Maryland Sheep & Wool May 5, 2007

The Guild sponsored a bus to MS&W and on Saturday 28 knitters left eNorfolk at 6:00 a.m. still a little sleepy. After a short stop in Newport News to pick up 2 more knitters we were off down I64. (There was another stop for biscuits and coffee at Hardee's). Arrived at the road leading to the fair grounds at 11:15 and finally parked at 11:45. We wasted no time!

The hills are alive with the promise of yaaarrnnnnn!!!!




One really nice perk in taking the bus is the parking near the entrance.


We don't have to fight this parking lot. (click on the picture to enlarge and see just a small bit of the parking lot)


The face of a first time sheep and wool festival goer as she aproaches the front gate.

I didn't get to taste Fried Twinkies, but I can tell you Ribbon Chips are fantastic!



A few animals on the hoof....


And off the hoof.....

Kiki and I shopped together. She bought Golding and Journey drop spindles and enough roving to keep her busy spinning until next year. We both bought MS&W caps. We're both short and it was a great way to find one another in the crowds.

"I must buy a broom "



A little music .........


...........and alot of yarn!

I missed lunch with the KR'ers, but caught up with Shelia From NY, Marfa and Jen at Jen's Spirit Trail Fiberworks booth. I also purchased some beautiful lace merino from Jen. And I ran into Lissa.

Stopped and spoke with Tilli Thomas. She showed us the samples of the wool/beaded yarn and a few of the pattens that will be out this fall. Wait until you see it felted!!!

My must find list had 3 items: Morehouse Farms, EZ Workshop and Spirit Trail Fiberworks.

I picked up a few lace wt kits from Morehouse Farms. Love their yarns, and buying the kits you get the pattern for free.

EZ I found at YarnBarn.

And some gorgeous lace wt Merino from Jen.

Walking to the Broom vendor we passed Tess's Designer Yarns. First time the crowd was thin enough to look. I found lace wt in 3 shades of pinks. My first thought was that it will become a wide "Mary" but now I'm not so sure. Maybe another pattern could be in the works.

At 4:00 Kiki and I went back to the bus and dropped off 4 hours of shopping, changed shoes, snacked on a few bites of Terry's Potatoes, grabbed a sweater and went back to see what we missed. The crowds had thinned a bit. Kiki purchased a bit more roving from Spirit Trail Fiberworks and I debated on the purchase of a sheep mask (decided it was just one more thing to dust).

We left the fair grounds at 6:00pm, stopped at Cracker Barrel for a quick dinner and back in the parking lot at midnight. It was a fantastic day!

My purchases: Morehouse Farms, Spirit Trail, Tess's all lace weight! and EZ's Workbook.

All good things come to an end

I'm afraid it's over Interweave Knits. We must end our relationship......

I first saw you on the magazine rack at the Borders in San Francisco.

You know the one I would walk to each Monday evening after flying in from the east coast and working until 6:00 PST which was 9:00pm EST and since I had been up since 4:00am EST I needed that time to unwind. I'd check in at the Grand Hyatt (usually a room above floor 8 that had "16" as the last numbers), unpack, walk across the street to Lori's Diner to have a burger or scrambled eggs, then armed with a chocolate milkshake (with the whipped cream in a seperate cup becuase they didn't have cups big enough to put it in) head over to Border's (isn't that a great store front?) Three stories of books, magazines, music, movies and coffee.

And one night in the Fall of 2001, there you were. Your cover called my name. Page after page of knitting patterns the like I'd never seen. I couldn't wait to get you back to the hotel room and read you cover to cover.

You see I was just getting "into" knitting. I mean I always knitted, but never with the fever that had hit me that September. And you articles, your advertising, your pictures and patterns....I read you cover to cover. Every turn of the page brought a new surprise and always one more pattern. The layouts were what I wanted, needed. Warm and cozy. And over the months until the next issue you're what I tucked into my briefcase to take with me on those long cross country flights. I'd read you over and over.

And at Guild meetings, when members bring in their magazine stash to "share", I push and shove old ladies out of the way to get to your older issues. (hanging my head in shame...naw...they've got canes they could've used)

Oh sure, there were other magazines. But they were to flip through and see if a pattern caught my eye. Too flashy and shinny for me. To steel and cold for me. No warm and cozy feelings there.

And IK, it's been that way ever since that first day.........well ever since the Spring of 2007 when you changed your format. I remember turing the pages looking for those surprises in the back pages. Nope, nothing there.

But, I decided to wait. Give the change time to sink in. And now after the second issue of change, I'm pretty sure it's over. No warm and cozy feelings drifted from your pages as I eagerly flipped through you. Just sterile pictures like the others.

I'm am sad it has to end IK. It was a good few years. But the subscription will end. You will be flipped through at Ewe Knit Kits & Yarn and decision to take you home will be made.

"My Favorite Shawl" ..........

..............is now available at Ewe Knit Kits & Yarn and The Knitting Vault and it can be knit from your stash!

For the returning Students

If you would like to knit an item for the Va Tech students: Knitting for Virginia Tech Students

Hokie Hope

And for the families of the victims:

Project Hokie Hope

KAL in memory of Va Tech student

Mary Read Memorial KnitAlong

What I did this past weekend

The Guild participated in the annual Spring Craft Festival & Heritage Craft Show at the VB Conference Center this weekend. 6 Guild members volunteered to work and this is what the corner of the table looked like



Imagine knitters sitting on the empty chairs knitting.

I bought freshly baked bread and opened a jar of Graves Mtn Orange Marmalade



There are 2 slices left.

People I met:

Confused Wool hater - A 20 something arguing with me that all sheep in Australia are tortured and she would never touch wool because of that. She didn't know why they were butchered. I had to many others interested in knitting to argue with her. I suggested she do more research.

Pink Knitting - A little girl about 4 dress head to toe in pink was fascinated watching my hands.

Internatinal Knitting - A husband and wife from Germany/Austria (not sure) that spoke no English. The wife watching me knit and shaking her head "no". So I switched to contentinal and she nodded "yes". Then wanted me to show her how I threw. Her husband pulled his pant leg up and showed me his handknitted socks.

One benefit of this Show is that we can sell items to benefit the Guild (see totes, yarn, cookbooks in picture above) as well as ourselves. I am happy to report My Favorite Shawl was popular with the knitters that attended. It will be available on The Knitting Vault very soon....maybe tomorrow.