Baa Baa Black Sheep

On Saturday I went on an adventure to Vermont to visit a sheep farm. Allison, from Circles, organized a day trip to visit the Mostly Merino farm on the Rudyard Kipling Estate near Putney, VT. The trip began at Circles where we all met and chose our yarn for a trip knit-along, we each chose different yarn and different patterns, with the choses being either socks or a simple shawl. I chose some hand painted Blackberry Ridge sock yarn in the "Tropical Fish" colorway for my yarn and Pomatomus from Knitty for my pattern.

The farm was beautiful, peaceful and bucolic. We got to see the guard llama, and pet the sheep. There where black merino sheep and white merino sheep. We learned that 2 black merinos can have white lambs. We also got to see the farm owner's very diligent dog, Kip, trying to herd anything, or anyone, on legs, including sheep that were in the pen, cats walking around the home, and people trying to leave the yarn room. We had lunch at the home of the farm owner, Margaret, which was wonderful, then we got to go into the yarn room where there were boxes and baskets, and cubby holes of the Mostly Merino yarn. We saw the sweaters that Margaret sells in kits, and many of use became attached to some of her yarn.

For myself, I did not become emotionally attached to any kit, but one of the people on the trip asked about a pattern in Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop book, the Cabled Riding Jacket, which calls for Margaret's yarn. After seeing the jacket I entered dangerous territory. The Jacket is all over cables and very tailored. I can completely see myself in the jacket, I even found a colorway of the yarn that I think would be perfect for me. The problem is that I haven't really stopped my yarn diet (it is almost constantly on) and the pattern required 13 skeins of yarn that cost $13/skein, which isn't in the budget at this time. I hemmed and hawed and thought about the credit card sitting in my purse. I stroked and pet the yarn, and contemplated an unwise purchase. Then I did the right thing, I set the yarn back where I found it and bravely left the yarn room to return to my Pomatomus sock. I was good and bought no yarn, but I know how to get some in the future, and we all know that at some point, probably this year, that Jacket will be started by me using the Mostly Merino yarn.

Despite the rain, the trip to Vermont was perfect and I do want to go back there again. The settng would be absolutely wonderful for a weekend knitting retreat. I have more photos but blogger won't let me post any more.

Non-knitting related news, I started training last night to bike a century in October. A century, if you don't already know, is a 100 mile bike ride, any 100 mile bike ride. The one I plan on doing is the NYC MS ride. I did the 64 mile version last year because I did not train hard enough to do the century. After finishing I immediately decided to do the longer ride this year. I planned on starting my training in April, but due to certain life events, the training had to be post-poned. I rode a little over 12 miles (from work to home) and had an average speed of 13.6mph, not my best time, but not my worse either, so I am please with my initial ride. I may post more on my training progress, which you are free to ignore, I just want to keep a record.