And the rain continues.

Oh yes, the rain continues.  It's been a bit more sporadic today but as of posting time, it's still raining.  I'm beginning to think that someone should start building an ark and collecting animals.  Swollen rivers and continuing showers caused many events to be cancelled over the weekend.  Thankfully, the Wool Market in Estes Park wasn't cancelled!

Vanessa and I started our wool adventure with lemon poppyseed scones from Starbucks.  Then we headed out of town towards the fog covered mountains with the windshield wipers going and our mouths blabbering.  Vanessa and I don't get to hang out as often as we'd like so we have to make the most of those times we do get together.  We may have been separated at birth.  We're both Taurus souls - creative, imaginative, big-dreamers, simply entertained, and easily bored.  All of these traits make any of our make-our-own-adventure days into a great ones!

When we arrived in Estes, we made our way to the fairgrounds under stormy clouds... and rain.  Our first stop was the Paco-Vicunas tent, which due to the rain, also housed the Sheep to Shawl demonstration.  We made our way around the alpaca pens and then got sucked into the carding, spinning, and looming of the sheep to shawl competition.  Vanessa and I stood in awe (our jaws may have dropped) and watched the seamless transition of the fiber from one person to the next.  Here are some shots of the different teams hard at work.  Yes, I said teams!  Four teams of five people work for five hours to transform the wool into a wearable shawl.

     

After breaking out of our sheep to shawl stupor, Vanessa tried her hand at spinning in the children's tent.  Don't knock it.  She did a great job!!

After Vanessa added spinning to her resume, we went to see the GOATS!!  There was a goat show or judging of some kind going on when we got there.  The folks in the judging circle and those surrounding it were taking everything very seriously.  As we meandered our way up and down the aisles looking at all of the goats left out of the debutante ball, we overheard things like "A goat of this age shouldn't have wool of any quality, but this one does.  I give it a four." and "We look for third teats on male goats.  That's one thing we want to know if it's passed onto offspring."  Clearly, this was THE moment for a lot of goat breeders in Colorado and surrounding states, but all I cared about was checking out the goats' personalities.  Some definitely seemed more friendly than others.  I'd imagine it has a lot to do with how they're raised.

Unfortunately, the event was very much geared towards people who knew about the different animals.  Very few pens had labels.  And those that did, were just name tags for the goats.  It would have been great to know which of the some 200 goat breeds I was looking at it.  I definitely would have made notes as to my favorites!

The weather cooperated for a while and we got to see a sheep herding demonstration!  I'd explain it, but I'm not quite sure I could do so as simply as the host.  Basically, a shepherd can have his/her dog bring the sheep, move the sheep, push the sheep in any direction of their choosing with verbal commands, whistles, and hand movements!  It was fun to watch.  The dogs were intense!  Even when it wasn't their turn to strut their stuff and they were told "That'll do for now, ____," they watched every move the sheep made. 

After the sheep herding we checked out the vendor barn.  Vanessa and I both agreed it would have been ten times more fun if we had the ability to make something out of the fabulous fibers for sale in the vendor barn.  I did buy my very first pair of knitting needles.  A photo of them will have to come another day.

The sky started spitting at us again as we left town, but it didn't stop us from taking a photo break alongside the road.  The Big Thompson river is so high and moving so fast right now; we couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap some photos.  Check it out!

Upstream                                              Downstream

It was a great day!  Our little Taurus hearts loved the possibilities the day created.  For in a goat,  sheep, rabbit, or alpaca lie sweaters, blankets, gloves, scarves, socks, and so much more!!  I look forward to the day I can proudly wear a stocking cap or scarf that I made!!!  As always, I'll post photos when it happens!