Maryland Sheep and Wool!

For the thirty-sixth time,  thousands upon thousands of fiber hungry souls will converge on the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland for two days of fiber inundation.  Although we won’t be there in person, we’ll be there in spirit – and in fiber, spindles, and knitting needles!

This morning Miriam Carter picked up all these babies (and many, many more) and will have them in her booth:

You can find her at Miriam Carter/Feltmaker (listed under M) in the Main Building, B20.  The batts will be somewhat subdued, however, by Miriam’s glorious feltwear:

Cloveryhill Yarn,  in the Main Building, Booths D2 and D3, will also have a selection of fibers on hand.

A fleet of FiberShips™ will be flying south today and landing in Carolina Homespun’s booth, Main Building, C24:

where they will nestle against the Darn Pretty™ Needles that will accompany them on their trip.

Shearing Day!

Saturday was shearing day here in Grafton.  Jim McRae, the nicest shearer on the planet, leads a shearing school each year in Grafton.  When he’s finished for the day, he heads up to our barn and shears our sheep too.

This year Bonnie needed a haircut.  She was none too happy about the process, fussing, growling, spitting and all sorts of histrionics.   Afterward, she felt much better.  She must have known she looks a bit silly without hair, though, as she began making silly faces at us:

After Bonnie, it was the sheep’s turn.  The sheep were even trickier at first.  An enterprising whether torn down a rail, allowing several to escape.  Then everyone made a break for it, requiring a bucket of grain and some serious running on a very hot day.  We succeeded, however, and one by one the sheep were shorn.  The rowdiest, Maxine, is on the right – she knows what’s coming:

Maxine is a big, gorgeous corriedale that does her best to slam me into walls and railings on a regular basis.  My revenge?  She gets shorn last!

That’s one big sheep!  Everyone feels much better today.  We have had an unusually warm few days.  It has never hit 85-90 degrees when the sheep still had wool on them, but it did Saturday.  As much as they protested, they all felt a whole lot better when all that wool came off.  Now comes the hard part – finding time to process all the wool!

A beautiful thing

I’m home from the first annual Chicks with Sticks weekend at the Comfort Suites in White River Junction, Vermont.  The hotel has declared the event a success and has committed to making it an annual event – though perhaps with a bit of tweaking on the name.  My only regret for the weekend is that I was unable to spend the entire time at the hotel.  Family and personal commitments required that I drive up only for the day, the most pressing being able to witness our oldest in a bravo performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in the role of Orsino:

Isn’t he handsome?

I digress.  Saturday was lovely.  The representatives for Cascade Yarns arrived and presented a yarn tasting:  Skeins of the various yarns from Cascade were available for folks to sample.  A dozen or so souls sat around the tables and took turns swatching the various yarns.  What a cool concept!  Sue McCain of Vermont Fiber Designs was in attendance with all her gorgeous sweater designs arrayed around her.

And at the far end of the room, Lois of White River Yarns held court, keeping the stitchers in stitches while demonstrating mysterious magic loop methods:

I managed to fit the dragon into my little Toyota, and a lovely woman took a shine to him and needle felted on him most of the day.  I managed to get a bit more done on his belly.  Several women learned to spin, and I learned some wonderful tips and tricks for sock knitting from Lois.

Late in the afternoon, just when everyone was beginning to feel the mid afternoon fog, the aroma of fresh baked cookies began to waft into the main room.  Within minutes, Mary Lee, our hostess extraordinaire, waltzed into the room bearing a tray of fresh baked cookies.  Could it get any better?

It is a beautiful thing to observe individuals doing what they do well.  Walter, Sue, and Lois were wonderful examples of this.  But Mary Lee – Mary Lee is a master.  For all the shows I have done, no one has ever gotten the coffee thing right.  Too many event organizers don’t think vendors require coffee at all, let alone see to it that fresh coffee is readily available throughout an event.  Mary Lee knows better, however.  Having done many a show herself, she recognizes the value of good coffee.  Not only did she make it fresh and make it available, she – sorry if I stumble here, but this still amazes me – she gave each of us a lovely ceramic mug so that we would not have to suffer styrofoam!

Will I return next year?  You have to ask?