Maryland Sheep and Wool Recap

I kept meaning to do this recap earlier in the week, but time gets away from me way too easily. I think my brain was fried with that 90'F heat and 87% humidity (oh, I kid you not...)... but, no matter how bad I was feeling, these babies had it worse than me:



These kids, too:



Nobody wanted to move. To make matters worse (better?), the festival was crowded like I have never seen it before. When we left, not only was the entire parking field full, but people had started to park in the fields across the street. Despite the steamy masses, I did run into some friends:



(L-R Chris, Bezzie, and me)

I don't know how coherent I was - we had been at the festival for about three hours at that time and the heat was really getting to me. It had also just started occuring to me that with every skein of yarn I was buying and tossing into my backpack I was further insulating my already overheated self.

I also ran into Cristi early on, who was wearing her fabulous striped cardigan - but she was making a beeline for the t-shirt booths to get a tank top to beat the heat.

So, wanna see what I bought? My rule with buying stuff at festivals is that I don't buy stuff that I can either a) get at my LYS, and/or b) can easily order online. That second one is a tricky one - but has more to do with known quantities - I mean, I can buy Malabrigo so many places online, and I know what the yarn will feel and knit up like. At festivals I am going to come across stuff I have seen online, but may have never touched or knit with before. Anyway, without further ado:



Sock yarn from Ellen's Half-Pint Farm. It doesn't have a tag, so I am not entirely sure what is in it, but it is going to knit up in stripes of solid-ish red and a pink/orange/yellow variegated. This was the last skein I bought, and probably my favourite of the bunch.



Burgundy-rose superwash merino sock yarn from the Barefoot Spinner. I bought yarn from her last year and made my Cucumber Socks out of them - gorgeous saturation of colour.



Rock Creek Yarn superwash merino in 'Granny Apple.' Such a happy colour! I think I need to get myself a t-shirt now to match the socks I will make out of this yarn.

And two from Brooks Farms sale bin:



Solo Silk blend in a mango/pink/red/burgundy mix.



Brooks Farm Solo Silk in a pretty pink/beige. I actually have a plan for this one. My company sponsors a breast cancer walk in the fall, and the knitting group at work (yes - there is one - the knit for charity) is knitting pink scarves for the people walking in the breast cancer walk. I am now looking for some appropriate patterns - I want something lacy, but not overly complicated - maybe a 4-5 row repeat at best.



The Wool Chef Superwash Sock in 'Blue Hawaii.' I am not sure why this one pulled me in - I am not really a purple-y kind of person, but I really liked this skein.

I did have a good time - but I have to say - there were some examples of extreme asshattery abounding. Like the women ahead of me in line who were complaining about the number of handicapped parking spaces. As in they thought there were way too many - "Obviously there aren't that many handicapped people here." Or the other women (you know, maybe the unbearable heat was just making everyone catty!) ahead of me in line who were loudly exclaiming (and in complete earshot of the objects of their derision) that then men in kilts looked ridiculous. I thought they looked fine - if you've got nice legs, men - by all means let us see them!

And my personal victory? I didn't spill any food on my clothes! If you know me in person, you know that every year I manage to spill something on myself. Of course, I may have looked like a twit hunched over at a 90' angle eating my lamb pita sandwich, but I am VICTORIOUS!

And I will be back next year for more!