Saueklippedagen

Saueklippedagen! This means “Sheep Shearing Day” and is a general day of fiber fun at the Norsk Folkmuseum. There were some sheep who were being sheared, a few tables set up by the Husfliden association with knitting machines and some spinners showing off their stuff, and then an exhibition about dying yarn (which was really cool). We brought a picnic and made a day of it. We even explored some areas of the grounds where we’d never been before!

That’s the herd of sheep waiting to be sheared. The lady did it a few sheep at a time, so the crowds could rotate and everyone could see the fun.

This was a part of the Folk Museum that we’d never been too… we’ve been here probably 7 or 8 times and still haven’t seen all of it!

There’s a very interesting story going on in this photo. Nice snap!

There was an adorable little playhouse by the English garden. You couldn’t go inside, but there were dolls and and a tea service set up inside — Ruby’s heaven! They contented themselves with sitting on the little bench on the porch.

C’s favorite nickname for Apl is “Snapple” right now (or should we spell it “Snapl?” Anyway, he thinks it’s hilarious.

Looks like a lot of work! I’ve seen many sheep who wear little coats so that their wool doesn’t get all full of straw and poo and stuff, but these sheep were just out in the wild so there was lots of stuff to pick out of it.

The yarns were dyed with things like onion skin, birch bark and leaves, walnut hulls, and cochineal (a beetle). If you are interested in natural dyes, I can recommend the Finnish blog called Riihvilla (she writes in English, no I don’t read Finnish!) There are way more interesting things in this world than I have time for…

that was some kind of lichen…

The ones in the background were clipped with electric clippers, but the one in the foreground was clipped the old-fashioned way with hand shears. Some things weren’t better in the good old days.

C stayed and watched the chickens for a long time after Ruby got bored and ran off. I wonder what he was thinking about?

Speaking as someone who feels particularly well-suited to the modern world in which we find ourselves (as distinct from the ancestral environment we evolved to cope with), I feel like C was just made for simpler times.

This is not to say that he’s not totally comfortable and proficient with computers and technology… all kids are. It’s just that I think he’d be happier as a farmer or hunter/gatherer. It’s the most natural thing in the world for him to want, of course. It’s sad that we really have no way of giving him this.

My family went through a mushroom collecting phase when I was young and this type of mushroom, the shaggy mane was the bulk of our mushroom harvest. Tasty!