Knit-a-Palooza Field Trip: MD Sheep & Wool

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted one of these. Too long!

I went to [Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival http://www.sheepandwool.org/] last weekend. Here’s a picture of some of the Festival headliners:

There’s all sorts of stuff at the festival, and not just sheep and yarn (although that is a major draw!) They have all sorts of events, a Sheep to Shawl competition (yep, teams include a shearer, 2 spinners, and a weaver, and they really do go from sheep to shawl right there in front of everyone.

Here’s one of the more exotic blue ribbon winners in the handspun yarn category:

And here’s a better picture of the winning yarn. A little creepy, but very clever, wouldn’t you say?

The sheepdog herding demonstrations are always cool:

Sheep are, of course, everywhere at the festival. Here’s a young shepherdess and her sheep:

This is the INCREDIBLY long line at the booth selling [Socks that Rock http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/newmoon/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=19], a boingy sock yarn that comes in incredible colorways.

A nice story about standing in the line (which was probably 4 times as long as what you see in the picture): I had driven down with my mom early that morning, and we knew we had to leave the festival in the eary afternoon so she could be back for a Derby party. Everyone in line was making the best of it, chatting with each other about their future projects, whether they were toe-up or cuff-down sock knitters, how far we had traveled to come to the festival, etc. When the girl behind me heard my mom and I talking about how we had to leave early in the day, she offered to take my yarn through the line with hers and meet up with me later so mom and I could see more of the festival instead of standing in line (we exchanged cell numbers). How cool was that?