Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2017

Currently in sensory overload. We saw so many bright colors at the festival, so many textures, touched so many soft things. Basically, by the end we were starting to get indifferent to beauty. That's when we left.

This is pretty much my mind right now

I went to the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with my mother-in-law, who knits and crochets a bit, but doesn't spin. This will be my fourth time going - I missed last year because I was graduating. This year we got to the festival at around 10:30 (two hours after opening) and it was drizzling and cold. The rain eventually let up, but it was still pretty cold when we left at 4.

The first place we went was the fleece sale.

Fleece Sale

Grouped into categories, they had bags of fleeces on tables, with a tag giving the type and other details, and stickers indicating whether they were Maryland local sheep and whether they were from 4-H. The fleeces that won ribbons had been auctioned off the day before - we were picking through the ones that weren't submitted for judging and the ones that didn't win. Still, there were a lot of people looking through them, and it was first-come first served.

This was my first time buying a fleece. I have processed bits of fleeces before, and I got one for free through Craigslist, but this was different. I knew that I wanted a longwool, or at least a fleece with longish locks, since I have been doing a lot of carding recently, and my combs are getting dusty. I don't really like processing fine wools like merino, because I am afraid that they will felt. I also was leaning toward a conservation breed. I like the idea of helping keep a rare breed alive by buying their products.

After I had looked at and touched a bunch of fleeces, with my handy Field Guide to Fleece providing insights, it was down to two fleeces (or none. I still hadn't committed to getting any at all). I asked a volunteer to unroll a perendale fleece for me. He took it to a table and helped me test some locks for soundness. It was remarkably free of grass and other VM, and the locks were sound and quite long. The only problem was that it was pretty greasy, and yellowish.

Perendale fleece from Lucky Lane Farm, rolled out

Well, long story short, I bought it. I'm hoping the yellow is just the lanolin mixed with dirt, but we will have to wait until it is washed. Early experiments look promising. I have separated out the finer back wool to process separately, but scouring will have to wait a few weeks.

Unwashed perendale lock.

Picking out the fleece took us over an hour. We spent most of the rest of the time looking at yarn and roving among the many many many vendors at the festival. As usual, I bought too much, although I don't think there were any really bad purchases. 

Cheviot sunset gradient roving - so pretty, I couldn't resist.

I have been noticing two trends, however. A much larger percentage of the yarn for sale has silk blended into it. I like the feel of it, but it is too expensive for the kind of knitting I do. It does make it a lot easier to avoid buying too much yarn. The other trend I've noticed it that there is more roving and raw wool for sale in the booths. Now, maybe I am just noticing it more, but maybe handspinning is catching on?

We also spent a bit of time looking at the skein and garment competitions. They were... incredible. 

There are so many pictures I could show. But I'll let this one speak for the rest.

Although we were there for most of the day, there were parts we didn't go to this year: the craft demonstrations, the sheep-shearing, the sheep demonstrations, and the fiber animal barns. I did get one really cute animal picture though, from one of the booths:

Yes, it's a rabbit and not a pile of fluff. If you are having trouble seeing the rabbit, the pink is the inside of the ear.

Whelp, I'm tuckered out after a long day. Good night to you all!

good night