Weekend Things ~ Projects and Fuzzy Animals

I never know how involved I should get in my kids' take-home projects. How much help is actually helpful and how much is helicoptering? It's a conundrum I'll never know the answer to, judging by my anxiety over my firstborn child's ahem laid-back approach to researching college prospects. On the one hand, I had very little help when I was going through the same process. On the other hand, I did not exactly make the best choice and probably could have used some real guidance. The same goes for seventh-grad projects. I remember making a diorama for the book 1984, in which I used Fisher Price peg people. I put the blue peg woman with the yellow bun in a helicopter and suspended her from the top of the shoebox, hovering outside a window. I'd only read the first and last sentence of every paragraph of the book, so it's possible I didn't have a firm grasp of the storyline. It's also possible I might not have been able to pull off a more artistic diorama even if I had.

In any event, E and Z had big projects due this week and I deemed it necessary to dip in my oar, to at least encourage them to up their game over peg-people-in-a-shoebox. They had an assignment of a trifold poster and 3D model about a famous person from history (I think it was meant to be a famous American, but E stretched the boundaries a teensy bit).

E was very glad to have my assistance and I helped him recreate King Tut's coffin out of a papier-mached egg carton and wrap up a corncob in tea-dyed and epsom-salts-soaked muslin. He found lots of photos of his historic character and picked out a cool font, and I supplied colored sticky mounting paper. I think he was pleased with the results. And, because he had his project done a day early, he was able to help a friend work on his project during class, which I think is the most valuable lesson he gained from the whole process (at least on par with using colored mounting paper for effect).



Z, who has a recalcitrant streak, would disappear while I was "helping" him cut out his photos. He didn't want to use glue stick. He didn't want to fill in blank spots with more pictures. He definitely didn't want his picture taken. Fortunately his idea for a model involved woodworking, so C got to help him with that part and I got to take a break on Sunday, visiting, all by myself the Fiber Frolic.

The kids are finally old enough to not want to join me at the annual yarn-and-sheep fair, and that's okay with me.



In fact, walking past the stage where a puppet show was going on, I felt a great sense of relief that I no longer have to pretend to be interested in irritating kids' entertainment in order to trick my kids in being interested in irritating kids' entertainment.

I could just walk past, and go browse the yarn and wool and sheep.



There weren't many of the latter. The Frolic used to have tons of sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, and rabbits. There were llama parades and drill teams and sheeps-shearing and bunny-brushing demonstrations, but now only a handful of farm animals show up, including this cute, pink-eyed bunny. I suppose it's a big pain for farmers to load their stock up and take them to an event where they probably don't expect to make many sales, but I still miss the supply side of the fiber, even without little kids who might want to pet the animals.

Weekend Things ~ Fiber Frolic

E and Z and I went to the Fiber Frolic Saturday--our yearly tradition.

E and Z especially wanted to go see the angora bunnies. They haven't yet successfully talked me into getting them one.

The fair seems to have downsized quite a bit over the last few years--there used to be whole barns full of sheep and goats and alpacas, and now there are just a few animals. They also don't have the llama parade and llama drill teams anymore. They didn't even have the sheepdog demonstrations this year! I was a little disappointed by that.

But they did have the falafel tent.

And ice cream.

And while I refrained from purchasing any yarn because I need to use up my stash first, I bought another one of the gorgeous dish towels I got last year, because I love it so. Also a basket, a book, some natural insect repellent, and lots of food.

I think we did our part to keep the fair from downsizing any further!

Fiber Frolic

I've been feeling kind of cranky lately, due to a lack of time to do any of the things I want to do, so this weekend, I staged a protest. I said "no" to baseball--instead of sitting in the sun to watch M's double-header of rescheduled rained-out games, took E and Z (after their practice) to the Fiber Frolic.

Where we ate falafel and French fries.

Patted sheep.

And lambs.

Collected fresh bunny fuzz.

Watched collies herd ducks.

I've been to the Frolic now almost every year it's been around, the most memorable being when E and Z were about two weeks old and my mom and I each carried one of them in a front pack, and it was about a bajillion degrees and a bajillion percent humidity. Now they're old enough, I can just park them at the sheep dog demo and go look at all the delicious fiber by myself, which is a much less sweaty way to enjoy the frolic than with a newborn glued to your chest.

I actually bought one of these dreamy hand-woven dish towels (shh, don't tell my husband how much it cost).

I kept my money in my purse, though, when it came to yarn. I still have that skein of angora I bought last year, not yet made into anything, not to mention a whole lotta yarn from Ireland (and elsewhere) that needs my attention.

Oh, yeah, and ice cream.

Z really liked this knitted square bunting on the way out, especially the rainbow one. So bright and cheery.

We made it to the last half of M's second game, just in time to see M hit a grand slam (and, later, catch a fly ball in center field), as the team made a come-back and won its first of the season.

Frolic

Last weekend, the boys and I spent a day at the Fiber Frolic. Watching the sheepdog demonstration is always a highlight of the event.

As is, of course, all the gorgeous fiber.

 

And a whole booth of fantastic vintage notions, beautifully displayed (from here).

Maybe it was the heat, but there didn't seem to be as many sheep and alpacas as usual (and I didn't see any llamas), 

but the boys were fascinated to watch this alpaca being shorn.

They always try to talk me into buying a bunny ("Pet this one mom. See? You're not allergic. You didn't sneeze or anything.").

We managed to walk away without a rabbit, but I did come home with a gorgeous skein of grey angora rabbit yarn, which needs to find its way into a project very soon.