Festival

Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival

This morning my sister and I went out and hit the 1st annual Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival. For its first year, there were definitely some good things to see. First, we watched some Stock dog training. Being a fairly new dog person, it was fun to see the border collies herd the sheep around. The next hit was...of course...the fiber vendors. We were disappointed to not find very many Iowa vendors. I had my heart set on a drop spindle, but there really wasn't much of a variety. There was quite a bit of nice fiber (some dyed, some not)...so if you are a spinner, this would have been a good place to do some shopping. We didn't walk away with much. I picked up the sheep you can see next to the flyer (better picture below). It is a frivolity that I found amusing. The folks at Salisbury Hill Farm (www.salisburyhillfarm.com) had it. It is called "Naughty Sheep". At first glance, I thought it was a nicely embroidered sheep patch that I could put on a knitting bag. They told me that it is to be filled up with chocolate-covered raisins, and then you can push the candy out through the back of the sheep...you get the idea. I thought it was pretty funny, and damn cute embroidery, so it came home with me.The people at Salisbury Hill Farm were really nice. They told us we should come a visit them sometime. My sister picked up some yummy smelling soap that was very natural, with goat milk from them as well. Other than some kettle corn, I came home pretty empty-handed. I was a little disappointed in the amount of yarn there...not very much spun yarn that was not commercial...guess I will just have to learn to be a spinner, eh?

Let me know if you happened to check out the festival and what your thoughts were. It was good for the first year, but I have higher hopes for next year's event.