We headed out on Friday after deciding last minute to spend the weekend in Maryland attending the Sheep and Wool festival. I've been to Rhinebeck for the last 3 years but this was our first time at Maryland. I had 2 fellow fiber lovers with me.....Christopher and Hannah Grace were just as excited as I was to meet some new fibery friends!
The weekend was simply gorgeous.....the weather was perfect and the Festival was amazing! Our plan was to get what was on our list on Saturday and then on Sunday just wander and enjoy with out any agenda.
First up was the fleece sale. I wanted a cormo and stood in line with some wonderful people as waited for the sale to start and chatted about fleeces. I love fiber festivals......everyone you meet is friendly and loves to talk fiber! Nothing can be bad about that!! After wandering through the piles of fleeces I found one that spoke to me and ended up with a lovely cormo cross. Saw some famous faces in the sea of others looking at fleeces and nearly took out Laura from "The knitgirlls" with my stroller! I can not wait to start processing this one! I will be documenting it on the blog here as I learn the in's and out's of processing. And please if you have any great sources that you love pass them along! I'm so looking forward to the experience!
We meandered through quite a few sheep barns meeting fibery friends as we went. And then headed over to the Family Activities tent for Christopher to take a class and make a tapestry book mark. While he was busy there Hannah Grace and I hit Solitude Wool and bought some squishy corriedale wool yarn for a future fair isle sweater vest I want to make. I can not say how much I love this company! All fiber is grown and processed in the US. I also snatched a bag of tunis fiber to spin. I was really trying to find fibers I have not worked with before for spinning. Clun Forest was on my list! I also let Hannah Grace pick out some yarn for a new hat and mittens. She got a skein of mulitcolored Tunis! The lady at the booth was so informative and we talked spinning for a while and she offered me a bit of a Karakul fleece that she had purchased for a sample spin. What a sweet lady and so generous to offer me a way to try a breed I never even heard of before.
We watched the border collies and their amazing herding skills for a while. After while we were just resting I got to meet an instagram friend! I only know her through instagram and knew she would be there and told her to look for Hannah Grace's wild hair......and that is exactly how she found me! She saw Hannah Grace peeking through the fence watching the dogs! We sat and chatted like old friends and it was so neat to meet her in real life!!
Sunday was another perfect day! Christopher had another class, this one was needle felting and he made a sea horse! He really liked this class. He also got a chance to sit at a floor loom and learn how to use it. He told me he really wants a floor loom now.....hmmmmm.....another fiber craft to delve into! We watched some of the show judging today and saw some more bunnies.
Christopher picked out these buttons from Jenny the Potter for my fair isle sweater I will be making. I think he did a good job! I also hit into the whirled for a braid of Rambouillet......keeping with my plan of wanting breeds I have not spun. Another must have was a bag of battlings from Hobbledehoy fiber! I did also find a cute mini Turkish spindle for Emily.
We were able to cheer on some friends from our fiber guild as they competed in the sheep to shawl event. They ended up taking a third place and won the spinning award so that was exciting!
We really enjoyed the weekend and I can see this becoming a yearly event for us! Now to go rest and decide what to dive into first!
The weekend was simply gorgeous.....the weather was perfect and the Festival was amazing! Our plan was to get what was on our list on Saturday and then on Sunday just wander and enjoy with out any agenda.
First up was the fleece sale. I wanted a cormo and stood in line with some wonderful people as waited for the sale to start and chatted about fleeces. I love fiber festivals......everyone you meet is friendly and loves to talk fiber! Nothing can be bad about that!! After wandering through the piles of fleeces I found one that spoke to me and ended up with a lovely cormo cross. Saw some famous faces in the sea of others looking at fleeces and nearly took out Laura from "The knitgirlls" with my stroller! I can not wait to start processing this one! I will be documenting it on the blog here as I learn the in's and out's of processing. And please if you have any great sources that you love pass them along! I'm so looking forward to the experience!
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| fleece sale |
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| my cormo cross |
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| this was our favorite sheep.....we kept coming back to him. He loved being petted! |
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| rainbow sheep are the best |
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| weaving a bookmark |
We meandered through quite a few sheep barns meeting fibery friends as we went. And then headed over to the Family Activities tent for Christopher to take a class and make a tapestry book mark. While he was busy there Hannah Grace and I hit Solitude Wool and bought some squishy corriedale wool yarn for a future fair isle sweater vest I want to make. I can not say how much I love this company! All fiber is grown and processed in the US. I also snatched a bag of tunis fiber to spin. I was really trying to find fibers I have not worked with before for spinning. Clun Forest was on my list! I also let Hannah Grace pick out some yarn for a new hat and mittens. She got a skein of mulitcolored Tunis! The lady at the booth was so informative and we talked spinning for a while and she offered me a bit of a Karakul fleece that she had purchased for a sample spin. What a sweet lady and so generous to offer me a way to try a breed I never even heard of before.
We watched the border collies and their amazing herding skills for a while. After while we were just resting I got to meet an instagram friend! I only know her through instagram and knew she would be there and told her to look for Hannah Grace's wild hair......and that is exactly how she found me! She saw Hannah Grace peeking through the fence watching the dogs! We sat and chatted like old friends and it was so neat to meet her in real life!!
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| Hannah Grace had a captive audience and entertained the sheep with her drawings of them and some stories as well. |
Sunday was another perfect day! Christopher had another class, this one was needle felting and he made a sea horse! He really liked this class. He also got a chance to sit at a floor loom and learn how to use it. He told me he really wants a floor loom now.....hmmmmm.....another fiber craft to delve into! We watched some of the show judging today and saw some more bunnies.
Christopher picked out these buttons from Jenny the Potter for my fair isle sweater I will be making. I think he did a good job! I also hit into the whirled for a braid of Rambouillet......keeping with my plan of wanting breeds I have not spun. Another must have was a bag of battlings from Hobbledehoy fiber! I did also find a cute mini Turkish spindle for Emily.
We were able to cheer on some friends from our fiber guild as they competed in the sheep to shawl event. They ended up taking a third place and won the spinning award so that was exciting!
We really enjoyed the weekend and I can see this becoming a yearly event for us! Now to go rest and decide what to dive into first!
