Maryland Sheep & Wool 2013

The day started out with a 4:15 alarm. Voluntary but we got a decent parking spot at Maryland Sheep & Wool and had a less-long line to wait in to enter. It was worth it because we were on the fairgrounds at 9:45.  The weather was perfect – a tad chilly in the morning but it warmed up to a sunny 65. Even though I wore sunscreen I got a touch of color on my chest and arms.

Christy and I switched up our shopping approach and started with the main barn this year. Many of our favorite vendors are there so why wait?

My first purchase was at Frivolous Fibers where I got a skein of Freia laceweight ombres. I bought it thinking it could work for a  Now in a Minute shawl from knitty. Have you seen this shawl? It just came out this week.   But then I found another yarn that’s even better (scroll down).  I’m not sure what I’ll use this for but it was unique – hand dyed and hand spun – so I couldn’t leave it.

Then I came across some simple metal shawl pins.  In addition to shawls, I think this one will be perfect for holding together my Vertex cardi.  I’m not a big person so I needed to find a smaller pin.  This one is only 3.5″

We then walked down to Miss Babs where there were 2 long lines – one for browsing and one for paying. I could have bought a lot more but in the end I got 2 skeins of Tarte – 75% superwash merino, 15% nylon, 10% tencel – in pewter for Line Break.   The tencel will give it a nice drape and the color will make it super wearable.

At this point it was noon so we took a break and ate lunch sitting on the grass near the big barn.  Relaxing and I was able to eat something healthy – pit turkey on a kaiser roll with barbecue sauce!  I brought 2 protein bars and some nuts just in case, but really happy I was able to eat some of the food I was smelling.  Yum!

Fortified with some food, we walked over to the smaller barns.  We checked out several of our favorites and then came upon the Fiber Optics booth (was this their first time at Maryland?  I don’t recall seeing them there before).  I love the deep saturation of their colors and was tempted by several bases and hues.  In the end I went with their Paintbox Gradient kit – 15 mini skeins – in the Bitter Lime-Rose colorway.  Although the yardage is smaller (450 versus 600), this will be Now in a Minute.  The pattern looks like it will easily adjust to the yardage you have.

After that, we walked up to the open area at the top of the hill.  They added it a few years ago and it still feels awkward to me.  I was looking forward to seeing what Creatively Dyed had but they didn’t bring anything to hang their skeins on – everything, every single skein – was piled onto tables.  We didn’t even bother going in.

The final set of tents brought a real treat – All About Yarn – one of the Maryland LYSs.  I regretted not buying any Neighborhood Fiber Company while at Vogue Knitting Live in January, so I fixed it!  I bought 2 skeins of their Rustic Fingering in Rock Creek Park (teal) and Charles Village (magenta) to make a Varjo.  I’m really psyched about these colors – it has my dark pinks that will go with a lot in my wardrobe, and the contrast of the teal, a color that I have in several tops.  And then of course, I think it will look awesome on top of an all-black outfit.

Referring to last week’s post was so helpful to remind me of the projects I’m interested in knitting.  I had pics and links to Rav to check yardage, other people’s colors and their yarn usage notes.  I’ll definitely be doing that for future shows.

So I’m sure you’re curious what I’m going to cast on first. Right now I’m leaning toward Varjo but I may do a last minute substitution.  I have a couple errands to run before I can sit down to knit.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.