A Nail Biter

I entered the Wool Spinning Bee contest at the Altamont Fair this past weekend.  So much fun!  Paul and I got going to the fair nice and early, wheel strapped in:

There were 7 of us in this fast-paced, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat competition:

 And I'll tell you, my wheel was smoking....

.....that's how fast I was spinning.  Ha!   While I had to concentrate on what I was doing, I couldn't help trying to sneak a peek at the others... I could see their bobbins filling up so fast, much faster than mine.  And all I could think was, "Don't look at them! Their yarn is probably really thick and that's why it's filling up fast [and hence, will not be as long as mine]".  One doesn't usually associate stress with spinning --  I usually find it very relaxing, but this day, not so much.  Acutally, I was apparently not that fast, even though I felt like I was going as fast as I could.  BUT, I did get a 5th place ribbon, having spun 104 yards in 30 minutes:

I think the winner spun 180 yards.  Now THAT'S fast! I still had so much fun and will be upping my training regimen for next year.   And I now have my eye on one of these, which would help immensely.

Believe it or not, after that grueling competition I still had enough in me to walk around the fair for a while.

And get some sustenance:

We saw the cutest alpacas:

For some reason, this year we spent a lot of time watching the horse competitions.  We don't know much about them but were very intrigued.  There were some VERY young participants, with teeny tiny saddles and teeny tiny boots and teeny tiny snazzy outfits:

My favorite horse of the day was this one (with the rider wearing the blue coat):

Sorry, couldn't get a closer picture...

He was my favorite because of his name: HAM SANDWICH!  Love. It.

We also went to see the second musical of the summer at the Park Playhouse in Washington Park in Albany, "Hairspray".

Got there early as usual to get a seat.  It was already crowded since it was the second to last night AND it was the most beautiful evening, perfect for outside activities.  While we waited I worked on my second lace socklet:

Paul read:

The musical was great!  So much fun and funny and the music was great.  If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.  John Travolta is great as Edna Turnblad and Christopher Walken is a surprisingly good Mr. Turnblad (forgot his first name).  You'd never expect him in that type of role, since he usually plays creepy guys.

Sunday, we went to the Madison-Bouckville antique fair.

See all the windmills in the background?  There were many  more in the area.

On the way, I worked on my Tudor Henley sleeve:

Guess what the only thing we found to purchase was?:

THEN, we went home and (finally) got to work on the floor!:

That's Paul pretending to work so I could get
 a non blurry picture of the nailer thing.

Two boxes of wood down, only 26 more to go!

Today, I'm making sauce: