May the Sheep Safely Graze

This day old lamb's sweet face captures my 2016 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival experience beautifully.  How does it get better than good friends, sheep, fresh air, ice cream, fiber tools and lots of fluff!

These dudes were so handsome. 

Nora and I drove up on Friday and met up with Susan, Sallie, Peggy and Burgl for dinner. 

Saturday, I enjoyed the auction.  It was crazy fun, a wise man suggested I make a list of the items I wanted after previewing the auction items.  His best suggestion was to write down my top bid for each item.  He chuckled and said "because people lose their minds out there."

He was not kidding, some of the used, much loved items sold for bids above their new retail price.  There were bargains too.  I got three items off my list, a 12 inch Mirrix loom, an Archie Brennan

style copper pipe loom and best of all nine brass tipped tapestry looms.

I promised myself that my top bid for these lovely bobbins was $50.00.  They were part of a lot with three spindles.  Unfortunately they went for $70.00.  I turned around to see who my nemesis was and it was friend and fellow Piedmont Fiber Guild member Dawn.  Turns out she wanted the spindles and had no interest in my coveted bobbins.  Purchased them from her, so happy!

 That was the highlight of Saturday.  Sunday morning was bright and although the fairgrounds were muddy it didn't impede our progress through the vendors. 

MDSW  is an opportunity for shepherds, vendors and fiber enthusiasts to come together in one place to celebrate.  Nothing captures this as well as the Sheep to Shawl competition.  The  Spin City team won first place.  They had wonderful costumes, display and of course the shawl was beautiful.

Dawn and Christina from our guild were on this Alice in Wonderland themed winning team.

Another highlight of Sunday was a talk by Judith McKenzie on the history of wool.

Inspired by Judith, Nora, Peggy and I headed to the fleece sale.  We were only going to look.  Yeah, right.

This is a six pound Romney lamb fleece that Nora and I split.  Yikes, I said I would never process another fleece.

Until next year MDSW, may the sheep safely graze.

MDSW goodbye until next year

The highlight of the trip to Maryland was a class with Judith McKenzie on spinning for socks.  She is so knowledgeable and encouraging it is hard to describe her class.  I learned so much about not only spinning for socks but also spinning in general.  I took copious notes and will reflect on many of the things she shared every time I spin.



Judith explaining some carding basics and how to spin off of cards.

My Maryland purchases, including a beautiful cherry tapestry loom from Stephen Willette, combed top from Reflections at Roclans, a dye kit, tapestry combs, a bump of flax wool blend from Wild Hare and some tapestry beaters.

Below is my travel project, a scarf project from Victorian Lace Today out of a handspun wool and flax blend from Wild Hare.

Goodbye Maryland until next year.

MDSW-Sheep to Shawl

Two of my guild members participated in the sheep to shawl contest.  Their team, Spin City won last year at Rhinebeck.  The competition involves shearing a sheep, carding and spinning the wool and weaving a shawl in the allotted time.  I was lucky enough to tag along Friday during some of the preparation -choosing the sheep and shearing a sheep for practice.


The Fearless Spin City team.

John and the team examine the two sheep he brought to determine which fleece is best for the competition.  These beautiful sheep are from John and Kate's farm, Reflections at Roclans.

A lot of preparation and practice are involved in this competition, not only for the spinners and weavers but also for the shearers.  Geof of Ruppert's Corriedales and John prepare to shear the practice sheep.  Geof shared that he believes the sheep to shawl competition is the most important part of the festival as it brings all the parts together - the shepherds, the sheep, the spinners, the weavers and the final product.

The sheep was surprisingly docile during the shearing and it was a quick process, just several minutes.  Below the 3.3 lb. fleece is examined by Lynn and John.

 

 

 The Spin City team's theme was The Wizard of Oz.  The costumes were great and the decorations included a yellow brick road, munchkins and the wicked witch's broom and ruby slippers.  The crowd was delighted with this team's theme and creativity.

 

Christina and Dawn holding the completed shawl.  Sadly they did not win the competition but their shawl was the most prized.  The shawls are auctioned off after the competition and the Spin City shawl got the highest price at $1475.00.

 

Roadtrip

My friend,  Nora and I headed out bright and early Thursday morning for our fiber roadtrip.  Our first stop was The Manning's in East Berlin Pennsylvania. This is a wonderful destination for all things fiber.

Beautiful natural dyed yarns.

Cones and cones of weaving yarns for students.

One of many looms.

 Nora had a class Friday so I wandered the fairgrounds talking to farmers and petting cute sheep.

A local guild yarn bombs the entrance to The Howard County Fairgrounds.  It adds to the sheepy ambience.

These two sheep were waiting their turn in the corral for the sheep show.

Adventures in Fleece - and so it begins.

Saturday, at MDSW I went to the fleece sale and quickly became overwhelmed by all the choices.  I spent about 90 minutes circling the tables heaped with bags of fleeces.  I sampled locks, listening for pings (good) and crunchiness (bad).  I thought I wanted a small Shetland fleece but when I looked at them, I decided dealing with a double coated fleece for my first processing wasn't a good idea.

I decided to find a small Jacob fleece, I tested several and found a 2.75 pound fleece and decided on it.  The fleeces were abundant and so were the people, the line to check out snaked around the room and out the barn.  I gave up and decided to give it more thought and return when the sale was less crazy.

Sunday, with little hope there would be much left I returned to the fleece sale.  I found two small Jacob fleeces.  I asked another shopper if she was knowledgeable and could help me.  I explained that I had taken Sarah's class on Friday.  We tested locks together, the smaller of the fleeces had a break and crunchy sound, even when we tested locks from different parts of the fleece.

The larger fleece tested well with a wonderful ping to the lock.  My new friend pointed out that some of the darker locks were shorter than the cream locks.   But as I was going to process the colors separately it wasn't a big problem. 

I proceeded quickly to check out and $41.25 later it was all mine.  I can't swear this is the same 2.75 lb fleece from Saturday but I think it is.

Penny wants to help.

My beautiful Jacob.

Two locks after a quick wash in Soak and hot water.



Locks after flicking.

It amazes me that the simple act of laying my fleece out in the backyard and washing two small locks has me so excited to process this fleece.  I was not keen on this at all prior to this evening. Tomorrow, I will load up on some mesh bags and Dawn dish washing liquid.  I am looking forward to sitting in the backyard with this sheepy smelling fluff on Saturday.

MDSW - Holy Crap!

Roxie and I headed out bright and early for the fairgrounds. 

 

We were on a mission and headed straight to Miss Babs' booth.  Even though it was only about 8:30, the line was out the door.

 

 

I was so excited to find three of my favorite knitting celebs outside Miss Babs' booth.  The indefatigable Miss Babs and the fabulous Leslie and Laura, the Knitgirllls.

There was so much to see.

 

Back at the hotel, we met in the lobby and did an informal show and tell.

 

My haul, a cricket loom, 48 ounces of Shetland roving, two books, some natural dyes, two fiber optic gradients and Miss Babs MDSW color way in sock yarn.

 



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.