Maryland Sheep and Wool - Day One

Roxie and I travelled to Maryland yesterday.  It was a beautiful drive, we took the back roads and made a few stops along the way.  Arriving at the Howard County Fairgrounds today we followed the sheep sounds and found some hard working shepherds.

His T-shirt says "what happens in the barn stays in the barn."

Then I attended a class taught by Sarah Anderson on how to choose a fleece.  This was a terrific class and I feel prepared to hit the fleece show tomorrow.

Sarah, unrolled a skirted fleece and explained the qualities to look for.

Her passion for fleece is contagious.

Looking at an individual lock, you can almost hear the musical ping.

Sarah demonstrating flicking.  How can you not love a hobby that includes flicking.

This is an example of a break in the fiber indicating the sheep was stressed at some point.

A beautiful Cormo fleece that Sarah snapped up.

 

A lovely fleece to be shared by Maggie Casey and Deb Robson.  There may have been a bit of a fan girl moment when Sarah signed my book, I touched the fleece being shared by Deb and Maggie and I spotted Clara Parkes.  Oh my!

After class, Rena showed us this lovely shawl knit from Fiber Optic gradient yarn.

After a lovely dinner in Sykesville we discovered some of our peeps in the hotel lobby.  They were from NY and New Jersey, so Roxie felt right at home.

Anthony shows us another beautiful shawl.

This is Justin who is adorable and quite possibly the fastest knitter on the planet!

Another fabulous shawl from Anthony.  This one knit with Pima Cotton.