The Needle Felted Sheep Look Up

Too much fun is still being had this weekend at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson. A little less than 60 miles away from Footville via Route 26, the Jefferson county seat fair grounds annually hosts shepherds, sheep and fiber enthusiasts from around the state. In the fair ground parking lot there were also license plates from Iowa, Indiana and Illinois.

I've been trying to make it to Jefferson in September for about five years. There's always been something in the way: lack of cash, lack of time or lack of both. This year I signed up for a couple of classes early and so forced myself to budget time and money in order to get there. I'm glad I did. Needle Felting was a delight and Beret Weaving Off the Loom was an eye opener. Next year I hope to take more classes.

This weekend was a lot like going to a Science Fiction Convention with a few extra species, and not just because it takes place in September. The people had expressions of child-like delight. The dogs were happy and hyped. The sheep were a bit worse for wear. Don't get me wrong, the ewes and rams and lambs were all fine specimens and obviously well-cared for and cherished. But I got the feeling the sheep were more than slightly suspicious of the goings on. The aroma of mutton on the breeze may have contributed to their skittishness.

The dogs, on the other hand, knew that they were a welcome, valued and honored part of the party. Sheep dog trials involving brilliant dogs, stubborn sheep and harried owners were ongoing. You don't really appreciate the partnership between man and dog until you witness a Border Collie convincingly pretend to be listening and taking direction from its owner while moving sheep into a pen. Those dogs exhibit multi-tasking and tact skills which far exceed mine.

Sheep milking demonstrations, sheep cheese tastings, spinning, weaving, rug hooking, shearing, skirting, dying, knitting, felting -- if it had something to do with sheep it was happening there.

The main reason this festival reminds me strongly of a SF Convention is that for a brief time I felt a little less "odd." It's a common phenomenon Fen experience at their first Worldcon. After spending years being treated as geeks, many discover at their first convention that they are FAR from odd. They discover that they will never be as odd as the guy dressed entirely in day glow orange or the girl dressed in a tiny pair of fairy wings and little else. At the WS&WF there were a lot of people who make their living solely from sheep. Wisconsin currently has the most dairy sheep farms in the country as well as being home to many meat and wool herds. All of those sheep mean a lot of people make their living by processing, buying or selling sheepish products.

Though I knit, crochet, spin, weave and now (thanks to a class I took yesterday) needle felt, there were actually people at the festival who are more involved with wool than I. I was less odd and it was such a welcome feeling. I knew I could open my mouth and say any woolly thing I pleased and be greeted with smiles and nodding heads.

I'll be going again next year, and I urge you to take advantage of any convention that coincides with your hobby, obsession or occupation. All of us spend way too much time defending our self-esteem from the constant assaults of the talentless and uninspired. Conventions and Festivals give us an opportunity to be affirmed and affirm. It gives us an opportunity to realize that even the goofiest of us isn't all that goofy.