We loved the Estes Park Wool Market! The weather was cool and nice. We had mountains all around. The smell of food made our mouths water. And then there was the yarn!
Our first view of the Wool Market was these white tents, which turned out to be the animal tents. The vendors were in a big metal building. It was incredibly busy. Amazingly, Eva and I recognized Woolwinder, also known as Tracy, and her husband, John. We knew they were coming, so we were on the look-out–but with so many people?!?! It really was amazing.
Apparently, we both had to travel to Colorado to buy yarn from Plain and Fancy Sheep & Wool Company of Henderson, Texas. After a pleasant chat, John took our picture. I hope you’ll go see it on Woolwinder’s blog. Then we parted ways to do some more shopping.
Eva told me that she liked crocheting pretty well, but she wasn’t sure if it was really her thing. She planned to try lots of different crafts to see what they were like, before settling on a favorite. Hmm. Sounds familiar. Here she is, practicing needle-felting. She enjoyed it and wanted to do more. She also got a rug-hooking sampler kit. I hope she will offer to hook several rugs for me. I really like how they look. Maybe I will drop a few hints.
Ella was much more interested in the animals, especially the alpacas. Here she is, petting a Suri alpaca. I had heard of Suri, but didn’t realize it was a distinct breed of alpaca. It has long, soft locks of hair, instead of the puffed-out wooly look of the other kind of alpaca.
When I visited an alpaca farm a couple of years ago, I commented that each alpaca had its own cool hairdo. But I never saw this style until last weekend. It’s so funny to see those bushy heads of hair on top of the delicately slender necks. And as I work on this post, I see that Woolwinder also thought they were funny.
Next time, I’ll show you the yarn I bought. It’s pretty! I’ll leave you now with this handsome llama. Its owner was grooming it for the show with a blow-dryer. You could tell by how the fur blew around, that it was very soft and light. Stunning.
