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!

Last Rhinebeck Post (maybe)

On Sunday, after the crowds moderated, I wandered around the show and took photos of whatever appealed to my aesthetic sense. So today's Rhinebeck reminiscence takes the artistic approach (with the emphasis on, of course, the fibrous).

First up, a close-up of some ribbon-winning lace:



Section of a colorful woven piece:

Nice sock, nice legs, nice kilt. (sigh)

I really liked this crocheted shawl, which used striking swirl motifs:



I was impressed by the landscaping at the fairgrounds; there were plenty of perennials and foliage plants that were well-tended and provided lots of color, even this late in the season.



Another beautiful lace shawl:



Pepperman (get out those Crest White-Strips, dude):

Woven fabric from prizewinners' display:

Section of prize-winning sweater, made from handspun:

Traffic-stopping chapeau:


Love those eyelashes.

Ah, to be four years old and dressed like a pumpkin...(stay away from the chuckin', my little friend)...

Close-up of The Harlot's Kauni sweater, which is absolutely gorgeous:

Gratuitous foliage shot.

Ribbon-winning lace display; I tried to get the judge's comments (on the white tag) in the shot. If you can zoom in close enough to read them, you will get a flavor for the judging process.

Skein of handspun boucle from the prizewinner's display. Now that I've been spinning, I can appreciate the difficulty of getting the boucle to look even and consistent like that.

Close-up of my Black Bunny socks, which performed admirably, notwithstanding my hairy shins.

The yoke from a knitter's rendition of Eunny's recent design from IK:

And with this last butt shot for Lars, it appears I have reached the end of my Rhinebeck tail...

See you next year.

Catch up: Garden State Sheep festival

I'm a little overdue, but here are some photos from the Garden State Sheep festival that I took the kids to two weeks ago.

Just as we walked toward the gate, we were treated to an exhibition of sheep-herding skills. It didn't look intentional, because a few sheep seemed to sneak out of the festival grounds and head onto the gravel road leading to the parking lot and the highway where they could easily have been hit by a car. Shortly thereafter, two dogs came running hellbent



and rounded the sheep up in front of us. At one point, a sneaky straggler sheep tried to avoid the herding dog and ran toward us. We stood very still and we could have touched the sheep as it ran past, then the dog as it herded the sheep around us.

It was much more sedate after that and we saw farm animals

and the obligatory sheep shearing (it must be a testament to my regular attendance at sheep shows, because this used to fascinate me and now it seems almost jejune)

and we saw some gorgeous alpacas and llamas, including a white one



and a black one in the same pen (Ebony and Ivory?):

This is a very small festival, but it's charming and good for smaller children. My kids are getting a bit old for it, especially Elvis, but I'm thinking about getting a table there next year as a vendor and selling Black Bunny yarns.

In other news, it's been pretty quiet here. I'm knitting and dyeing and trying to pick up the slack given Tom's very busy work schedule right now. We are doing some edits to the book manuscript, and still on track for a June 2008 release date. (I've been told to hold off on giving you details about the book for now, but as soon as the publicist okays it, I'll give you the scoop.)