Kentucky Sheep & Fiber AND Surprises

Kerry, Mary Ann, and Lynne

 Yesterday, Lynne and Kerry and Mary Ann and I took our third annual trip to the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington. 

It was a beautiful day, albeit a little on the warm side for May.  The festival is in its third year and it seems to grow a little every year.  This year they added another tent to the two other buildings and they seemed to have more classes to offer. 

Of course, there was meltingly beautiful fiber and yarn in a kaleidoscope of colors. 

And lots of nice people to talk to, like this lady who was spinning angora on her Ashford wheel and was admiring my Canon camera.  She was a true soul sister. 

I also ran into a whole slew of my fiber buddies:  Lorain, Karen, Linda, Norma, Rachel, and Barb.
 We watched a chef prepare a delicious lamb dish and got samples and recipes too! 

And, of course, there were the animals.

Lynne feeding an alpaca

This llama has a totally goofy smile

Last, but not least, I came home with a new family member.  Meet Cookies and Cream from Fiber Crazy Rabbitry in West Virginia.  I just couldn't walk away.

Cookies and Cream meets Kate for the first time

 Ben Randolph had about a dozen gorgeous rabbits for sale at the festival.  I went over to take a look and said "You don't have any Satins, do you?"  Yes he did.  "You don't have any Satin bucks, do you?"  Yes, he did.  Not only that, but he had a broken black satin buck.

 I've always wanted white angora fiber, but the red eyes just creep me out.  So, I've always thought it would be ideal to have a broken or an ermine.  What really clinched the deal was that the buck's mother was Tatiana from Somerhill, and his father's line came from Joan Hasting's stock.  It didn't hurt that when I put him on the table to admire him, he came right to me and put his paws on my chest.  :)

So, he came home with me in Lynne's car.  (Lynne was very sweet about letting him come home with us, even though she's allergic).  He sat quietly on my lap all the way home and seemed to settle in pretty well.  He dove into his food and ate two big handfuls of hay besides.  He was born Feb. 1, so he's about four months old. 

Although his official name is Cookies and Cream, I think we're going to call him Charlie, after Charlie Chaplin.  He has black on his face like a black moustache and he's black and white, like old movies.  We'll see when we get to know him better what we want to call him.  After all, Andy was named Merlin for about a week before it became clear that he was really an Andy.