Maryland Sheep and Wool!

Yesterday I had the chance to hit the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival... this and the NY S&W are considered the biggest and best festivals in the country. I owe special thanks to my new friend Jen, who I met through a series of both wonderful and sad circumstances that I'm not going to discuss on the Interwebs... but let's just say that I am happy that fate, kismet, or something like that brought us both together! She was kind enough to offer to take me out to the fest, being a fellow lover of all things fiber... I of course happily obliged, because I have been wanting to check this event out for YEARS.

I even dressed appropriately, donning my fave hand-knit socks and my new favorite purse.

Yes, I have a sheep purse. Shut up.

And guess what? I'm not the only fiber fanatic out there. There was a TRAFFIC JAM (for a few miles!) caused by all the peeps traveling to the fest. Here is a shot from near the entrance so you can see what I mean:

Gee, what could be so cool to bring all these people out from all over the country? Well, first there was yarn. And fiber of every sort. Exhibition halls (yes, plural) in which there were hundreds of vendors from small-scale independent businesses all over the country. By the way, I used some of my stimulus money for this trip... 'cause that's what it should be used for. Support your local (or even just US) farmers and artisans! And how can you not want to spend money when you see these colors? Don't worry, it's perfectly normal to drool:

Oh, and there were also exhibition halls devoted to fiber animals of every sort. Sheep, alpacas, and llamas, OH MY!

Check out the grill on this guy:

I almost brought this little one home. We SO have room for an angora rabbit in the house, but I somehow thought that The Man may not be pleased...

Oh, and there were spinning wheels a-plenty...

And even some ladies working antique sock machines!

The food was wonderful, and appropriately enough, consisted mostly of this:

It's kinda messed up to eat a leg of lamb sandwich after cooing over the little guys, but damn if it wasn't fabulous! Plus, my warped sense of humor makes me amused by the irony.

And where the hell else could you see some ink like this?

And, just for The Man, one of the alpaca herders had this... SWEET!

All in all, a fun and fab day! The wool fumes got to me a bit, so I spent this morning out in the yard doing some spinning of my own.

Good thing too, 'cause look at my haul! Yikes!

Thanks again Jen! (Who I think I may have converted to being a spinner as well as a knitter. I hooked her up with some fiber and helped her pick out a drop spindle. There are times that my passion for fiber makes me feel like a drug pusher. I even gave her the first bits of wool roving for free, knowing that in time she will go back to buy more...)