Alpaca Festival Report

Festival report time!

Alpaca

This year was my first time going to the Maryland Alpaca and Fleece festival. Maryland Sheep & Wool is much better known, but it is in the spring, and I missed it this year. I needed a bit of a break from the news, so I went with my mother-in-law. It is held in the same place as MD S&W, but it is a tenth the size. There were a few alpacas in pens scattered between the 5 buildings, and a bunch of people selling alpaca clothing, yarn, and fiber. There were also plenty of non-alpaca yarns and fibers.

There were also a ton of adorable alpaca dolls and ornaments

I swore going in that I would avoid buying any alpaca if I could avoid it, because I have 3 lbs of alpaca roving and 4 skeins of yarn already. Shockingly, despite the multitude of temptations, I kept  this, though I never promised not to touch it or rub it against my cheeks.

A lot of the vendors dyed their own yarns. Looking at all of it made me realize how much white fiber I have at home, and inspired me to buy some dyes. Look forward to reports about more fiber coming out of my dye pot in the future.

Braids of hand-dyed BFL and Superwash merino gradient top

Along with the dye (bought from Sheepish Creations) I also got some new unprocessed fiber. First, the good folks at The Spinning Loft talked me into getting a few ounces of  Ryeland wool.

The Spinning Loft had a wonderful selection of fleece and roving from different breeds of sheep

It seems to be a completely different type of wool than I have ever processed before, so I am looking forward to playing around with it. Unfortunately, it currently has an incredibly overpowering smell of licorice. I'm hoping that will go away after I scour the stuff.

A lock of the unwashed ryeland. It seems to be quite corse and kinky, with a short staple.

I am soaking the ryeland fleece now to get out the dirt before scouring.

24 hour cold soak in a bucket before scouring

Finally, I got some raw angora. Spinaway Farm had two angora rabbits in their festival booth:

Not a great picture, but I promise: those are rabbits and not tribbles.

The fiber was incredibly soft. I hear that it is better to blend it with wool or other fibers, or it will be too warm, but I haven't decided what I will blend it with yet. I got 2 ounces in soft gray.

Soft and fluffy angora fiber

Back to the Fair

Usually, people (who aren't doing it for a living) do crafts for just themselves, their friends, and their families. The greatest reward is to see someone wearing or using what you made. But sometimes, people get together to show off what they have created, and hope for accolades beyond the usual. For instance, I submitted two pieces this year to the Maryland State Fair.

Last year, I submitted two pieces to the fair and got one 3rd place ribbon and one participation ribbon. This year...

First place and president's award

For my hat-neckwarmer combo, I got first place in category (hat/scarf combos) and a president's award! For my skirt, no award (but they only awarded one ribbon for the category of original item of clothing anyway).

No ribbons. But I like the way they displayed the piece.

Of course, the other great thing about going to the fair (besides the accolades) is seeing what other people have made. Let's look at a few of the ones that I particularly noticed (apologies for the terrible photos, most of these were behind plastic wrap).

First, we have a really nice little example of entrelac. I am a big fan of the technique, and have been meaning to do a post on it for a while. I love how the knitting looks like a woven basket.

Hat (not mine, obviously)

Next, a really pretty scarf with a cabled center. When I was a kid, and first learning to knit, my grandmother told me that she would teach me cabling when I had gotten a bit better at knitting. Somehow, this convinced me that cabling was this incredibly difficult thing, and was the pinnacle of knitting skill. Truthfully, cabling is pretty simple as a technique. But it makes it very hard to fix mistakes, and can make charting or describing patterns nearly impossible. I like this simple cable though, and would totally wear the scarf:

A scarf with a cabled center

Next up, a few pieces with really nice colors

I don't really do stranded knitting or intarsia, because I like the backs of my pieces to look as good as the fronts. But I have to say, these are some gorgeous projects.

There were also some skeins of handspun. I could have submitted, but I am a lot less confident in my spinning skill than my knitting, since I have only been doing it a few years.

Prize-winning handspun skeins

There were some great pieces in the other arts categories too (basket-weaving, costumes, needlepoint, etc.) but I think that is enough for now. I do want to leave you with the other great part of going to the fair: meeting your fiber animals up close and personal.

4-H Alpacas, recently sheared

A goat, deciding to check out what her neighbor has.