Maryland Weekend

I headed up Interstate 95 North towards Maryland last Thursday --- destination 35th Annual Maryland Sheep & Wool at Howard County Fairground.  I stopped at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC to pick up my friend, Sally, from Florida.  Then, the two of us set off for Edgewater, MD.  We had plans to stay with a friend of ours, Jane, and her husband.  It's always great to spend time with both Sally and Jane and this time would prove to be no exception. 

Friday, Jane took us for a visit to St. Michaels, MD.  Sally and I have both been before but each time, you see something new.  The weather was perfect for "doing" the town!

St. Michaels is a really cute town across the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis.  We had a great time visiting all the unique little shops, including Chesapeake Bay Outfitters, A Wish Called Wanda, 3 Krazy Ladies, Flying Fred's and our favorite Artiste Locale & Frivolous Fibers.  After some vigorous shopping, we enjoyed lunch at the Key Lime Cafe.   

Frivolous Fibers is a great little knitting shop.  The front part is Artiste Locale with wonderful pottery, jewelry, and other unique items.  The back part features Frivolous Fibers - yarn, patterns, books, notions, and other different and neat things - including awesome jewelry by one of my favorite artists. 

Another draw for this yarn shop is the large assortment of Blue Heron Yarns.  Blue Heron Yarns are produced just a few miles from the shop in nearby Easton, MD.  They are absolutely gorgeous!  Such rich colors!  Two skeins, along with a free shawl pattern, made their way home with me!!  The one on the top in the picture is Cotton/Rayon Seed and the bottom skein is Beaded Rayon (no beads, just nubby). 

That night we went to get crabs!  We ate at Mike's Crab House - located right smack on the South River in Riva, MD.  Sally and Don went through a dozen large crabs - Don more that Sally!  Jane had the flounder and I had the broiled combo platter.  I love combo platters!  This one had a Maryland crabcake, shrimp, scallops, and a piece of orange roughy.  Yummy!!!!

Saturday morning, we were up and out to the Maryland Sheep & Wool.  We drove separate cars as Jane would have to leave early. 

This show continues to be a free event held annually, the first full weekend in May.  A wonderful event with approximately 300 vendors set up inside and out.  There are also 4H sheep shows, working sheep dog demos, various art contests (photography, poster, etc.), sheep shearing demos, sheep to shawl contests, skein and garment competition, parade of sheep breeds, grand lamb cookoffs, shepherding workshops, musical entertainment, etc. etc.  To learn more about individual events, click here. 

In my opinion, one of the most impressive things about the MD Sheep & Wool - in all the years I've attended, I've never found a stall in the women's restrooms without toilet paper!  This is no small feat with the thousands of women that attend the show.  Hey!  You've just gotta appreciate that!  Of course, those ginormous rolls help! 

After standing in the T-shirt/tote bag/etc. line for forever!, the shopping began.   

I bought two skeins of yarn from Brooks Farm from Lancaster, TX.  This booth had some of the most beautiful yarn of any I saw.  Plus, what a great display!  All of their yarn was arranged by stitches per inch.  They also had beautiful finished pieces on display.  (Unfortunately, one of their lovely shawls turned up "missing" Saturday morning.  I hate to think that a knitter would take something from a booth so I hope it was just misplaced after the person looked at it and it will turn up for them later.)  The red yarn is their Duet 8 oz./500 yds 50/50 kid-fine wool.  The combination blue, charcoal, olive green is their Mas Acero 5.9 oz./400 yds wool/silk/viscose.  They gave me the Bias Shawl pattern to go with the yarns.  They had the same shawl pattern made up in both of these yarns.  Beautiful!!  Easy pattern with beads on the fringe on the shawl ends. 

I was in a spindle mood this year - no thanks or thanks (whichever way you want to take this!) to Mary - and came home with spindles from Tom Golding from VT, the Bosworths from MA, and Woodchuck Products from NM. 

Mary has raved about how well the Golding spindles spin.  So, that booth was on the top of my list to visit at the show.  I purchased two spindles from Tom - a Tsunami and a very special spindle with a petit point ring.  I also took one of his wheels for a spin.  Of all the wheels I've tried in the past twenty years, the Golding wheel tops the list.  Treadling was absolutely effortless.  However, when I took my feet off the treadles, the wheel kept turning.  Don't know if that would be a problem or not.  I heard him say the waiting list for his wheels is up to 2011.  Yes, I think it would be worth the wait! 

I purchased one of the Bosworth spindles in the midi size made out of cedar (smells so good) and a maxi in  birdseye maple.  These spindles spin like a dream! 

I looked all over the show for a spindle inexpensive enough to teach Kathryn - a sister to Grace who tends my kitty cats when I'm away.  Kathryn is into knitting big time! and has issued a knitting challenge to members of her church to knit preemie caps.  Her mom says she is very much into how the yarn feels and the color, etc.  Well, seems like she would enjoy knowing / learning how to spindle.  Someone sent me to Woodchuck Products.  Sure enough, he had some for $13.00 each.  Well, he also had a sign up that he was going out of business after 26 years.  You should have seen the line!  He didn't have much left and still had part of Saturday and all day Sunday to go.  Needless to say, he wouldn't have much to pack up at the end of the show.  I also bought a diz and a wraps per inch gauge.  After standing in his line for close to an hour, I walked in the next booth and there was a learn to spin kit with a spindle and some roving for less than $10.00!  Ain't that always the way!?  Oh well!  I have three Woodchuck spindles and he's not making them anymore.  Another lady in line said they spin like tornadoes.  Can't wait to try them!

I couldn't resist the roving!  (No pictures of the roving - it's all in plastic bags and I'm too lazy tired to get it all out, snap pictures of it, and put it all away.  Just turn on your imaginations!!)  Such beautiful colors every direction I turned!  I purchased gorgeous celery green and cream with a little yellow roving from Spirit Trial Fiberworks of VA.  Also, two wonderfully rich colored wool/silk blends from Spinners Hill of NY - one in shades of teals and purples and the other in olive green with orange, gold, blue, and red.  From Good Shepherd Yarn of VT came 8 oz. of wool/silk blend in a gorgeous autumn color mix - deep olive green, rusty orange, burgundy, and purple.  The last roving purchase says it all!  8 oz. of "Party-In-A-Bag" from Pucker Brush Farm in PA.  This stuff is wild!  Hot pink, olive green, gold, turquoise, etc.  Can't wait to get to the wheel OR spindle!

OH, there was plenty more going on at the festival!  It wasn't all shopping! 

There was the Ravelry meet-up in the Rabbit Barn.  There were hundreds of people!  This picture was of the inside of the barn - there were more people outside.  In all this mix, there were four gals from the Tuesday night knitting group in Richmond, VA!  Robin, Jane, Cathy, and Donna in the back.  The Ravelry folks were a little late getting there and with all those people, we decided not to wait.  I was on the other side of the barns when I heard the roar of the Ravelry crowd when everyone arrived.  There was a Ravelry party planned for Saturday night in Columbia.  Maybe next year!

There were sheep ---

lots and lots of sheep. 

Sleepy sheep

Show sheep

Shorn Sheep

Brown Sheep

Black Sheep

Big Sheep

Little Sheep

Where there are sheep ----- there are bags and bags and bags of WOOL!  The fleece competition had lots of entries!  It was interesting walking around and seeing the difference in the wool from breed to breed.  The Cormo fleeces were just gorgeous with their fine crimp.  It was also interesting to note which ones had ribbons and try to figure out what made them winners. 

There were other animals at the festival besides sheep.  I didn't get any pictures of the Angora bunnies or goats but they were there!

I did get these two alpaca.  What gorgeous eyes!  Like pools of melted chocolate.

I also snapped this fresh llama.  What a ham!  This picture was taken up close and personal - VERY!

There was MORE!  Maggie Sansone is a master at the hammered dulcimer and has performed at the MD Sheep & Wool for as long  as I've been attending - almost 20 years.  I love her music and I LOVE watching her play.  In this picture, she was playing the hammered dulcimer and also tapping something with her foot that made this puppets dance.  The children were entranced!  A great performance!

There was a broom maker who makes brooms of all sizes.

The garden center was back this year with their beautiful plants.  They also had some very unusual plants that I don't see often other places. 

There was another musical group.  I didn't get the fellow who was clogging to the music with his tap shoes on.

In the main building, there was a basket weaver demonstrating his craft.  It was interesting watching him work and he drew quite a crowd.      

There was also a booth of blacksmithed items.  He had a little of everything.  His forged jewelry was definitely attracting a lot of attention.  It was really finished nicely. 

Sally and I gave up finished about 3:30 PM and felt like we had completely "done" the MD Sheep & Wool 2008!  Actually, it may have "DONE" us!  We were done at any rate and I needed a shower and something very COLD to drink. 

On our way back to the car, we found we were not the only ones who were just too pooped to pop!  This little fellow had the right idea!  He was FAST asleep behind his mother's booth.

It was great seeing Jane and Sally.  The two of them used to be within a two hour drive of me - Jane in Durham, NC and Sally in Midlothian, VA - and I saw them often.  Now, Jane has settled in Maryland and Sally splits her time between Maine and Florida.  So, it's special whenever I get to see either of them.  We had a great visit and I actually got a lot of knitting done on the Spring Shawl Surprise as we talked.  I'll miss them until we get together again.

This morning, Sally and I hugged Jane and Don and headed out.  I dropped her off at the airport and made my way home.  I arrived home before 3:00 PM.  Not bad! 

Now, it's back to real life -- laundry, work, groceries, etc.  Ahhhh!  It was great while it lasted!

   

Comments

[Sydney]

Thanks for the trip to MS&W! What a great weekend. I'll get there one of these days. It just wasn't meant to be this year. Your Golding spindles are beautiful. I've been lusting after them for a long time.

[Sharon]

Thanks for taking us along on your trip with you. It brought back wonderful memories, but I remembered the lines to ladies rooms to be miserably long. I showed Ian your picture of the musical group. We were fascinated by the musicians and step dancers. They weren't scheduled performers - they just showed up and played and they were good. Perhaps we were just hot and tired, but we kept going back. All that way to go for sheep, and we're absorbed by the musicians. I'm covetous of your spindles. I'd love a Golding spindle. It's on my list~

[loribird]

Thank you for the virtual trip! I'm hoping to go... someday... In the meantime I'm happy to live vicariously!

[Rosanne - Firefly Nights]

Thanks for the great report. I'll go next year with a new knee.

[Channon]

I'm sitting here drooling... Between Mary's shot of her enamel ring spindle and all of yours, I'm wishing I'd brought my little Kundert and its fiber along for the day today. (I did bring my knitting in case I have to wait at the eye doctor's.)

Maybe next year, I'll be up to the road trip and all the walking. I really wanted to test out a few more wheels!

[KSee]

What a wonderful weekend. Wish I could have made it, next year fur sure. Oh, the spindles! They are so beautiful. That is what I was going to go for and Ravelry. But could not bare think schlepping my chair and sitting for hours waiting on car pool buds. Oh, the yarn! You did not get get the one picture of a sheep, the one over there---lol

[Leah]

I wondered what kind of fun you had. Did you take any classes? Thanks for sharing so quickly after getting back...from those of us that didn't get to go...this year :)

Looks like you had lots of fun. Love those spindles.

[Jackie]

Hi Robin!

Lovely post...brought back so many memories and the first time I went to wool festival and met Jane there. Such a great place and one you want to put on your list if you have never been! Thanks for sharing and loved all the critter pictures...always my favorite! Estes Park wool festival in less than a month! Yahoo!

[emmy]

Thanks for the trip to Md Sheep and Wool. I knew I could count on you for making me feel like I was there!!

Glad you had a great weekend!

[Nikki]

dang! I bet you were in the t shirt line when I gave up, gave my money to my friend and went off shopping!! What time did y'all get there?

I had SO much fun! and thankfully to some careful long term planning, (and a little help from the gov't!) I did not blow my budget!

[Rusty M.]

Wow! I'm exhausted from just reading about all that fun. Sounds like you had just a wonderful time. Thanks for the tour. Don't you just want to bring home an alpaca? heehee.