Maryland Sheep & Wool Report -- and a winner!

I"ll always have a special place in my heart for Maryland Sheep and Wool, the first outdoor fiber festival I ever attended. I can't remember exactly how many years I've been going; probably close to ten by now. This year Laura and I were joined by Jen (hooray!) but faithful traveling companion Jim was working and unable to come (boo!).  Although we had a great time, we missed Jim dreadfully.

Look how sad Laura and Jen are.....

Even Jen showing me all her tats couldn't make up for Jim not being with us....

But we soldiered on. I was not very quick on the camera, as I missed taking photos of so many of the friends that I met:  Knitty D, Marilyn, Willietattoos, the lovely Ann from Gosh Yarn It!, etc. but I did get a photo of some of the Loop girls, or "Craig's Angels," as I like to call them.

Note that I have cropped Erika's hands out of this photo.  She knows why.

It seemed to me that the show wasn't quite as crowded as it was in years past, but you can judge for yourself, for here is the traditional photo of the midway.

Although they claimed to have Philly cheesesteaks

I'm not sure I believe them.  I was, however, quite pleased with the ice cream cone I sampled....

We saw many, many fiber animals, including the just-sheared alpacas (their backs looked like velour!)

and obviously a whole lotta sheep.

I had to laugh at this particularly stubbborn ovine, who just didn't want to go into the show ring.

His poor handlers had to half-shove, half-carry him into the ring, and even then, the sheep had the last laugh because his one handler ended up flashing us, by cracky.

This is the PG-rated photo.

We all thought the weather on Saturday was hot and I got a mild sunburn, but in the afternoon, clouds rolled in, and by 2 p.m., it was overcast. No rain, just clouds.

We showed rare restraint when it came to purchasing.  Jen snapped up a gorgeous cone of magenta Bartlett's wool; Laura was tempted by some sportweight Peace Fleece; and I found some delightful handspun yarn

amid the lovely soaps of Maggie's...

These are some of the shaving soaps but the regular goat's milk kind are fabulous and now you can order online!

We left a bit early, exhausted by the sun and the fun,

and I have to say I was happy when I finally saw Philadelphia's City Hall displayed before me -- a sure sign I was almost home.

Next post will include my traditional series of photos from the prize winners' exhibit.....

Bijou Basin Giveaway winner:  The Random Number Organzier picked Kassia to win the free PDF! Kassia, I have emailed you using the email connected to your Blogger profile so look for the email.  Thanks, everyone!

More impressions from Maryland Sheep & Wool

It's a Go-Knit-In-Your-Hat tradition to collect snapshots from Maryland Sheep & Wool and to present them in a kind of montage. So here are some photos from this year's festival.

I love the ice cream cone on top of one of the vendor stands in the midway. What could be better than a giant fake cone beckoning you to eat ice cream?

Mid-chew

One barn was set up with a "Parade of Breeds," over 30 breeds of sheep in one place

Can't have a sheep show without a shearing demonstration

Jersey Wooly bunneh babies -- so cute you could die

Spinning demonstration

Several vendors had wonderful baskets like these

Wool for applique

Antique wheels & other spinning equipment at this booth

Love the "Hooked on Ewe" rugs



From the winner's tent, this was a life-sized sheep

Tiny sweater from the winner's tent

Lots of cool weaving projects were on display

Some gorgeous examples of stranded knitting

I love the woman d'un certain age who was rocking this skirt

See you next year!

Maryland Sheep & Wool Report: 2011

Hard to believe that I've been going to Maryland Sheep & Wool for nearly a decade now. This year, for the first time I can remember, the show shared the weekend with Mother's Day. I don't know if this was a factor, but it seemed as though the crowds were a bit lighter than in the past, although there were still lots and lots of folks by midday.

My ragtag band of yarn hooligans left Philadelphia around 7:00 a.m. I realized how obsessed I had gotten with quilting when I found myself taking a photo of the wall of a Maryland rest stop because I thought it would make a great quilt design:



Our trip down was fast and uneventful, and we arrived at the fairgrounds before 10:00 a.m.

Handsome Jim at the front gate

The weather was glorious: sunny, blue skies, warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket but not hot. One of the things that's been especially fun about going to Maryland has been adding traveling companion and fantabulous designer (and awesome friend) Laura's sister to our band of knitting fugitives. Laura's sister lives in Maryland and meets us at the fairground each year. I've gotten to know her over the years and she's lovely. Even though she doesn't knit, she is an enthusiastic companion. It was great to spend a couple hours joking with her.

When we arrived, it was relatively uncrowded. (Here's a shot of the back end of the midway early in the day.)


I made my way to the big building at the back, but not before running into Ms. Maleficent Knits herself (Hi, Regina!!) and some of her knitting homies from Maryland:


The big barn was loads of fun, and I made my first and only yarn purchase of the day at Woolstock: a full bag of Cash Iroho for halfprice. (Cash Iroha is like that good-looking frat boy you meet at a party: you suspect you won't be 100% crazy about his performance but he's just so pretty you can't help yourself. )* I also had the great good fortune to run into PoorLuci



Wait -- that's not PoorLuci! Here she is:

PoorLuci & me

as well as Philly knitting icons Knitty D & the City, not to mention Knity D's mom, a.k.a. the Barb-inator.

Wendy & Barb; Knitty D wasn't feeling well so we excused her from photo duty

I really didn't have much cash for shopping, so we spent most of the day wandering around looking at the pretty yarnz and snapping photos of cute animalz. It seemed to me that the organizers have been making various changes over the years in response to constructive criticism of the vendors and attendees. For example, in the last two or three years, the number of portapotties has increased exponentially, so if you don't mind using them instead of a regular bathroom, you hardly ever have to wait in a long line to answer nature's call. I saw a noticeable increase in the number of portable ATMs in various spots. There were also new areas where tents for vendors were added, either increasing the overall number or at least spreading them out more to avoid the crowding. All good.

We ran into Rhichard of Koigu fame while exploring one of the expanded sections of vendor space:

Laura's sister on the left, Dickie, and Lovely Laura

Rhichard is always a hoot and was in rare form that day. I hope he didn't get into trouble in the Auction Tent....(Note to Rhichard: when it said "Shepherd Auction" it means they are auctioning off items FOR shepherds, not the shepherds themselves!)

By about 1 p.m., the crowds were at their height. Here's a midday shot of the crowds:


One exciting moment for me was stumbling across some preview copies of the upcoming Noro book by Sixth & Spring -- it will be out soon and features patterns knit in Noro yarns. I got to see my fair isle earflap hat


in print for the first time -- yay!

I was very very pleased to run into B.J. (a.k.a. the M&M Lady)


who is always a pleasure to see, and the most faithful blog-reader. BJ and I have been at the same events but not running into each other for a while, so we were both happy that our paths finally crossed.

Baaaah!

For now, I will leave you with this bumper sticker:

Next post will include a photo montage of some of the pretty things we saw.


* Yarn freaks, I am referring to the likelihood of pilling, given how soft and loosely spun the yarn is. I still love this yarn, though.

Md. Sheep & Wool report

Two words that best describe yesterday's visit to Maryland Sheep & Wool: ungodly hot. The combination of ninety-plus degree weather, lots of sun, and lots of people and animals crowded into barns meant that it was an uncomfortable and sweaty day.

Fortunately, there were plenty of things to distract us from the weather. Our drive down was uneventful and very pleasant as we exchanged gossip and caught up with each other. Alas, faithful companion Jim was unable to attend, but Kathy was able to come, which was very fun (although it would have been even more fun if Jim came too!):


When I first started coming to Maryland, it was all about the fiber. But as my stash has grown and my tastes have developed, it's now become all about the people. We quickly found Anmiryam:


(I would like to point out that after years of dedicated trying, I believe I have finally managed to take a photo of Kathy in which she is looking directly at the camera, eyes open and smiling. It's a Christmas miracle (early)!)

We immediately went to Kid Hollow and found Mindy, and were delighted when Bridget joined us;


Along the way we ran into Lisa and Sherry:


and cutie-pie Turtlegirl76


I left Poorluci's cell phone number in the car, and I was really sad that I'd miss her, when look who we saw on the way out of the parking lot:

Poorluci and a bunch of Ravelry LSGers!

I simply cannot forget the Sisters D: Knitty D and her wonderful sister Alison:

As usual, they set up base camp near where Brooks Farms used to be (they changed the layout of some of the booths) and while I was visiting, I got to see Robin, Wendy, and some other Philly folks.

It seemed crowded when we first arrived, but as the day wore on, we got the impression it wasn't as packed with people as it has been in years past. Maybe the heat was sending people home early? It is kind of hard to get excited about wool when it's 90 degrees out. It's also hard to get excited about going inside a yurt made of felted wool in that kind of weather:


Were there cute animals there, you ask? Well, of course! Here's a bebeh alpaca:



and here are some of the Kid Hollow goatehs


and I won't even discuss the teeny gray bunny that I almost brought home to be Charcoal's pal. (I was afraid to, though, because I didn't want Charcoal, Tom and the new bunny to get into some weird love triangle. It's already bad enough when your husband comes home from work and greets the pet rabbit before he greets you.)

There was the requisite sheep shearing,


and clearly this sheep disapproved.


Did I buy anything, you ask? Not tons -- trying to save money for Elvis's braces, you know, but I did get some fleeces to be processed for BBF and I did splurge on some luscious Koigu roving:



As we reflected on the day, we couldn't help but think of friends who weren't there to share in the fun, like Franklin, and the rest of the Wolvies, and Ve-ve, and of course, Jim, and a bunch of others, including L. and A., my Facebook pals. Someday I'll meet L. and A., and when I do, I imagine it'll look something like this:


Tomorrow: a look at the prize-winners and a special treat for QueerJoe....