The Wool Anniversary

On June 1st, Rob and I celebrated our 7th dating anniversary. We didn't become official until later that summer, but we choose to celebrate June 1st as our anniversary. It was the first time we kissed, and life hasn't been the same since.

People find it interesting that we still celebrate our dating anniversary now that we're married, but it feels strange to reset back to one year when we've spent nearly a quarter of our lives together. And as I've said before - life can get a little boring and routine, so if you get a reason to celebrate - take it!

The seven year anniversary is a big one among knitters, as the traditional gift for this anniversary is wool. It's a pretty fun coincidence that our 7th anniversary also happened to be our first wintery June - otherwise the wool anniversary might not have been as appropriate! I have been teasing Rob all year about my big expectations - but in true Rob form, he blew them out of the water.

First up was a surprise "bouquet" of flowers made from yarn and knitting needles. I arrived at work the day before we were due to leave for Australia to find it sitting on my desk along with a couple other knitting accessories, and it's been there ever since. I don't know that I will ever be able to bring myself to dismantle this bouquet so I can knit with it - maybe if he promises to make me another to replace it?

I was glad he gave me my gift early so that I could give him his before our trip. I have spent the past 3-4 months of lunches and evenings knitting a secret Game of Thrones scarf for Rob. It's double knit, which means it's two layers knit at the same time so it's reversible, and required me to learn how to knit with two colors of yarn at the same time - one in each hand. So not only was I learning this new technique, but I was trying to keep it secret from someone whom I both live and work with!  Thank god Rob's team works later than mine! The yarn is 100% New Zealand wool (of course), and the colors are for the All Blacks.

After returning from Australia, Rob "gave" me the second half of my gift. We had lunch at my favorite yarn store/tea shop, and then headed out to Sheep World, which is basically a sheep farm. They have some animals penned up that you can feed, but the main attraction is the Dog and Sheep Show.  I thought it was going to be pretty cheesy, but it ended up being a lot more interesting than anticipated. They show you how they train their dogs and have the dogs bring the sheep in for shearing and then tell you all about that. And then - I got to shear a sheep!  They let me keep some wool and I'm going to take it to my spinning class in August.

Just 5.5 more years until our seventh wedding anniversary!  I wonder what else we can celebrate the 7th anniversary of....

Top row: Sorting the sheep before shearing, getting ready for my big debut.
Bottom row: Before; me putting the sheep's head between my legs for shearing (apparently that's how it's done); after.

We also got to feed baby lambs.  To the bottom right - Hoppiton!