You can read my Saturday recap here.

Sunday was another gorgeous day. I went to Cutthroat Yarn's hospitality tent to check on their new bunny, Snugglebunny, and the ladies were practicing spinning for the competition that afternoon.

Spinning Yarn on a Wheel

Spinning Yarn on a Drop Spindle

Spinning Yarn on a Drop Spindle

Outdoor Vendors and Animal Exhibits

Honeysuckle Pottery

This time I was on a mission to take pictures of the wonderful array of animals at the festival. There was Junior the Camel, who is a mainstay at the event every year, Freestate Llamas, Angora goats, Angora rabbits, and the Sheep Herding Demo.

Freestate Llamas

Freestate Llamas was outside in their usual spot and I stopped to take pictures and chat with the owner, Marian. She had three llamas with her and one really caught my eye. He was a cria (still a baby) born in Dec. and had some really nice markings. He was kind of a breeding accident - someone left the pen open (oops!)  and he was born in the dead of winter. They weren't sure how he would do, but he made it OK. He was aptly named "Freestate Coldcocked".  But he was good looking and I think she said he had already won a prize in the show ring. They were all very gentle and seemed to not mind all the people and sounds. She said they were bred for their nice disposition and were pretty much "bomb proof". 

Coldcocked was whining the whole time because he wanted to go home. It's actually kind of a sweet "baahhhh" sound he was making. Not too loud, just kind of like a snooze alarm to remind you he was over the whole show thing. Anyway, I thought he was charming and absolutely gorgeous. 

Freestate Llamas "Coldcocked" 

Freestate Llamas "Coldcocked" 

Freestate Llamas "Coldcocked" 

Freestate Llamas "Coldcocked" 

Llama from Freestate LlamasLlama from Freestate Llamas

Llama from Freestate Llamas

Llama from Freestate Llamas

Angora Rabbits

Several people were selling Angora rabbits at the festival. I'd really love to get a rabbit one day but I don't know how my kitties would react to that. They are so irresistible though! One vendor, aBUNdance Acres Farm, had Giant Angora and French Angora Rabbits. I stopped to pet the bunnies and talked to the owners, Phill and Judy. Phill explained that their naming convention was taken from Iroquois nation names. They had two rabbits out that people were petting, Onondaga and Tuscarora. They are brother and sister French Angoras. 

Onondaga - French Angora Rabbit

Onondaga - French Angora Rabbit

Tuscarora - French Angora Rabbit

Angora Goats

For those who don't know, mohair is the fiber that comes from Angora Goats, and is not to be confused with the Angora Rabbits!

Mohair Fleece Sales 

A Prize Winning Mohair Fleece

Angora Goat

Angora Goat

Angora Goat

Angora Goats

Angora Goat From Giant Cricket Farm 

There was one goat walking around freely inside the barn. She was well behaved and kept going back to this one pen and trying to get the attention of another goat behind the bars. She was from Pinxterbloom Farm, and her owner, John, said that her name was Vaseyi and she was trying to get the attention of her boyfriend, Yunni, inside the pen. She was a real sweetie and didn't mind being petted (he said she thought she was a dog) but she was totally fixated on Yunni and mostly ignored everyone else. Yunni seemed only mildly interested in her though, so this was more of an unrequited crush that she had on him. The owner explained that once mating season was over they would go their separate ways. Ahhh, young love. 

Vaseyi checking out Yunni and deciding if she should go see him again

Vaseyi on her way back to see Yunni

She made up her mind to go back. The other goats were just not as interesting.

Yunni is a handsome fella

Saying hi again

The Kiss

Seriously Cute

Yunni wondering what just happened

Well, no matter how much of a pushy broad she was, there was no jailbreak happening in the show barn that day, so I moved on. 

Breed Exhibits

In another barn was Junior, a 15 year old two-humped Bactrian camel from Wilson's Wild Animal Park in Winchester, VA. I think it is Junior that has been at the festival for several years (that I can remember). He's very docile and has a nice disposition and seems to be pretty used to events like this. And no, he doesn't seem to spit at people or anything like that. There is a cute article in the Washington Post from last year that talks about Junior and the camels from Wilson's.

I was a bit disappointed that I must have missed all the other animals because he was the only one in the barn on Sunday afternoon. 

Junior the Camel

Sheep Herding Demo

The only sheep I saw were at the Sheepdog Herding Demo which was actually pretty funny. They had a group of Katahdin sheep that they were working (the darker colored one was a breed that the announcer didn't know). Katahdin are a type of hair sheep that sheds its winter coat so they don't have to be sheared. 

Sheep Waiting in The Barn Before The Show

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

One ewe discovered how to jump through the fence and kept getting out, and of course the others followed. It was really comical watching them chase these sheep all over the fairgrounds - almost like a Benny Hill skit but without the music. Sheep are smarter than people give them credit for and once they figured it out, they kept trying to escape again through that part of the fence. This actually happened several times so they called it quits on the demo. At one point I had gone to look at some alpacas on the other side of the fairgrounds and they perked their ears up - they had spotted the ewe still running loose and being chased by one of the dogs. 

Sheep Herding Demo - Jail break!

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo

Sheep Herding Demo - Katahdin Sheep

Sheep Herding Demo - Katahdin Sheep

Alpacas

Central Hill Farm and Butterfly Hill Farm had some lovely alpacas at their booths. I love their fuzzy little bobbleheads!

Central Hill Farm Alpaca

Butterfly Hill Farm Alpaca

Yarn and Fiber Vendors

Next up, the yarn and fiber vendors!

Hobbledehoy

Hobbledehoy is a favorite of mine. She always has such beautiful art batts and handspun yarn. We chatted for a while and even though I swore I wasn't going to buy too much this year, I got some of her handspun yarn. It's seriously so pretty, I couldn't resist.

Hobbledehoy Handspun Yarn

I got the purple and green one in the bottom center:

Hobbledehoy Art Batts

Hobbledehoy Hand Painted Roving

Talent runs in this family. These are her mother's (Marigold Jen) handyed yarns:

Hipstrings

I discovered Hipstrings when I walked by the booth and spotted something neon on the table and I was immediately drawn in. I had been looking for a good spindle for the cashmere and cotton I got back at SpinQuest and they had some fabulous handmade Tahkli support spindles in even more fab colors. Of course, I bought one in neon pink acrylic with an etched design.

Hipstrings Hand Dyed Fiber

The Show Barn

Inside the Show Barn were more fiberistas I had to say hi to - the lovely Karen of Avalon Springs Farm and Christiane of Threeravens Fiber Studio who was manning the booth at Lovelyarns and selling their BA knitting needles and yarn and fiber.

Avalon Springs

Lovelyarns

Threeravens Fiber Studio at Lovelyarns

Threeravens Fiber Studio - BA Knitting Needles

Threeravens Fiber Studio Handspun Yarn

The Dairy Barn

I found some real gems in the Dairy Barn - Dragonfly Fibers and Neighborhood Fiber Co. If you like rich, modern color palettes in your hand dyed yarn, these are the places to go.  

Dragonfly Fibers

Dragonfly Fibers

Neighborhood Fiber Co. collaborated with Gourmet Stash to come up with some super awesome fiber this year and I couldn't resist buying some Tribbles in the "Hydra" colorway at Gourmet Stash's booth. They were also selling the same fiber at Neighborhood's booth - you can see the one I got in the top left corner of the picture below (purple/red).

Neighborhood Fiber Co.

These colors are just amazing. It was like a wall of rainbow awesome.

Neighborhood Fiber Co.

Neighborhood Fiber Co.

Neighborhood Fiber Co.

Well, this wraps up another fabulous weekend at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival. As I am writing this, I've already washed the Shetland X Finn and CVM fleeces and I'm really happy with my purchases. I'm getting ready for Spinzilla so I'll have plenty of fiber to spin. I had fun volunteering and as always, I learned some new things too. I look forward to next year.