Sonntag, 13. Mai 2012

Celebrating Fiber

First, of course, I want to wish all of you mums a wonderful and happy Mothers Day! 


Since I gave birth to my son I realize how I have started to find a deeper and more intense connection to the rhythm of the seasons. In nature and our home. I really want to show him all there is, this earth is offering us in plenty and I love to watch him while he discovers his world step by step.
There seem to be so many beautiful things happening around us every day if we just find the time to stop and appreciate them. Having started writing this blog and especially reading how you fellow bloggers live the seasons has added to this feeling even more. In the last weeks I have read some blog entries about sheep festivals and I was filled with excitement just by the thought of such a great event. 
A festival for fiber... I so wanted a tradition like that to be a part of our seasons too, just like I read this morning on Rhythm of the home. But I was sure, I would not find anything like a sheep festival anywhere near Cologne. Until my lovely sister, Aarons Tante Auto, a great spinner, asked me yesterday if we wanted to join her today to go, exactly, to a sheep festival. Did we want to go? You can imagine my joy...
The festival toke place in a very pretty open air museum, a small village that showes how people have lived in that area in the last centuries. You can watch all the old crafts, the farming, the living and today, plenty of sheep and other farm animals. Let me take you on a tour if you don't mind:


Here they are, the sweeties, still sweating with all that wool on there bodies...


... here they get undressed. It was a hilarious sight to watch this big ram sitting on a small stage, very patiently in a position like this, getting warped very naked. A wee bit like a peep show...


They had very many different breeds to show, this is a black German Heath, with very impressive horns.


A very smalll German Heath, a fully grown up dwarf version, so cute but very serious...


I just wanted to sit down and join in if I had only brought my wheel.




So much yummy stuff. I really had to hold close to my wallet.


The older kids could join in all sorts of activities, like felting, spinning and other crafts.


Hey, watch out for Lotta. She is a very cute Llama, everyone totally loved her.


And are those little fellows not extremly cute with their colorful knitted hats?




Even at times when there is no sheep festival this museum is definately worth a visit but today was just perfect, the weather was mild and sunny, everything was so very, very fresh and green, exploding with life.



Oh yeah, this little man enjoyed our outing too, very much indeed.



Did you know the very uncommon chameleon sheep ;-) very hard to find some...

My tour has ended now, but of course I didn't come home empty handed. What I toke home is plenty: a happy, very tired child, many images on camera and in my head, wonderful memories, lots of new information and, well, some wool for spinning:



The grey wool is from a Gotland Sheep, the very white is Wensleydale and the stuff with the dreadlocks is freshly warped today from some unknow (it came from a huge bag with different fleeces) but very soft sheep. That stuff is fanstastic it contains so much lanolin you can cream your hands just by holding it.
One last things I got, for free as a sample, is a garden fertilizer made from sheep wool. What an interesting product, I will have to find out more about that soon. If you speak German and are interested too, you can find out more here.


After this beautiful day I am sure, joining the festival of fiber will definatly become part of our anual way to celebrate the seasons. Oh yes!

Now, if you please excuse me, I have to get back to my wheel for a few more minutes ;-)
I hope you all spent a wonderful Mothers Day, just the way you needed it. 

9 Kommentare:

  1. What a nice day you had! Ich muss auch so was in der Nähe suchen!
    Grüße!

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  2. Ohhh, ich habe vergessen dich zu fragen, welches Buch von Soulemama würdest du mir als erstes empfehlen? Kann mich gar nicht entscheiden!

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  3. Haha, das glaubst du nicht, aber wir waren gestern auch in Lindlar, und ich meine, den Kleinen auch gesehen zu haben :D da sind wir uns bestimmt über den Weg gelaufen :))

    LG
    Keks

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  4. Ich hab gerade bei Robert den Post mit den blauen Autobahnschildern gelesen und einfach mal deinen Kommentar angeklickt :) Und da kam mir das erste Foto direkt schon so bekannt vor :D Wir wohnen (leider) nicht (mehr) in Köln. Aber die Welt ist ja wirklich total klein :D

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  5. Wow, ich bin begeistert! So oft habe ich mir auch schon gewünscht, dass es solche Verantstaltungen bei uns in der Nähe gäbe. Mir scheint ich muss nur mal die Augen offen halten, vielleicht habe ich sie ja bisher ebenfalls übersehen.

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  6. That was some festival! That looks like a perfect day (I hear my husband groaning:)) And a funny thing: that lady hanging the laundry on the line? She looks just like my own German grandmother!!

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  7. What a wonderful day - and thank you fo sharing your impressions with us! Just looking at your gorgeous photos makes me imaging the softness of the fiber and the sheep's "flavor" :) And it is a good reminder to slow down and eventually take some time to spin a little... Have a good time!

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  8. Welch wundervolle Bilder! Die viele Wolle, diese wunderbaren Farben... hach...
    der Huflattich wird übrigens demnächst mal losgeschickt (und nicht bloß liegengelassen auf der Kommode). Ich bin nur irgendwie leider ziemlich... hmmm... vergesslich. Es gibt kein beschönigenderes Wort :(
    Aber: ich bin dran!
    Alles, alles Liebe!!! maria

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  9. What a wonderful time, all that lovely woolly-ness - fibre events are such fun for everyone. I love to spin at events like that too, sounds like a great place.

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