that was once a center piece has been replaced by rock stars on stage, tractor "pulling" competitions that use heavily modified equipment utterly unsuited to real farm work, and the obnoxiously stupid "demolition derby" in which drivers deliberately crash into each other until only one vehicle is left operable and thereby declared the "winner." Still draws the same kind of open-mouth breathers and drooling rubes that it did in 1790, I suspect.

Wool festivals are much more specialized, lacking the carnival atmosphere, the midway rides and games, and the general public attractions. As a consequence, they seem far more "civilized" to me. There are also "horse festivals" that center around horse activities, including often a rodeo, driving and riding exhibitions, training workshops, sales, and related merchantry. The political weirdos and medical quacks show up for those as well, though I haven't seen them at a wool festival. The "threshing bee" or "steam show" usually features antique steam powered tractors and farm equipment in action, with associated flea markets. "Auto shows" and "Boat shows" are much larger and more generally attended, but hold no interest at all for me.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Medical quacks? You mean they're not all working here? LOL

[frith]

On the subject of sheep, here's a plush sheep that's also a plush wolf. Their plush critter collection has a psychiatric theme.

[altivo]

Oooh, I've seen that trick before, but never so large. I'll have to hunt around and see if I can find one like it at a seller here in the US. Thanks for the pointer.

Your user picture here makes me think of Terry Pratchett's book Pyramids, which explains that camelids are really a superior race endowed with spectacular mathematical talents... which they often abuse by using them to calculate the trajectory of the spit they eject at people they don't like...

[frith]

I've been slogging through a few Pratchett book lately but Pyramids hasn't turned up yet. I don't know if you've seen a llama "spit", but they use more of a shotgun approach, with a very wide spread on the projectiles. Of course that makes the math all the more exciting. 8^D

[merik]

Desk buried at work, I only began to see some of the actual desktop by 5.

*chuckle* I know that feeling well. I took advantage of another unusually quiet afternoon to close my office door, file paperwork worth saving, and fill up my recycling bin with all the useless stuff that had accumulated on my desk, my computer desk, and my office table over the past few weeks. ;-P

[altivo]

If it were just papers, I wouldn't mind so much. Alas, it is a mountain of new books in need of being cataloged, even as the network server demands attention and there's a fault light blinking on the proxy server...