Weekend Update: Sheep and Wool!

Saturday I went to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival with Kelsey (thanks for driving!) and Sarah (thanks for coming with even though you don't really know me!).    This Festival is apparently the largest of its kind in America. 

It was awesome to be surrounded by people of all ages interested in something I often get teased for enjoying so much.  I could say things like "this is just my easy bar knitting" and everyone nods,  understanding that of course I would take knitting to the bar with me and of course I would want something easy enough to knit while drinking. 

I took a lace-knitting class with  this woman: Charlene Schurch.   I was not super impressed with the class itself (maybe I'm better at this whole knitting thing than I thought), but I did meet some awesome ladies.

At the fair I also saw lots, and lots of other stuff.

There were sheep.  Sheep are notoriously hard to photograph.

They wiggle around a lot.

Sheep did not want to get photographed with me either....

Some of them wear leotards.  This makes me giggle.

This sheep is getting a once over before going into the judging arena.  They get a little trim to even up the fleece and a little vacuum to get the dust off.  The metal harness they have her in is the same thing they would use to sheer her.

In the main exhibit hall there were all the fleeces people had brought to sell.  They were categorized by coarseness and breed.

There were all kinds of vendors selling everything you could possibly imagine related to sheep and wool: fiber, tools, shepherding materials, books, food, randomness.  This vendor sold sparkle.  You mix the sparkle in with your spinning.

I walked away from the vendor booths with WAY too much goodness.  Got a new spindle, lots of fiber (including this little Easter-egg-colored bump here), some lamb chops (I feel guilty about them, but the farmer convinced me to try them), and a funnel cake!

I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to the largest fiber festival in America!