Sheep and Knitting

Last week I was in Ketchum, Idaho, for the Trailing of the Sheep. There was lots of wool and plenty snow.

Most of the progress on this mitten was made in the car to and from Ketchum and while at the festival.

I also worked on this sock during the festival.

I bought some great yarn at the Puffy Mondaes booth. I wish they were closer. I have to take pictures of the yarn yet, so I'll post them later. In the meanwhile, here are the sheep. They were supposed to go straight down Main Street, but those photographers you see in my video weren't staying to the sidewalks, so the sheep took the first opening they saw and headed down the side street instead. (Isn't there some sort of professional courtesy about not getting into another photographer's shot? You should see my other video--it's mostly this one guy's head as he's "ducking" to stay out of my way.)

Sheep in Idaho

Sheep Camp at Trailing of the Sheep

Early tomorrow, too early for me (though I'm trying not to complain since all my friends are geologists and such who have to catch a bus at 4:30 am to travel an hour or more to work a full day), I'm leaving for Idaho. The Western Folklife Center is participating in the Trailing of the Sheep festival. I've created an interactive component to the exhibition that we bring to the historical museum in Ketchum. People are asked to weigh themselves and then compare it to the weight of a wool bag. They can also get inside the wool bag to get an idea of how much room 20 fleece take up. And they can write a poem about sheep. We're all about the poetry at the WFC. On Friday I'll be leading a knitting circle and conducting interviews, two of the things I do best. I'm hoping knitters and other fiber artists will come and knit and chat. I'll simply ask leading questions and record the whole thing, and knit, of course. Here's more information about what we're doing. If you're in Ketchum or Hailey, please stop by and say hello.

I've got three projects going and I don't know which to take. I'm not very into this sock, but I think the Druid Mittens are too complicated for travel. The other project is also too complicated. Both of those have something going on on each row. I've already messed up the Druid Mittens by incorrectly anticipating the chart. I'll fix some of it, but the rest will just have to be a mistake. Gotta have one, right?

I'm hoping to buy some handspun yarn while at the festival. I didn't last year because I didn't have the money and felt overwhelmed by it all. I did pick up a skein of something in Ketchum, and will probably do the same this year. It's good to support the stores in places I visit, I think.

Picture!

Made for Perry for his birthday.

This yarn, Polarknit, is a bit strange to work with. It's a synthetic, of course, so it has that weird feel (though not sticky like acrylic). Its construction is like a piece of fleece was cut into a very long strip. It was staticky, which I haven't experienced in a yarn before. The end result is fabulous, though, so it was worth it for a hat. It's going to be one warm, hip hat, for sure.