Sheep show

Sheep show
I'm baa

Australian Sheep and Wool Show at Bendigo Showgrounds, 17 July 2025.

I had been disproportionately excited for this: a day trip to Bendigo to look at sheep, pick out some nice yarn and enjoy the finest agricultural attractions. I wasn't disappointed.

It was a quick and easy drive to Bendigo. Originally we were going to catch the train and shuttle bus, but in the end decided our sinus cavities might not appreciate too much waiting out in the cold.

The only drawback from driving was queuing to enter the prepaid parking area, which we had prepaid only to discover we had prepaid for a different parking area with its own large queue. We decided to just pay again. Cars continue to be a silly idea.

One thing I can tell you about a sheep show is it has a lot of sheep. We admired the rams, whose job it was to stand there all day while people felt their fleece. We also admired the sheep vying for ribbons. The Dorpers and Suffolks were particularly handsome, as were the English Leicesters, which sounded more like cheese than sheep, and the Black and Coloured sheep with their fancy fleeces.

We admired the sheep dogs as they rounded up a small group of sheep into various pens. We also admired the sheep dogs who were not currently having their turn rounding up sheep as they watched other sheep dogs round up sheep and wished they were doing that too.

And of course we admired the sheep that broke off from the group in a futile attempt to escape but successfully ruining that dog's score.

For lunch, it was surprisingly hard to find some lamb to eat. We did find one stall selling lamb cooked over coals and served on a plate or in a roll (we had a roll). It wasn't that great though - the lamb was cold, the roll substandard and we make the mistake of not paying $1 extra for gravy.

Someone could've made an absolute killing serving hot lamb off the spit (like, a proper full-sized spit) with tasty burnt bits, in nice crusty bread rolls, and with gravy. But nobody did that.

The yarn market was huge and great. I was looking for some worsted-weight yarn with which to knit myself a beret. I am going with James N. Watts' best beret pattern which comes in two silhouettes, a classic beret and a dramatic one which is bigger and sillier. I am thinking of making both, with the dramatic beret embellished with a pom-pom more like a tam o' shanter.

I was committed to buying Australian yarn because what's the point of being at an ag show if you're not purchasing local wares? I bought one hank from Bellevue Park Wool in Cooma, and had a nice chat with one of the farmers. I have already started my first beret with this yarn.

Bellevue Park produce the wool, yarn and dye to order on the farm and they seemed like good dudes who take lots of care in their work. I will definitely keep them in mind when I am next planning a project.

Then I bought a second hank from Great Southern Yarns because I liked the colours. I think this will be used for the sillier beret. Morris and Sons have just started stocking Great Southern Yarns.

Later in the day we made our way through the craft displays, admiring the ribbon winners and passionately defending some particularly nice entries that inexplicably did not win ribbons. There was some very impressive stuff.

It was also really cool how some people got themselves a market stall and used it not to sell things, but to just do their thing - weave on a loom, spin on a wheel or turn wood.

One thing that caught my eye was someone spinning fleece using a Turkish spindle. I had never seen this before, and was amazed something so simple was possible. Living in a small space, I have already far exceeded the limits of reasonable quantities of hobby materials, but now I am wondering if this is something I should try.

So that was the sheep show. I had a really good day!