Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival 2012

It's finally here!  The Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival!!!  I may have gotten a little excited about it. Well, at least this guy seems to be giving me a look that says - Chill!  Haven't you ever seen a sheep before!?

(I have seen sheep before - close up and personal, mind you.  Still not touching them though.)

As planned, we left super early so we could get a good parking spot right near the gate.  I know some folks like to park in the back so they can get out quickly, but we like to be right up front.  L- brought a fantastic breakfast.  So we put out the tea table and china and sat, enjoying the morning.  Spinach quiche, fresh fruit, greek yogurt and croissants were the perfect start to the day along with piping hot coffee.

We sat enjoying our breakfast and watched people who watched us.  It was really friendly, everyone so excited about the festival, groups of friends chatting about the classes and the yarns.  Some of the more distant travelers came in groups on buses.

Before we knew it, it was time to go in.  L- off to her class and I, off to ... well just stopping in the first building before heading over to see the sheep.

The farmer's were still clipping and fluffing the sheep to prepare them for the judging and auctions.  I still can't understand how they convince the sheep to stand on those tables for their haircuts (fleece-cuts?), but they just pop them up there and start trimming away.  Of course there's plenty of kibitzing about the trimming.  This guy needs a bit more off the left.

My first stop was to see the color on these beauties.   Sun bleached gold tips with a creamy base.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

The pens were filled to the brim.  Usually 2 large or 4 smaller sheep per pen.  They just hang out and eat while they wait for their turn to be fluffed.

I really enjoy seeing all of the different breeds each year.  I'm not sure just what they are, but I understand that a lot of them are rare and endangered breeds from smaller farms.

Some of them were pretty curious about the folks who were curious about them.

Some of them might have thought we were a little nuts...

Or maybe disturbing their grazing a bit...

I loved these guys though.  They had the whole pen-grazing thing down to a "T".

The guy on the right would pick up some hay and toss it back, the one on the right waited for his pen mate to toss it onto its' head, and then he plucked it off.  Much more efficient than stretching all the way to the pile on the ground.  Clever boy.

I stopped in at the Ulster County Handspinners Guild where they were giving free lessons in drop spindle spinning.  I gave it a try - it was fun!  Very calming.  Mine is the skinny piece of yarn at the top there.  I wasn't too terribly lame at it.  The beginner's drop spindle stays on the list!

Next I was off to the border collie trials.  4 sheep, 1 dog and 1 human keeping the choreographed ballet from turning into a bloodbath.

This 5-year old border collie was fast, responsive and did I mention she was fast?

She would turn on a dime, run a huge circle around the sheep and turn back again before the sheep even had a chance to take 5 steps.

Once she got them walking nicely behind the shepherd, she kept her distance and zig-zagged back and forth to keep them moving where she was told to move them.  I just can't help but think that our little pup would love playing with the sheep like this.  She's almost old enough...

After picking up L- from her class, we headed out to the shops.  First we went through the big shops.  We don't buy there, just look and occasionally touch.  But you have to be careful about touching because some of those yarns are so soft and silky it makes you want to buy then and there.  And these guys all have web sites - and sales.  Even though it's a festival, you won't find a lot on sale at these displays.

Of course they have fantastic displays.  This simple little shawl had the cutest stitch pattern.  I'll have to look it up when I get home.

It looks like little leaves all in a row.

This lady is from Wales and her booth has examples of all types of wool fun - from knitting to weaving.  I had heard that the wool from across the pond wasn't as silky soft as American wool - and after fingering some of the samples, I have to agree.  That delicate grey lace shawl in the foreground looked so lovely, but it felt like it was made from itchy twigs.  Of course, that also gave it more body to hold open the lacework patterns.  But still...too scratchy.

I had to go and look at mohair just to recover.  These were the color of the fall leaves and sunset combined.  Lovely.  Expensive!  But lovely.

This angora bunny also helped me get over the Welsh wool.  Hey - maybe our pup would like...on second thought, she would probably see this as dinner.  Nevermind.

Of course it would not be a festival without judging.  And these goats were ready for it.

This guy, however, seemed a little ticked off at his handlers holding methodology.  Since he didn't have any horns, she was forced to hang on tightly to his beard.  There was a look in his eye that said - let go.  just one second, let go.  I dare you.

We headed on home with one last look at the sheep.  Love this chocolate fleece.

And the llamas.  I think I'm allergic to these guys.  I started sneezing the minute we got near them.  That's okay though.  They spit and I'm not sure if our pup would herd them - or run far away, really fast from them.

So all in all, I got my drop spindle, roving, a hand-dyed sock yarn, a contribution to cancer research sock yarn, border collie rescue contribution and a very wonderful time with L-.  We looked, bought, got jostled, looked some more walked until we dropped.

I can't wait until next year!  Maybe after a little heating pad action on my back, but still - very excited!

Stay On Target

I have to admit that I might have been a bit distracted today.  There's something happening this weekend that may have taken up a small bit of my attention.

It's RHINEBECK TIME!!!!!!!!

Yes, tomorrow is the Sheep and Wool Festival over in Rhinebeck and I am ever so excited about it.  My friend, L-, and I have been planning since - well, since last year's trip.

All day my mind was wandering while I tried to get through the commute, the work, the evening commute, making dinner.  All I could think about was the wool.  I'm clearly obsessed.

We start the day early, have breakfast in the parking lot and then she'll head off to a class while I head off to see all of the sheep.  The afternoon is all about the shopping.  Fiber direct from the farmer, yarns I only get to see on the internet, and all of the sweaters and shawls that everyone has knit just to wear to the festival.

I'll be wearing my Jared Flood Guernsey Shawl.  I was thinking about the Citron - such a pretty carrot color.  Then I thought about the Line Break shawl - all the blues and browns.  But I've finally decided on the Guernsey.  The cocoa color with the rich textured stitches.  Perfect!

I might be a bit preoccupied going over and over my little list of planned purchases.  I won't be getting a ton of stuff, that's for sure, so I'll need to stay focused.  I'm going to try to get a drop spindle lesson and if I like it, I'll get a beginners drop spindle.  And some roving to spin from one of the farmers.  Then some pretty sock yarn that isn't scratchy - because even though I've only made 1 pair of socks, I still believe that I will make more of them.  And give to the Border Collie Rescue - because they always have a booth there - and people continually see the border collies on tv ads, then they adopt them, then they find out that these dogs really need a lot of attention, exercise and interaction or they become destructive little creatures driven to madness through boredom, so they dump the dogs.

It's not that the dogs did anything outside of their nature.  This is how they are.  Just like our little pup - just a step down from a border collie.  But not everyone does their research before they get a dog.  Then the people aren't happy, the dog gets abused - it's just a bad situation all around.  So the Border Collie Rescue comes in and saves the dog, finds it a good home and all around does good things.  (Stepping off of soap box now...)

And sadly, no, I won't be bringing home a little sheep for our pup to play with this year.  Once again my DH has pointed out that it really wouldn't be fair to the sheep - or our gardens - or him since I'll be at work and he'll be the one having to take care of it.

Maybe next year!

Picnic and Pie

It was a perfect day for a picnic - lots of food, lots of friends and did I mention a little pie contest?

After riving at 1 mph over the field to park our truck, my pie safely arrived at the judging table.  Now all we had to do was find something to occupy our time until the judging was completed.

Talk to friends...see all of the displays...talk some more...check out the baby cows (calfs! so cute)...talk some more...

Play some beanbag toss.  Really it was much harder than it looks, tossing a bean bag 27-feet into a tiny little hole.  But it was a lot of fun to try!

Happily my little pie took second place in the Harlem Valley Chamber of Commerce pie contest.  The winner was an apple cranberry pie.  It's hard to beat an apple cranberry pie - it's like trying to beat Miss Texas in a beauty contest, it just doesn't happen that often.

Unfortunately my DH never did get a piece of it - it sold out before he could buy one.  I guess I'll have to make another.  But not for a month or so.  I need to rest up.

Pie Day

Friday is pie day.  And not just any pie - it's a Fancy Pie.  This weekend is the community schoolhouse picnic - and the Chamber of Commerce has a pie contest.  And my DH gives me full baking dispensation to make the most decadently decidedly delicious pie that I can dream up.

Anything goes, but I like using something that we grow here at our bucolic manor in the pie.  This year, our apple trees did not fruit.  They were too damaged in the storm last October.  My pumpkins got eaten by - well, they got eaten by something but it wasn't me or my DH.  That left me with raspberry jam.

So what goes best with raspberry?  Chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

So, fair warning, this pie takes 4 1/2 hours over the course of 2 days to make.  It's from scratch.  But it is so well worth it.

The crust is a hazelnut and raspberry shortbread.  Full of butter.  Pre-baked.  Delicious and crisp.

For the crust:  1/2 cup toasted ground hazelnuts, 1/8 cup raspberry sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup butter, 6 Tablespoons strong iced coffee, 1 cup flour.

Mash a raspberry into 1/8 cup flour to make the raspberry sugar.  Set it aside so the sugar will absorb the juice from the raspberry.  Combine the dry ingredients, mix together.  Cut in the butter.  Add the raspberry sugar and 2 Tablespoons of the coffee.  Blend the dough gently and quickly adding more of the coffee until it makes a paste.

Wrap the paste in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to rest.

Roll the dough out and line the pie pan.  Dock the dough (poke a lot of holes in it with a fork so it won't bubble up when it bakes).  Put it in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Weigh down the crust (put a piece of foil in the pan and fill it with rice or beans or pie weights) and bake for 20 minutes at 350-degrees.  Remove the foil.  Bake for 7  more minutes until the crust is done. Gently press down on any bubbles in the crust and set aside to cool.

Coat the crust:  1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate.

Melt the chocolate, then paint the inside of the crust with it up to 1/4-inch from the edge of the crust.  You want it to be a surprise!  Let the chocolate cool and harden.

Melt the raspberry jam.  Paint the chocolate with the jam - again, up to 1/4-inch from the edge of the crust.  Let the jam set.

The filling is just a really rich chocolate mousse pudding.  2 1/8 cup whole milk, 6 egg yolks, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 6 Tablespoons cocoa, 4 teaspoons corn starch, 2 ounces chopped dark chocolate, 2 ounces chopped milk chocolate, 3 Tablespoons butter, 1/8 cup cold strong coffee.

Simmer the milk, remove from the heat.  Whisk together the egg, brown sugar, coffee and 1/8 cup milk.  Mix together the cocoa and cornstarch.  Add the cocoa and corn starch to the egg mixture - whisk until smooth.  Slowly slowly slowly drizzle in the hot milk, whisking continually (put a towel under the bowl so it won't spin) until the hot milk is combined with the chocolate egg mixture.

Return this lovely chocolately mixture to the heat and keep stirring it until it comes to a boil and gets nice and thick.  Thicker is better, so let it go and worry about cleaning up the spatters of chocolate after you eat the pie.

Remove it from the heat and add in the butter and chopped chocolate.  Whisk until they are melted and delicious.

Pour this into the crust, cover immediately with a piece of plastic wrap to prevent it from forming a skin and chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours until the filling is set.  Don't mention to DH that it is in the refrigerator or you may end up with some missing filling...

But is that really enough chocolate?  Nope.

Time for the ganache.  Take the pie out of the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap.

Ganache:  6 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate, 1 1/2 teaspoon strong room temperature coffee, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup heavy cream.

Put the chocolate in a bowl.  Simmer the cream.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute so the cream and the chocolate can become acquainted.  Start stirring the chocolate in the center of the bowl - keep at it and it will start to come up and be a beautiful chocolate.  If you don't know what I mean by "come up", keep stirring - you're not there yet.  Once it comes up, stir in the edges of the cream and then stir in the coffee and vanilla.  Let it cool for a minute or two.  You're going to pour it over the top of the pie and you don't want to shock the filling - because then you'll have a layer of water between the filling and the ganache.

Spoon the ganache over the top of the filling and smooth it out - the smoother the better.  If you can find your offset spatula for this, your results will be better than mine.

Let it sit on the counter while you prep the decorations.

Melt 1/2 cup raspberry jam and toast 1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts.

Brush the raspberry jam around the edge of the ganache in a 1 1/2 wide circle.  This is your "glue" for the decorations.

Dip the raspberries in the jam (use a fork to get the drips of jam off) and place them around the pie.  Fill in between the raspberries with the toasted chopped hazelnuts.

Take many pictures of your pie since it's the last one you will ever make because you are so totally exhausted from making this one pie - at least until next year.

Carefully transport the pie to the judging table - explaining to your DH on the way that it's a good thing that he'll have to buy a piece of pie, he can't eat the whole thing by himself because it is way too rich and would give him a tummy ache.  Remind him that charity events are a good thing - not an evil pie robbing thing.

Sale-a-bration Time

Today was the first collector's sale fundraiser for our iris and daylily gardening club.  All of the flowers were neatly trimmed, labeled and packaged for display - ready to go to their new homes.

We actually sold out on a few types of daylilies - some lovely bold yellows and brilliant reds.  The funds raised go to the club for hiring speakers during the cold winter months when the only thing to do about gardening is to talk about it.

Next weekend will be the final sale and I'm hoping that we'll make enough money to get some really good speakers.

If nothing else, though, I made sure to make a good donation to the club - a new white siberian iris!

It is for charity, after all...

Cupcakes!

For our celebration to light the town trees, I had these cupcakes made.  I know what you're thinking - why didn't I do it myself!?  Well, there just wasn't enough time in the day.

The "edible wafer" was made by scanning in a photo and printing it out onto a rice paper transfer.  It was slightly sweet, but mostly neutral in flavor - so it goes with anything.  The buttercream icing was pure creamery fresh butter that satisfied every taste bud.  The vanilla cake was light and moist with a delicate crumb that served more as a delivery system for the frosting than as a cake.

Yum.

The transfers were made by one bakery - the cupcakes by another.  It was just one more thing that showed how much our little town was pulling together to do the tree lighting.

You just have to love that!

Mmmmmm - cupcakes!

Something You Don't See Everyday

My pup was going crazy barking and I just couldn't figure out why - until I saw this guy.  Yup, it's a camel.  

I can't say that it really surprised me, maybe because of all my years of living in Manhattan where you see the strangest things without commenting.  

I can say that it certainly surprised my puppy!  You would have thought that the world was coming to an end and only she could save us!  By barking really really loud!! Inside the house!!!

Of course I had to oblige her curiosity and go over to see the camel - and I obliged the camel by not bringing my pup with me.

This lovely guy was part of a living nativity over at the church.  He and a few of his friends stopped by to join some spirited children in reenacting the nativity scene, it was really cute.  I especially loved Mary's footwear - the latest in flashy bright hightop sneakers.  Sparkles included.

Adorable.

Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival

This past weekend was the big Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival!  My girlfriend, Laurel, and I went last year and had so much fun, we decided to make it a yearly event.  

We started planning our trip over a month ago, bought our tickets online, planned out what we wanted to  buy, which events to see, when to arrive - the whole nine yards.  The night before the festival trip, we were Skyping until late, going over the last minute details.  I backed up my smartphone and emptied it out, charged the batteries to get ready for a day of photos.  Got the food prepped for our breakfast tailgating. Found the comfy camp chairs to lounge in. Reviewed my knitting pattern picks for the coming year, jotting down the yardage requirements,  I was ready to go.

It was a beautiful day!  I got up early and got everything together and dragged it all down to the south driveway to wait for Laurel to arrive.  With extra time on my hands I snapped some photos of the apple tree's last fruit and some of the flowers in bloom around the garden.  A full moon was still peeping out between the trees.  A perfect Fall day was ahead.

Laurel arrived and we headed out to Rhinebeck, about an hour's drive from our neck of the woods.  We took the back roads - past the horse farms, fall foliage covered mountains, ponds full of geese and pastures of cows and sheep.  Perfect!

We arrived early - parking in row 2!!! (Last year we were in the 15th row of the third parking field - about 1/2 hour away from the gate.) We set up our tailgate breakfast and sat down to enjoy.  Laurel brought little tables and she laid out beautiful embroidered linens, napkins with Battenberg lace and china plates and teacups.  Hot coffee was the first order of business. (click, click, click - many photos were taken!)

We served up the hot quiche, fresh tomato slices, feta cheese, olives, mini blueberry muffins, fresh fruit - a veritable feast.  It was wonderful to relax, enjoy our breakfast and look out over the hills surrounding the festival.  

Our tailgating did not go unnoticed!  In addition to the friendly comments from passers-by, we also posed for pictures for a few folks.  We both got a real kick out of it and it added to the cheer of the morning.

A few minutes before the gates opened, we cleaned up, packed up and made our way over.  It wasn't long before we were on our way into the festival!

The first barn we went through had yarn, yarn and more yarn.  Mostly alpaca and merino blends in a rainbow of colors.  The prices went from $12 to $136 a skein (yikes!).  Fortunately I didn't fall in love with anything in the first barn.  The second barn had what I was looking for - icelandic roving (unspun wool fibers).  I found a big fluffy ounce of a beautiful undyed gray roving and quickly snatched it up ($1 - bargain!!!).  Onward to the sheep.  

In the sheep pens, I saw the most beautiful chocolate Leicester sheep.  Their fleece was a subtle red to pure chocolate - gorgeous.  The farmer was kind enough to hop into the pen so I could snap a photo.  This is when I discovered that my smartphone was missing.  ACK!!!!! A careful review of my pockets, purse, shopping bag - no camera.  Laurel handed me the keys to the car and continued to browse the displays - I headed back to the parking lot. (So glad we were close to the gate.)

I checked with the gate - no smartphone there.  I checked the car - going through the truck, seats and even under the darn thing - nothing.  All my morning photos - gone.  Smartphone - gone.  Not good.  The people at the gate suggested I check at the lost and found by the main buildings, so I decided to call and have the phone shut off just in case I had lost it for good.  I was really p.o.'d!  All my careful planning for nothing!!  The day was ruined for me!!!  My life was over!!!!

Okay - this was when I realized that I really needed to just let it go.  There was no point to obsessing to the brink of madness over this.  The phone was off, I still might find it, it was a beautiful day and on top of it all, I wasn't about to ruin Laurel's trip with my stupid stupid stupid smartphone loss.  Besides, I could still get a few photos with my cellphone.  So, what this means to you is - the photo above is a stock photo of a Leicester sheep ( I swear I saw this guy - or at least one of his close relatives at the festival).  And not too many other photos because not only is my cellphone kind of smashed up right now - long story, but basically I fell off the truck when we were moving the watering tank and landed right on the darn thing - added bonus, it also gives me a bit of a shock whenever I use it and then view screen whites out so when you're taking a picture you can't really see what it is.

Before I went back to find Laurel, I took a few moments to Zen-out watching sheep shearing.  I never saw this done in real-life.  It was so cool!

The shearer takes the sheep and flips it onto it's back by grabbing onto it's horns and using his knees to hold it in cradled position.  He needs to make sure the surface that the sheep is resting on is flat or else the sheep thinks that it is going to fall and then it makes every effort imaginable to try to get up and get out of there (the sheep freaks out).  He starts shearing at the neck, goes across the chest and around the legs, then down the belly, around the back legs and finally across the back.  The fleece comes off in one giant greasy dirt and poo-encrusted piece.  The sheep jumps up, looks slightly embarrassed about being naked in front of so many people and tries to run off.  The shearer catches the sheep and holding it by the horn and tail, strongly encourages it to return to the holding pen.  The sheep, not wanting the other sheep to see it is naked, tries to go any other place besides the holding pen.  The shearer calls for backup and together, with his assistant, they convince the sheep that the holding pen isn't a bad place to be - and after all, it is much better than a roasting pan.  The sheep gets the message and trots into the holding pen.

These icelandic sheep were so cute!  Their purebred lineage goes back 1100 years - one of the oldest lines of sheep.  They have naturally docked tails - just like our pup, and mottled coloration - just like our pup.  I wanted to get some to bring home for her, but I settled on just getting the roving instead.  Laurel thought this was a wise choice.

These wensleydales traveled all the way from West Virginia to be at the show.  They are a rare breed so no fleece or roving left for sale(did I mention we were 9th in line to get in to the festival? and they are already sold out?).  The farmer is picking through the fleece to get out the bits of hay (and poo) that are embedded in it.  Since these guys have long curly locks, he can't just have them trimmed a bit for showing, so he has to pick the bits out by hand.  See how he's pressed up against the sheep?  That's so it will stay still for him.  The farmer's say it is to "gentle" the sheep.  I say it's because they don't want the sheep to jump and kick them.  Sheep are not those calm and placid beasts you see in the pictures unless you're using a telephoto lens.  They really don't appreciate being approached and handled by strangers.    They don't see the need to have their fleece sparkly cleaned and primped.  They have more of a "I want to be left alone" kind of attitude.

I'm not sure what breed this little fellow is - he ate his sign, but he was also too cute!  His little ears were like black velvet and the blue/gray fleece was stunning.  He was a petite little thing.  Most adorable.  I thought our pup would have a great time with him since they are about the same size.  Surely my DH wouldn't mind sheep grazing on the lawn - helping with the mowing.   Laurel pointed out that they would eat my flowers too.  Oh well.

After oh-ing and aw-ing over the sheep, we headed back to the display barns to finish shopping.  A quick bite for lunch and then we watched the herding dogs play frisbee.  More shopping in the big buildings (not many bargains there) and before we knew it it was time for the competitions.

The drop spindle competition was first - the competitors had 15 minutes to spin as much as possible.  They spun and chatted and chatted some more - except for this one woman in the corner, she just spun.  Guess who won?  Yup, the woman who just spun.  Good strategy.

Next up was the spinning wheel competition.  Our drop spindle winner competed in this as well.  The wheels ranged from a home-made fly-wheel and pvc contraption to a slick aero-space design.  The rules were the same - 15 minutes to spin all you can.  They spun and spun and spun - and kept spinning because the timer never went off, so they actually went for about 22 minutes before the judges noticed that the timer didn't go off.  The winner? PVC girl.  Her homemade wheel blew the others out of the water.

Finally, the chopstick knitting competition.   2 chopsticks, 20 stitches and a ball of yarn.  15 minutes, knit as much as you can.  This competition had a much larger field.  The chopsticks were handed out and the competitors started sanding off the splinters.  Time was called to cast-on.  They used all types of cast-on methods, but the method used by the serious competitors was a double needle knit-on cast-on.  This made  the first row of knitting looser so you could get going faster.  Smart.  While the remaining contestants were getting it together, the competitors continued to sand and sharpen their chopsticks.  Strategy is everything at the chopstick knitting competition.  Both American and European styles were used, but it became quickly apparent that the European "pick" was outpacing the American "throw" by a long-shot.  The competitors started out chit-chatting, but when the 7 minute mark was called, they all hushed up and got to knitting faster.  And faster. And faster!  Again, a woman in the corner came out 1st.  59 rows in 15 minutes (they fixed the timer problem).

It was late afternoon and Laurel and I had had it.  I needed one more skein of wool and my shopping would be complete.  We stopped back in the Ulster County barn (shop local, shop often!) and I found my skein.  We headed back to the car.

I took one more look around the trunk in hopes of finding my smartphone - nothing.  Laurel did the same - and YES! She found it!! Sitting right there!!!  Black case on a black background.  I don't know how I could have possibly missed that.  I borrowed her charger to give my cellphone some juice, called to get my smartphone reconnected and checked to see if they really had disconnected it.  They had - all of my morning pictures were gone.  But it was okay.  We had a great time and a lot of great memories from the day.  Besides - somewhere out there is a picture of two ladies tailgating at the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool festival.

Time to get knitting!