BSG; no can see!

Playing catch-up here; the past few days have been busy ones and now I have a short backlog of potential posts in my head – and a long backlog of others' posts to read!

I spent Friday at Black Sheep Gathering – but I forgot my camera! I know; some people don't think this is possible as they are pretty sure my camera is permanently attached to me, but it's true. Charged the battery the night before and everything; oh well. I probably enjoyed my time with numerous friends more without it – although I would loved to have gotten pictures of every single one to prolong the great memories.

Friday was a grey, cool day (that eventually turned wet) – perfect for wearing my new long-sleeved tee with Sara's depiction of Boulderneigh on it. :-)  And even though I didn't take any sheep this year, I was grateful that all the animals that were there didn't have to deal with the added stress of summer heat.

The first person I found (and hugged; yeah, I'm a hugger) was Wanda Jenkins. She and Ed had their display of Jenkins Turkish spindles set up just inside the main exhibit hall (and almost always had a crowd). Then I headed to the Shetland exhibitors' pens to see if Wally needed help showing his Shetlands – and ran into Garrett on the way! We chatted for just a bit, then with a promise to catch up later I continued on to Wally's area where I greeted him and hugged good friend (and shepherdess to four of Boulderneigh's fiber boys) Jeannie and her sister Sandy. They didn't need much help, so I mostly got to sit and watch the Shetland show, visiting with Jackie, Donna, Tina and John, Briana, and my farrier/shearer's wife at the same time. I also said hi to Shannon, Joan, and Jared. What fun it is to connect with so many!

After the Shetland show ended, I dropped off Browning's fleece to be processed (I'll pick up the roving at OFFF) then followed Garrett out to see the Cardi crew. Last year Garrett stayed at our house with three of his dogs, and I fell in love. SOMEday I'm going to have one....

After some doggy snoggles I met up with Laura. We exchanged goodies (she bought half of Bart's fleece and sent her mom's sampling loom home with me) and ate lunch together. Then I cruised the vendors, first with Jeannie and Sandy, then with another blogpal, Shelly. Shelly and I first met at Black Sheep three years ago (we think) when she and a friend stopped to look at my sheep. It was great to connect with her again in person.

There was only one thing on my BSG shopping list, and after wandering through all three vendor halls, I finally found exactly what I was looking for! It is a Yarn Keeper Bracelet that I will use as a wrist distaff for spindling (walking and spindling is something I can do; walking and knitting is highly unlikely!). Of course, I had to get a little fiber to keep that skinny metal thing warm, so I also bought four ounces of superwash merino/alpaca in deepest midnight blue. Oh, and those light locks of wool? Those are from Briana's moorit katmoget ewe that produced two boys with tiny scurs this spring. Briana contacted me to try and figure out how THAT happened (she doesn't breed for polled and had no poll-carrying stock that she knew of), and after determining that the ewe was the likely poll carrier, I expressed interest in learning more about the ewe. After all, if everything else about her is desirable, I'd be interested in getting her for MY flock. Briana brought me those fleece samples, and I'm going to have some micron tested for more information. So far I'm favorably impressed; I just have to make room in my flock by selling some fiber pets!

That's it for BSG 2012, from . . .