Alotapalooza

No new sockapaloooza photos here today (I finished the leg on the second sock and am ready to start the heel, but that didn't seem photo-worthy), so I figured I'd blog about anotherpalooza.

This weekend P. and I went to Woolapalooza at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Mass. It's basically a sheepshearing festival, but with more educational components. They have the "sheep to sweater" trail, which (as the name would suggest) follows the path of wool from sheepshearing through cleaning, carding, spinning, and felting, knitting or weaving. They had some "learn to knit" tutorials, as well as a very few vendors. I was sorely tempted by the reclaimed cashmere yarn one woman was selling, but I managed to resist. They also had sheepdog herding demonstrations and some other fiber-related exhibits and activities (linen, angora rabbits, etc.)

The variety of activities (which were spread throughout the farm) made for a fun morning, even though it was really cold. It's no coincidence that the place to be was in the kitchen, which was serving up chili and hot coffee. P. enjoyed the day (even though it was windy), although he was seriously traumatized by watching the sheepshearing. He got right up to the gate to watch the process, and got very serious as he did so. As we walked away from the sheepshearing area, he looked up at me very seriously and said, "Mama, they killed the sheep!" I thought I had explained that they were just cutting the sheep's fleece, but apparently I didn't do a good enough job. We went back to the sheepshearing shed so that he could see the newly shorn sheep alive and kicking, which seemed to reassure him.

In my technical ineptitude I can no longer find the Woolapalooza photos I uploaded yesterday--if I can track them down later today, I'll add them to this post . . .