Chic Parisian Sheep

There was an entire barn full of sheep and goats at the Salon de l'Agriculture.

Most of the breeds were meat or milk breeds, but there was a handful of gloriously fibery merinos and Rambouillets. Like the horses, there were a lot of France-specific breeds and some unusual rare breeds.

There were some beautiful bald-faced Bleu du Maine sheep being judged in the showring.

This woman had the most wonderful sheepy vest and chapeau that blended right in with livestock.

Sadly, most of the animals seemed pretty stressed. Unlike Rhinebeck, which is mostly outdoors in covered areans, this was completely indoors in a big heated building. It was hot. I had taken off my winter coat and spent most of the time a bit on the swampy-pits side of my temperature range. Most of the sheep had not been sheared and had been outside for most of the winter, and they were visibly panting and uncomfortable.

Another thing that agitated me is that pretty much every pen had a sign that asked you to not touch the animals and to just let them be (most of them were hiding out of reach anyway) and not only were people poking at any animal within reach, I saw a lot of grown-ass men doing rather dick things taunting the animals- grabbing at a ram's horns and shaking them or lifting their kids into the pens with them. Poor, terrified sheep.

A rather nightmare-inducing Rouge de l'Ouest:

I didn't know sheep could get that ugly. Slap a red, hairless face on one and suddenly an herbivore looks like it's out for blood.

I thought this Mourerous had a lovely, thoughtful face:

Suffolks:

As you can see, I spent hours wandering around the sheep and goat pens. I was hoping there would be more wool/yarn/crafty things. There was a couple- someone had some very nice mohair yarns and another lady had mostly pre-made garments from her wool and a few skeins of millspun yarn, but the rustic yarn craze has yet to really hit France. I'm a merino and cashmere kind of gal in an acrylic kind of crafting scene.

A Rambouillet, keeping clean for the show ring:

There was only one shepherd who brought tiny Ouessant sheep:

These are a fairly rare breed from Brittany- the French version of a Shetland or Icelandic primitive-style sheep. They look lamb-sized, but these are as big as they get. They are almost always black in color.

Oh, and there were lambs!

I have no idea what kind of sheep these are, but they were adorable with their raccoon masks and lop ears. They were shy about all the people around them, but occasionally would ignore the crowd enough to leap around and play and just be as cute as possible.

MORE Sheep and Wool...and Frisbee Dogs, too

My favorite part about Rhinebeck is wandering around and checking out the sheep and goats and then eating said sheep and goats. Kidding! They do serve plenty of good lamb dishes though. They put some distance between the sheep being petted and the sheep being eaten...the places serving lamb are far away from the sheep barns. It does seem kind of cannibalistic. Apple cider donuts and kettle corn for me then.

This Cheviot was a bit too pretty to eat anyway.













One of the highlights of the day for many are the frisbee catching canines. They used to have sheep dog trials, but I'm not sure what happened...now they just have sheep dog frisbee. They are fascinating to watch.



The dogs are just filled with vibrant energy and concentration.



















So about the shopping...people spend oodles of money here every year. I've spent a kagillion bucks here in previous years. It's great to support the industry and small farmers and indie businesses. However, I was just uninspired to shop and found myself in much more of a contemplative mood. I think I've been doing this festival for so long now that I've already bought everything that I feel the need to buy. Weird, right? Also, it's been much more of a social event for me...getting out of the city and hanging out with good people I don't see often enough becomes a priority. Plus, I have a few big trips coming up and that money that wasn't spent on fiber will soon used to buy the perfect croissant.

As I was walking to the car park at the end of the day, I swung by the Foxhill Farm booth and bought a bag of Cormo roving. I couldn't buy absolutely nothing. It just felt all sorts of wrong. Alice Field breeds and raises the loveliest sheep- she keeps them blanketed, so they are nice and clean. You can just tell when you are spinning it that the sheep it came from was loved and well cared for. The roving isn't over-proceeded at all and I had so much fun spinning what I bought from her last year.



Totally worthwhile purchase. It will keep me busy for countless hours, along with the rather huge stash of fleece from previous Rhinebecks that are still patiently stored in bags under my bed.

More Rhinebeck, Including a Highly Coveted Spinning Session

This man is a rock star.



Well, in the spinning world anyway. It's Norm Hall, and he makes the most amazingly gorgeous spinning wheels by hand. They aren't cheap.

He doesn't have a website. He stopped taking orders in 2005. You can get on a wait list, but it's not unheard of to wait many many years before you get a glimmer of hope that your dream wheel will get made. There is an active market in selling your spot on the wait list.

I only ever see him at Rhinebeck. He sits around his booth, chats with his fan club and occasionally, a lucky wait-lister will show up to pick up their wheel.



It was love at first spin for Mknits.



He also has a nice banjo player in his booth plucking away and making the corner a small sanctuary in all the grabby shoving of the festival.

Happily, his booth is very close to where lamb chili could be had, and I spied the most amazing sweater:



Handspun, handdyed, handknit. This woman was so proud of it, and as you can see from the stranger's hand reaching out to touch it, everyone was in awe of it.



She was super-proud of it. The fleece even came from a previous Rhinebeck.



I was having a lot of fun walking around with my camera and trying to capture the essence of the moment.











I have even more sheepy pictures tomorrow...and some gorgeous sheep dogs as well.

I Feel As Though I Owe a Rhinebeck Post

Or maybe two. I took a lot of pictures.

I've has quite the roller coaster ride the past couple weeks...my long-term business partner/ boss resigned, a great deal of the company is being reassigned to unemployment, and I've been dealing with a pesky and painful reoccurring kidney infection that knocks me out for days at a time. Morale is pretty darn low in my 9 to 5 world. Some quiet meandering upstate was a great way to clear my head and catch up with friends I don't see enough.



It's been a tough few months upstate...all that rain from Irene and a generally soggy fall means the autumnal colors aren't quite as brilliant. Still, it's a beautiful area and completely enjoyable regardless.





It was, dare I say, unseasonably warm for October. Perhaps a little tough to think about woolen things. The best remedy for that is to surround yourself with wool and woolie creatures. Soon the spirit of a woolen wonderland will take you away.



Unusual for me, I did not get to the fleece sale first thing and nab some primo crimpy soft fleece. I think the three fleeces that I have from last year still have me content that I have enough fleece, and maybe I need to start looking for more time to sit down and spin said fleece.

The Loop Booth looked great, as usual. Steph had a rather tough year, and she's missing a digit to prove it. Irene was not kind to her either...her studio flooded and she had to move, all while trying to get enough batts and roving made to fill her booth with goodies.



I'm not really a glitter girl, but her stuff is so pretty.



On to the animals, who are the ones doing all the hard work and producing all the goods (and plenty of organic fertilizer as well).

















Angora goats:







More tomorrow....