From sheep to fleece

-
Some days you don't see any sheep, other days you're surrounded by them... Last weekend, we went camping with our new tent, quite close to home (an hour away) at a lovely nature campsite at Langedijke. In between the potato fields was a small field with high grass and some camping areas set out. We almost felt like we were in the south of France, it was that idyllic!
We looked out on to the sheep enclosure, where two black sheep were living the life of Riley. They obviously were used to people, because every time someone even walked along the fence, they would come up to you, in the hope you brougth them some nice food. Little scoundrels!
The weather on Sunday was glorious, and we had great fun at Doldersum, where there was a small sheep shearing fest. The shepherd took his time shearing the animals, doing only two and then taking a break to flex his (very brown) arms and wave his locks about, but in the mean time we could watch the sheepdog show off his tricks, felt a nice necklace, watch a young spinner in action and, finally, enjoy a performance by Harrie Harrewar. A great afternoon, all in all!
I decided to buy a fleece here, and as luck would have it, I ended up buying the one hubby took loads of whilst it was being shorn.
Right, who's next?
The shepherd in action with 'my' fleece...
All done!
And then it was bundled up into a plastic bag, stuffed into our boot with all our camping gear and brought home! It's a great way to support this lovely initiative...
And tomorrow, I'm going here... They are lucky with the weather today, apparently (while it has been gushing down here...), so I hope we will have a dry day visiting tomorrow!

In other news...
One of my pink socks is done. I've started on the second one, but in a very nice move Mermaid stood on my knitting bag and broke a bamboo needle. Yup, that is one of the drawbacks of wood. It can break... :(
I also finished Coachella. Hooray! Still need to upload some nice pictures to tinternets, but it is definitely sexy! I will mostly be wearing this in situations where I won't have to bend forward ;)
More on these two projects in a next post!

And I did a bit of crafting other than knitting... Mermaids teachers celebrated their birthdays last Friday, and to be slightly different (i.e. not give chocolates or shower gel...), I made something myself.
A cute little bird to hang on their key chain. Sweet, aren't they? I found the idea online somewhere, and it has definitely opened up a huge box of inspiration...
Another idea from the internet was this little fella...
It has found a home in Mermaid's bed and seems to be quite happy there!

Comments

Siem said…
Wat geweldig daar in Balloo, echt iets om te onthouden voor volgend jaar. Wat een leuke dingen komen er allemaal uit jouw handen geweldig en je sokken zijn prachtig.
June 19, 2011 at 1:35 PM
The Knitty Gritty Homestead said…
Cute shearer!! Heehee. This gives me ideas about the future of our little farm...sheep shearing, live music, etc. M's teacher will LOVE that you didn't buy another mug or box of chocolates. Handmade is always best...unless it' a gift cert. to a bookstore or liquor store! Ha!
June 19, 2011 at 2:37 PM
Ammerins said…
Hahaha, Stephanie, a gift certificate for a liquor store (I'll remember that one for Sam's teacher ;) )
And the shearer, hell yeah, cute! I totally see your hubby do this ;)
June 20, 2011 at 9:44 AM
Jolanda said…
Oh, die walvis, wat een plaatje! Daar zou ik ook wel een beschuitje meer willen eten.
June 23, 2011 at 5:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shetland - day 3 - Monday October 8

-
Image
Our third day in Shetland, and a very special one. Not only my wee boy Samuel celebrated his birthday - he turned 6 - but Monique as well. So while I phoned home early in the morning to sing Happy Birthday to my son, Monique had her own choir on the phone ;) After a quick breakfast, we set out for Lerwick, and on the way there we decided to go for a walk along the beach first, before venturing into town. Wearing my Shetland hat, which became a very welcome, warm and trusty companion The cemetery at the Knab We drove around Breiwick Bay and parked our car at the Knab, a natural promontory facing Bressay, where there are several relics from WWII and also a huge cemetery, with some amazing and beautiful headstones. Almost a view to die for... The view from the cemetary Although the weather was lovely when we arrived, quickly the wind picked up and it started raining. We ran back to the car and drove back into town. Time for some birthday cake! The Museum was an obvious c...
Read more

An image says more than a thousand words

-
Image
This is how they've slept the last two nights. Two little angels (don't ask how they behaved during the daytime, because the sleep only comes after a lot of laughter and playing and music, ergo short nights, ergo cranky kids)! I'll have to miss this sight a few evenings next week, as I found out today that I have to go into hospital on Monday for a planned cyste removal. It's a bit eh... sudden! I've been on the waiting list for weeks, and it turned out they had the wrong phone number. The fact that it was right on the official forms and that I'm listed in the phonebook apparently didn't matter. Anyway, just enough time to ensure that the kiddies and daddy are taken care of and that other appointments are moved (which was not easy, as it's a day off today for a lot of people, and I also had a work appoint halfway across the country today - thank God for e-mail and Internet!). It also means that I'll be printing out a few knitting patterns for the ho...
Read more

Dusting off the sewing machine

-
Image
After creating my own little crafting space in the attic, it was inevitable that I was going to start using it. Last Summer, we bought some nice fabric at IKEA to use for new cushion covers, and, as I was too busy with work and knitting, the fabric disappeared in a box... Until last week! It then took a few more nights of stewing over ideas and designs, and then I realized what I was supposed to make with it: a new cover for our Pello chair . We rescued the chair from a charity shop a few months ago, and the cover was, well, faded and included some interesting 'design elements'. I had washed it a few times, but it just never regained its former glory. But would the fabric we had not be a bit too loud? So, first, I decided to sew up a smaller project, to see how the fabric worked. I made a small crochet needle roll from a similar fabric, with a larger print, and some pink. With my confidence in myself and trust in my Husky restored, I got to work. Measuring, cutting, more meas...
Read more