fibery plunder

I mentioned I'd be plundering at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I did. It was a planned plunder, though. I adopted the same strategy that I used at the Yarn Party - I only brought a certain amount of cash; the credit cards, debit card, and check book stayed at home with the cats. And since I'd saved up money for this trip, and only spent the cash I had with me, I don't feel one bit guilty about my buying spree.

Jane-the-gardener and gwenniepenny went with me. It's always good to attend these things with friends. It keeps one from overspending, and three heads scouting around for interesting things are better than one.

Sheep everywhere (for obvious reasons). Curly haired, shaggy haired, dredlock banged, shorn, browns, greys, creams, mottleds, young, old, friendly, irritable. I was amused that a sheep's baa-ing is far more gutteral and croaking than the cute sound we think it is. We managed to find some alpacas and rabbits too. I think the cutest animals we saw were the male baby lambs with their horns just poking through, kind of like a baby's first teeth.

We browsed stall after stall of yarn, roving for dying and spinning, fur fresh off the animals and ready for prepping, handmade clothing, gorgeous spinning wheels in all styles from portable flat-lying to large wheels-as-wide-as-your-arm-span types, looms, books, artwork, jewelry, and equipment for every kind of fiber endeavor. We came away with a serious case of sensory overload.

The food avenue had lamb prepared in every way you could think of - kebabs, sandwiches, fried, smoked, grilled, and on and on. Not something I'm too fond of eating, though.

We peeked inside a yurt. And not just any old yurt, but one that displayed some amazingly artistic felting on the outside and inside. Some of the pieces were literally paintings made out of yarn. Beautiful.

We also saw the funniest sheep paintings. I like this artist's humor and how it comes through in her paintings.

Gwenniepenny found some pretty yarn that "looks like the sea" to practice knitting with. Jane got a gorgeous knitted sweater from a somewhat shy Scotsman, as well as some orange blossom honey and a handmade broom from some other friendly people. Did you know that before there were toothpicks, people would break off a piece of one of the sticks on the business end of a broom and use it as a cake tester? And I don't think they were brooms reserved just for cake testing. I think they were the same ones that swept the kitchen floor and the front porch. Practical and all that, but gwenniepenny and I both agree - ewwww.

This is what came home with me in my I-knitted-it-myself messenger bag:



Oh, and I don't think I showed you what I got at the Yarn Party a few weeks ago:



I think it's time for a yarn diet. All of the above, in addition to what I already have in my stash, should easily last me the rest of the year.