KNITSTER

Well, I got back last night from my little trip last night. It was good to see Helen, and finally meet Nicole, and we had a good time. We had our own little SnB on Friday night (they were working on much more complicated stuff than I was for sure!), and spent a good part of Saturday walking about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

First, before I forget, I do want to express my regrets to the Pittsburgh group that I was hoping to see. I understand Cheryl couldn’t make it, and by the time I went searching for Yvonne and the rest, I just could find them. I did even try to call Yvonne two or three more times, but nobody was answering. (Ask Helen! She was with me!) :-(  Next time, guys! I really regret not catching up with you! Next time, I’ll do better at figuring out where the “grassy knoll” is! :-S

However, we were able to catch up with Nicole’s friend Louise and her friend Lauren, both also online friends, so that was cool. And the festival itself was a cool, cloudy day. It didn’t start to rain until after we left, which was good. Wet wool wouldn’t be so good, now would it? There was SOOOO much to see, it was a little dizzying. You just didn’t know where to begin, and if money was no object, you could easily spend a bundle there.  (Each of us did spend some extra bucks we normally wouldn’t have, I’m sure!) There was something for anyone involved with fiber arts - spinning, weaving, knitting/crocheting, even felting/sewing too. Of course, you couldn’t have a sheep festival without the sheep! There were all these varieties to see.  There were black and white sheep, curly haired and straight haired, babies and fully grown, as well as alpacas, angora bunnies, llamas and goats.  Some vendors didn’t limit their roving and yarns sales to just wool either, so that was good. There were also eats to be had, although we did not partake in it, whereby they’d have lamb kabobs, lamb gyros, etc. there as well. I was really hoping to find a sheep’s/goat’s cheese vendor, as I like that stuff, but I didn’t find any. Oh well. I did find a vendor that made soaps out of sheep’s milk and got some of that! While there was a lot to see, we were all glad that it was a free event, as we weren’t sure if we’d normally go if we had to pay admission.

Here are some photos of our wooly friends:

Sleepy Sheep

Llama!

Nicole bought this really cool spinning wheel. She said she came with the intent of buying one of these if she saw one, and indeed she did. It was a good thing, as the vendor told her that he had brought 80 of these wheels for the 2-day festival, and he was sold out on the first day! She was lucky to get one! Here’s a photo of her trying it out…

Nicole Spinning

Helen and I thought it was such a cool wheel that we are going to save up and get ourselves ones next year!

Of course, you can’t have a get-together without some photos of the people!

L to R: Nicole, Louise and Helen

And finally– Here are three-quarters of the Knitsters! (We missed you Xiane!)

The Knisters! Nicole, Helen and Dani

My stash from the trip was 4 skeins of yarn– 2 in a pale blue, periwinkle, and gray mixture, and 2 in a jewel colors mixture that were a wool and silk blend, a toy llama and toy sheep for Drew, some sheep’s milk soaps, and a t-shirt and keychain to commemorate the occasion. That was it, but the yarn alone was expensive. I don’t think I’d normally spend that much on yarn, but what the heck, I didn’t go crazy. All in all, a good time was had by all, and we all got something and enjoyed the experience. I think we enjoyed the company with each other more though. Until next year’s, or the next festival….

Posted on May 7th, 2007 by Dani
Filed under: Projects