The first thing we did when we got to Katie's house was to visit her animals. Katie's ewe's each had twins this year. We caught one of the natural colored, Southdown cross ewes. Mom fell in love with this tiny ewe lamb. Katie hasn't named her yet. She was much smaller then her sister. I love her fluffy face.
Even though the lamb was calling for her mom, Darla, I think she enjoyed being snuggled. 
If the lamb could have been house trained, I'm pretty sure my mom would have found a way to sneak her home.
If the lamb could have been house trained, I'm pretty sure my mom would have found a way to sneak her home. 
I got to take a turn snuggling her. She was so cute. She smelled like sheep in the best possible way. Her momma must do a great job keeping her clean.
Here is Katie and her wonderful lamb. Katie has amazing animals and takes such wonderful care of them.
Okay, I know... another picture of the lamb... but just look at that fluffy face and those deep brown eyes!
Okay, moving on to the goat kids. I think this is Brutus. Or is it Ida? Well, either way, it's one of the goat kids. They were so cute and bouncy. We were so excited that my brother, Chris and his lovely girlfriend, Nikki, had the evening off to come hang out with us.
Don't they make a sweet couple? We all went to an Amish quilt store, where I bought mom some quilt fabric for her birthday. Then we went to Byler's (my favorite bulk food store) where I picked up 50lb. bags of whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, and rolled oats as well as a few other things I needed. That should give me enough flour and oats until Fall.
Later that evening we celebrated Mom's birthday with strawberry shortcake and spent time telling Nikki funny stories from Chris's childhood. Chris opened his birthday presents a bit early (today is his actual birthday! Happy Birthday, Chris!).
The weather was perfect! Breezy and just a little warm. I've heard that some years are super hot so I'm glad we got lucky this year.
We walked through all of the sheep barns. They had an amazing variety of sheep breeds. Katie was definitely in her element.
This sheep had an amazing fleece. The wool was long with curls on the ends.
Look at this guy's horns!
My mom made a friend of this ram. He stood there and seemed to smile as she scratched his head and under his chin.
Here is a blurry picture of the inside of one of the vendor barns. The sides were lined with vendor stalls and the middle was jam packed with people. It was a little claustrophobic and you had to slowly make your way out of the mob if you wanted to get a closer look at what the vendor had to offer.
Aunt Linda, thanks for telling us to stop by this booth! Tilli Thomas definitely had some amazing yarn. The delicate beads mixed in with the fiber was beautiful.
Aunt Linda, Katie tried to kiss an Alpaca for you but they wouldn't come close enough to the fence.
My mom enjoyed watching the sheep shows that went on throughout the day. Look at these huge sheep! They're a cross breed and looked more like little ponies then sheep.
The next morning, Katie and I made a Mother's Day brunch to celebrate our mom and our own motherhood.
I bought lots of roving to use when I knit thrummed mittens for this upcoming winter. I can't wait to make super warm mittens with bright colored, fluffy lining. I think this roving was only $1.65/oz but I'll edit later if the price is wrong.
Okay, this isn't yarn/knitting related but I found a vendor that sold lots of antique and quirky items. I saw this little shadow box (that really used to be a drawer) and knew I had to have it. My Aunt Linda has a shadow box shelf similar to it that I've always loved. Hers is filled with tiny little treasures. I need to start collecting my own treasures to fit in my new shadow box. It was a pretty good deal at $9.
Katie and I found a vendor from Michigan who was selling hand dyed yarn at a very reasonable price. These skeins were $7.50 each for fingering/sport weight yarn. I think we figured out that there was about 500 yards per skein. It's not super soft but not terribly scratchy either. I love the bold, saturated colors.
Later that evening we celebrated Mom's birthday with strawberry shortcake and spent time telling Nikki funny stories from Chris's childhood. Chris opened his birthday presents a bit early (today is his actual birthday! Happy Birthday, Chris!). The next morning we said goodbye to Nikki and Chris and headed to the Howard County Fairgrounds for the Sheep and Wool festival.
The weather was perfect! Breezy and just a little warm. I've heard that some years are super hot so I'm glad we got lucky this year.
We walked through all of the sheep barns. They had an amazing variety of sheep breeds. Katie was definitely in her element.
This sheep had an amazing fleece. The wool was long with curls on the ends.
Look at this guy's horns!
My mom made a friend of this ram. He stood there and seemed to smile as she scratched his head and under his chin.
Here is a blurry picture of the inside of one of the vendor barns. The sides were lined with vendor stalls and the middle was jam packed with people. It was a little claustrophobic and you had to slowly make your way out of the mob if you wanted to get a closer look at what the vendor had to offer. 
Aunt Linda, thanks for telling us to stop by this booth! Tilli Thomas definitely had some amazing yarn. The delicate beads mixed in with the fiber was beautiful.
Aunt Linda, Katie tried to kiss an Alpaca for you but they wouldn't come close enough to the fence.
My mom enjoyed watching the sheep shows that went on throughout the day. Look at these huge sheep! They're a cross breed and looked more like little ponies then sheep. We had a wonderful, exhausting day. There were an incredible amount of vendors and they were from all over the country. We saw every type of fiber imaginable including yak and dog yarn! I was a little disappointed that there weren't more budget friendly yarns but it was certainly the place to go to find top of the line fiber!
On the way home we picked up Chinese take out and crashed on Katie's couch for the evening. I think we were all asleep by 9:00 that night!
The next morning, Katie and I made a Mother's Day brunch to celebrate our mom and our own motherhood. Mom and I were sad to leave our Katie and her wonderful family and animals. We had such a great weekend.
What did I buy at the festival, you ask? Well, amidst all of that luxury yarn, there were a few deals to be had. (I'll edit this post later with vendor names... the daycare baby is sleeping in the same room with my bag of loot)
I bought lots of roving to use when I knit thrummed mittens for this upcoming winter. I can't wait to make super warm mittens with bright colored, fluffy lining. I think this roving was only $1.65/oz but I'll edit later if the price is wrong.
Okay, this isn't yarn/knitting related but I found a vendor that sold lots of antique and quirky items. I saw this little shadow box (that really used to be a drawer) and knew I had to have it. My Aunt Linda has a shadow box shelf similar to it that I've always loved. Hers is filled with tiny little treasures. I need to start collecting my own treasures to fit in my new shadow box. It was a pretty good deal at $9. I bought the shoe form for only $3.50. I thought it was charming. I'm not sure where I'll put it or what I'll do with it yet. Hmmm... maybe I'll knit a sock for it!
Katie and I found a vendor from Michigan who was selling hand dyed yarn at a very reasonable price. These skeins were $7.50 each for fingering/sport weight yarn. I think we figured out that there was about 500 yards per skein. It's not super soft but not terribly scratchy either. I love the bold, saturated colors. I can't wait to go back next year!! Are you in, Katie and Momma? Aunt Linda?
