Backflash: September's Yarndale Sheep

Would anybody mind if we travel back a bit in time together?  Let's head back to September last and across the pond to the Yorkshire Dales.  In a little hamlet lives Lucy, the crochet genius behind the Attic 24 blog.  And every year, Lucy puts out a call for participants for the local yarn festival's charitable display.  I participated once in the past, and it was a pretty neat feeling getting to see my little mandala join in with others from around the globe at Yarndale.

This year, the project was to create a flock of amigurumi sheep that would later be sold in area businesses with the profits going to a children's charity.  So I created my little sheep and made her a snazzy sweater to help her face the cold Yorkshire winters.  It took me a bit to get it right, though, and I found the embroidery very fiddly- definitely need to improve my skills!  And the head just wouldn't do the cute little sideways look that it was supposed to.  But all in all, you can tell it's a sheep and not an alpaca or a bald cat, right?  I hope so!  Check out Lucy's beautifully embroidered sample sheep:

 Wish I could stitch like that!  The whole flock contained 690 sheep made by folks in 32 countries.  How cool is that!  They all behaved well and stayed on their bales of straw throughout the festival.  It probably also helped that a local sheep dog was hired to stand guard just in case one of the sheep decided to make a break for it!

(These two photos are from Lucy's blog, and you can read all about her festival review here.)

I have to admit, it felt so strange to pop my little lamb into an envelope and send her off into the unknown.  I suppose that's part of the charm of a more connected world.  Instead of everyone being independent recluses, sometimes we get to be collaborative participants.  And it's a nice feeling!

I've heard that all of the little sheep were sold to good homes, making a nice donation to the children's charity.  How great is that?!?!?!

Have you participated in any collaborative projects?  I'd love to hear about it!

Lot of love,

~Mersydotes