Catching A Black Lamb At Night

Last night at 10pm I heard a lamb while I was sitting in my room. It isn't unusual to hear lambs, but usually they don't baa incessantly at 10 at night. This could mean only one thing. The lamb ran down one side of the fence into the pasture and its mum was on the other side. So I did what any person about to go to bed would do. I ran out in the field to catch the lamb. There was a snag in this plan though. All the lambs that have been born in the last month have been black. I was now looking for quick, black lamb in complete darkness. Here is what catching a black lamb at night looks like.

Stupid thing was quicker than me. And skinnier. I managed to find a weak spot in the fence. I am not lamb-sized, so I got to walk the long way around. Eventually I was able to reunite the lamb and mum. Below is the little cutey I saved.

This is Odette and Copernicus. To the left is Diana, who is twenty days older than the twins

I also learned an important lesson. Sheep get stupider as they get older. The lambs are pretty smart. They are curious and they appear to like to learn. They seem to learn stupidity from their parents.

Bonus Picture. Here are Diana (front), and Eleanor.

Agrodome

We went to the Agrodome, which is in Rotorua, to see the sheep show. There are 19 rams presented in the show. The top ram was a Merino. He didn't seem to have much of a problem with the dog on top of it.

I hadn't seen the sheep show since I was was shorter than the sheep. I recall them frightening me. Not so much this time, although this fine looking fellow, a Border Leicester, was a bit more interested in the puff ball on top of my hat than I cared for.

It is lambing season in New Zealand right now. I got to feed the lambies. The ones who weren't getting the bottle sucked on my fingers. It tickled.

Across the parking lot from the sheep show was this gem.

With my favorite thing inside. Yarn.

I came away with a bit.

They had a 104 year old card on the inside, which is still in use. It seemed a bit longer than the ones we have at the Yolo Wool Mill. This card was made in England.

They also had a lovely collection of spinning wheels.

My favorite one was this. It was fashioned out of bits and bobs during the war, which I'm assuming was WWII.

I also found this lovely collection of signs in shearing shed. I already knew wool was excellent, but it was wonderful to learn why.

Black Sheep Gathering

I got to go to Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene with my lovely coworker Marcail! We saw all sorts of sheep and fiber. The stuff dreams are made of.

There was sheep judging. We caught the Jacob's Sheep part of the judging.

And cute little Shetland lambs. I didn't have enough sense to take any pictures of the many vendors. But that may have been because I was busy "petting the wool" as my Dad would say.

Marcail's Aunt Leslie very kindly offered us a place to stay while we were in Eugene. She has a cute cabin in the woods.

I even got my own room.

The cabin is right by a river.

I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Big trees enveloped the entire area.

Despite being at Black Sheep Gathering for extraordinary amounts of time, we got a fair amount of spinning done.

And now for the "Loot" shots. I bought plenty of fiber. But only two balls of yarn. I'm very proud of my self restraint. The official list: White Targhee roving from The Fiber Addict; Two balls of Meilenweit Wool color 711 from Woodland Woolworks; Orange/ Turquoise roving, color way - Sahara (there were two, but I spun one before I took the picture) and Lavender roving, color way 108 from Sweet Grass Wool; Bag of Teal roving From Barn To Yarn; Grey roving, color way Springtime (which I have spun before, but needed a little more) Schildt Ranch; and lastly, the variegated teal roving, color way English Garden from Eugene Textile Center.

And the crowning purchase. A graduation gift from my Oma and Opa. My very own spinning wheel. I did plenty of research and tried out a bunch of wheels at BSG. I settled on a Double Treadle Lendrum Folding Wheel from Woodland Woolworks. (The other bit of Sahara Roving is on the bobbin.) Oh the bliss.