One out of two ain't bad

Well we made it to the sheep show but not the car race.

It was very hot on Saturday for Lambtown but we had a good time. The sheep were a hoot to watch and I was impressed by the skill of the shearers. It was also fun to watch the border collies do their thing - boy those dogs seem to love to work. The vendor part was a mix between usual fair-fare and fiber. It was interesting to watch the spinning and the wheels they sell are gorgeous, but I have no interest in adding another hobby to my already too long list. Well, maybe weaving. I was in love with the beautiful woven scarves and blankets.

We had pretty much already made up our minds Saturday night that we wouldn't go to the car race. Being that this was the first year for this race, there were too many unknowns: would there be too many people to see anything, would we be able to see anything anyway, would it be too hot (temps were forecasted in the 90's), did we want to pay $90 for the ability to stand in the hot sun for hours? I also knew that we'd be constantly comparing it to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This race was less than 2 hours long and probably wouldn't give us time to get to different parts of the track to see the race from different angles, something we were able to do during the 24 hour race in Le Mans. So we watched it on TV in the relative cool of our ceiling fan. And I'm glad. The race was more of a parade since the course was too tight to let cars pass. If the driver's car didn't disintegrate going over the trolley tracks (yes, the tracks ran right through the course - twice!) , his pit crew worked fast and furious, and he avoided the concrete walls, then he placed pretty much in the order he started in. Sebastien Bourdais started first, pretty much stayed first (except for a few cars who "pitted" later) and finished first. Exciting.

But enough about car races, this is supposed to be a sewing, knitting and crafting blog! I've been working on a sock monkey for the July Month of Softies. With a blog site title of "Monkeyroom", how could I not participate?

Here is my sock monkey Jerome. Ella wanted to get in on the photoshoot too. But that's okay because she's a little monkey too.



I made him from a couple of child-size socks so that he'd be a bit smaller. I used instructions from a sock monkey kit I have, but they are similar to the instructions on this site. Jerome's hat is made from a sock and I have almost completed a matching sweater. The stitch size in socks make them perfectly sized for doll sweaters too, which is where I got the idea.