MDSW Recap

Andy and I had so much fun at MDSW this year!  We drove up on Friday, had lunch at UNO's, did a little shopping at the outlets in Haggerstown and then headed to our hotel. You know you are staying at the right hotel when the first thing you see when you walk through the lobby doors is a photograph of a sheep.  There was a KFC across the street and we grabbed a quick dinner and brought it back to our room and hung out watching movies and enjoying some much needed down time.

I wore my sheep pajama pants which just happened to match the cover of this years show program.  I did a bit of knitting on the plain vanilla sock in the Harry Potter yarn from Truly Hooked.  I had a hard time deciding what to bring to knit on and wound up with this sock and a new cowl that I'm working on.  They are both simple knits and perfect to work on in the car and carry around with me.  

We headed out to the festival fairly early and didn't have any trouble getting into the parking lot.  We wandered over to Miss Babs and did a bit of shopping there.  While I was shopping I met Wythlovy.  We started chatting and she was so nice, I really think I could have talked to her all day!  While Andy and I were waiting in line we got to meet ladyfernaco and franciscangypsy who have a podcast called Pen, Hook and Needles.  It was nice to get to spend some time with them and chat.  Did I mention that he line at Miss Babs was pretty long? 

  

 Babs yarn is definitely worth waiting for. I picked up a few skeins, but was trying to behave myself.  From left to right: 2015 MDSW color on Yummy, Forever on Sojourn, Coral on Sojourn, and Mad Hatter on Yowza.  They are all a little more brilliant looking in person, all these pictures were taken with my cell phone.  

I was so proud to see a Mother of Dragons in Miss Babs Yummy hanging up in the booth right next to her sign!

My next stop was Going Gnome.  The shop is run by two sisters who are just as nice as can be.  Their felt creations are amazing.  This owl and gnome were my favorite and are on my list to make.  There is a corner in our living room that would be perfect to have something like this.

We then headed over to Maple Creek Yarns where I found out that my favorite yarn that they dye, Norfolk 30% silk, 10% cashmere 60% wool is being discontinued.  This yarn is so soft and decadent that you kind of want to just roll around in it!  I had only planned on picking up one skein, but wound up with five since this will be the last time it would be available to me.  The yarn is really that shimmery in real life.  I think it's the silk that does that.  In any case, I love it!

I behaved myself at The Fold and only brought home one skein of Socks That Rock in Lightweight the color is KawKaw.

It was after lunch by the time I got done picking up the Kawkaw, and time to head down to the Indie Untangled meet up.  I was a few minutes early and the podcasters meet up was still in full swing. They made me feel welcome and the Indie Untangled meet up wound up overlapping and getting combined.  It was so much fun to get to talk to so many knitters and podcasters all in one place!  I handed out quite a few of my buttons and got some in return from: Sheepish, CarolinaFiberGirls, Julia Allen, Two Tangled Skeins, a cute stitch marker from FibreTown that was made by my friend Knit Cubby, and a flashlight from Twinset Designs.

I've been working on a secret project with Lisa from Indie Untangled, Vicki from That Clever Clementine and Michelle from Berry Colorful Yarnings.  It was wonderful to meet Lisa and Vicki in person (Michelle had to stay at home in NM, but someday I hope we can meet!!!).  Lisa was wearing her Night's Watch.  It's so exciting to see my designs being worn out in the wild!



Speaking of designs out in the wild, the very nice lady who was working at Jentz Prints was working on her Mother of Dragons when I was in her booth!  I think her name was Jen, and I apologize that I didn't write it down.  She was kind enough to let me take her picture and I've been trying to read the name on her tag, but it just looks like it's the name of the booth.



There were some great antique prints in her booth.  Lot's of sheep and other cool things.  I brought home this one of two pugs and I'm planning on having it matted and framed.  

Terri Rosenthal and I became friends on Facebook earlier this year and made plans to meet up Sunday morning.  She is one of those people that you just immediately like and we chatted like we had been friends forever.  I could have talked to her all day, we really hit it off!  She brought me some wonderful yarn that is made of mink hair.  It's harvested when the little critters are in their natural shedding time so it's animal friendly.  The minks are brushed to remove the shedding hair and then it's spun into yarn.  I keep wondering who is brave enough to brush the minks?  Kiwi our bunny, will give me an occasional nip when I'm brushing him and I think the mink teeth are sharper since they are carnivores.  The yarn is really decadent and feels like it's softer than cashmere, kind of along the lines of qiviut.  I plan on working this up into a lace shawl, it's absolutely fantastic yarn!

Here is the lovely Terri and I.  She's wearing her latest design and even made the buttons for it!

Andy and I decided to head home soon after meeting Terri.  I had gotten a lot of sun on Saturday and was really wiped out.  We passed these two black sheep on our way out and I thought it would be a cute end to this post.  

Maryland Sheep & Wool Recap

When non-knitting friends and family ask me about Maryland Sheep & Wool or MDSW as most fibery people call it, the only way I can describe it is that it is like Black Friday held at a fair for fiber enthusiasts.  There are every type of sheep that you can imagine, yarn of every color in the rainbow and fiber type, fantastic lamb cooked in a countless number of ways, and more fiber and yarn enthusiasts than I have ever seen in one place together.   Since pictures tell a much better story than I can, this post will mainly be pictures of what we saw and enjoyed.

The Central Maryland Knitting Guild yarn bombed the fence at the entrance.  What a happy thing to see first thing when we arrived!

 

 This is a baby mohair goat having his breakfast.  It's a good thing our yard is too small for farm animals or this guy would have been coming home with us!

 After we went through the line to get a t-shirt our first stop was the Miss Babs booth.  This was the booth to be at the festival.  There were a few others that were busy, but Miss Babs booth was packed for the entire weekend and the line to pay went out the back door of the building she was in and curved around.  When we saw the line Andy immediately told me to go pick out what I wanted and he would wait in line.  I wish I had taken a picture of the line - it really was like Black Friday only with out the pushing and rudeness.  Everyone was as nice as could be!  I made it in and out of the booth with some goodies and met Andy who continued to wait in line while I walked through a few other booths.  Have I mentioned that he is the best husband ever?!  I was really excited to see my Mother of Dragons shawl hanging up in the booth along with the pattern.  It's one of my proudest moments :)

 

I picked up a few goodies in her booth and a couple of skeins from other dyers that I like. Can you tell that I was in a bit of a purple mood?

From left to right: Miss Babs Polydactl Set in Edge of Reality (I think this is going to be a new shawl design!), Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Shaken Not Stirred, Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Bat Sh**** Crazy, Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Perfectly Wreckless, Miss Babs Yowza in Zombi Prom, Maple Creek Farm Yuma in Twilight, Ellen Coopers Yarn Sonnets Tinkerbell's Gold in Diva - those flecks you see are sparkles, and Maple Creek Farm Portland in Spice's.  

I also picked up a few other goodies.

Andy found the bag with the dragon on it.  I absolutely love it and totally missed it when we were walking by the booth that had them.  It's a backpack and holds a huge amount of yarn.  What else would you put in a backpack, right?  A purple MDSW t shirt, added to my Signature Needle collection and picked up a Shark Week kit from the Tsarina of Tsocks that I pre-ordered before the show.

On Sunday we got to hang out with our friends Julia and Daniel.  Julia was so sweet and brought some of her Babydoll Southdown roving!  I'm pretty sure it's from her own sheep and it's so soft that you just want to cuddle up with it!  She brought sampler of different colors which you can find in her Etsy shop and a larger ball in a beautiful creamy white color.  I think it's going to be time to break out my wheel soon and spin this lusciousness up!

One of the other booths that I had way too much fun in was Going Gnome.  They had so many cute felted things and were so nice and let me take a million pictures of everything!  There was a felted chess set with Vikings and gnomes, a couple of tree creatures that had incredible detail, and one of my favorites was a giant purple dragon.  I think she was about 4' long!  If you look closely at the picture of her you can see that she accidentally stepped on one of the gnomes!  I picked up some felting supplies while I was there and took a few extra pictures of the Viking so that I can make one.

My Aunt Linda, Uncle Gary and Cousin Lindsay live within driving distance of the festival and we got to visit with them Saturday evening and stay the night.  Lindsay has her own place and came over so we could all hang out and have a mini slumber party.  Andy and I tried to stay up with everyone, but couldn't stay up as long as we liked.  We had so much fun visiting and they have a beautiful house on the water.  We were able to sit outside in the evening and have wine and appetizers.  Gary has built boats as a hobby ever since I can remember.  We were talking about when he lived in Franklin Square, NY with my Grandparents. Every summer I would get to go spend some time with them and it was always a huge highlight.  One year Gary was building a boat while I was there and he took a picture of me and my brother in front of it and one of us took one of him leaning on it.  It's been at least 35 years and he still has the boat.  He pulled out the album from when he was building it and we decided to try to recreate the picture!  I think we did a pretty good job.

Andy took a picture of us.  It's been so long since we were all together, but it didn't seem like it.

I was able to work on the shawl in Coquette while we were driving to and from the festival. It's making really good progress and I am really enjoying the pattern and yarn.  I haven't named the design yet and have just been calling it Coquette after the name of the yarn.  Since that name has been used for patterns about a million times on Ravelry, I think I need to pick something else.  Any ideas?

Festivals, Knitting and Blooms

I had so much fun at the Powhatan's Festival of Fiber last Saturday.  I have worked at festivals and trade shows for other companies and organizations, but this was the first time I actually had space at one.  I wasn't sure what to expect or how it would go and I was a little nervous.  Erica had some great words of wisdom for me which really helped to keep me on track and not worry so much beforehand.

It didn't take long for Stephanie and I to set up.  The practice set up was well worth it.  We knew where everything was going and operated like a well oiled machine.  We were in a great spot and I think the booth looked really good.

Once the festival opened for the day our booth was so busy that we hardly had time to take a break!  I am so blown away with the support that you guys have given me and can't tell you how much I appreciate it.  I really enjoyed getting to meet so many of you at the festival.  Thank you so much for stopping by our booth.

I am so over the top excited that my Mother of Dragons pattern will be in Miss Babs booth this weekend at Maryland Sheep & Wool!   If you are going to the festival and haven't gotten a copy of the pattern yet, be sure to stop by Bab's booth to get yours and some Yummy 2-Ply to go with it. The original shawl will be on display in the booth.   Beth was kind enough to lend me the one she test knitted to the festival.  It's the dark green one in the picture above.

If you are wondering what the pattern is like, Tina Sanders did a great review on her blog - and there is a chance to win a copy of the pattern there so be sure to leave her a comment. If you would like to see the shawl in motion, Julia from the Dropped Stitches Podcast shows her's off and does a pattern review too.  Julia was one of the test knitters who whipped the shawl up in record time so that it could go to Stitches South. Julia and her sister Jennifer are a riot to watch and their podcasts always make me laugh. 





Today I am getting packing and doing a few last minute things before we head to Maryland Sheep & Wool.  The first priority (of course!) is to figure out what knitting projects I want to take.  I have a simple hat that I am working on for my Uncle.  Since we are staying with him this weekend, I had better hurry up and get that finished.  I think I can get it done between tonight and the car ride up.

I am bringing a new sock design in progress.  It's small enough to tuck into my bag at MDSW and I can work on it while waiting in lines.  The yarn is Gnome Acres - House Gnome in the Aquaman colorway.  Andy got the yarn for me for Christmas because Aquaman was my favorite superhero when I was a kid.  Can you see my inner geek peeking out here?

I am also taking the shawl I am working on in Coquette from Wanton Fibers.  The yarn is so incredibly soft and really enjoyable to work with.  It's triangle shaped and worked from the bottom up. 

I think these will keep me occupied during any lag time over the weekend.  Our drive is about four hours each way so it's good to have something to work on in the car.

I'm leaving off with pictures of the garden.  Andy and I have spent the past couple of weeks removing the bark mulch and replacing it with stone.  In the long run it will be much easier to maintain and hopefully we will have fewer weeds.  This first picture is taken from our deck and overlooks the garden on the side of the house.

Columbine which is one of my favorite early spring flowers.

The chives always look so pretty when they are blooming.

 

I was a little surprised with the early appearance of this group of Irises!  They are in a really sunny spot in the yard which I think is why they bloomed so early.

I hope to see you at MDSW this weekend! 

Maryland Sheep & Wool

Last Friday Andy, Shannon and I headed up to Maryland for the weekend.  We all got to stay with Kristi and Paul from Shalimar and I have to say we had a blast!  It was non stop fun from the moment we got there until we headed home on Sunday.  When we arrived on Friday we all pitched in for the Shalimar Yarns Annual MDSW party.  Before we knew it, people started arriving and the fun started.  I got to meet Julia Trice in person.  Have you ever worried about going to a party and having the same outfit on?  Well, this time it worked out really well! Julia and I both had our Adiri sweaters on.  She is so much fun and I had a great time getting to know her better over the weekend.

I only briefly got to talk to Kyrie who I haven't seen since last year.  She's an avid horse woman and couldn't stay long at the party.  A friends horse had foaled and poor little guy needed to be bottle fed due to a foaling complication.  From what Ive seen on Facebook the foal seems to be doing much better.  I bet Kyrie's helping hands had a lot to do with that!  Here she is with Andy.  They look like they were having a great time, it makes you wonder what they were talking about.

Here are Laurie and I working in the kitchen.  Laurie and I are kindred spirits and we kind of took over the kitchen when we got there.  She's a fantastic knitter and if you would like to see what she has made her Ravelry name is Ellejay119.  I have to say that I wish I lived closer to Laurie because I think we could have a lot of fun and possibly get into a lot of trouble together!

Saturday at MDSW was crazy busy.  It was fun walking around, doing a little shopping and getting to spend time with friends that live in other parts of the country.  I had finished my Audrey in Unst in Breathless DK Copper Pennies and it was actually cold enough to wear it on Saturday morning.  The only problem was that I hadn't counted my buttons before knitting the button band.  A quick email to Melissa Jean and problem solved!  She had a button waiting for me when we got to her booth on Saturday and I sewed it on as soon as we left the booth.  Now that is some awesome customer service!

That cute guy in my lap is Enzo.  He is so much fun and really larger than life.  A bouncing ball of energy and fun.  He was waiting at our bedroom door each morning to come and jump onto the bed to cuddle.  Speaking of fun loving, Michelle Miller/FickleKnitter is one of the most fun people to hang out with!  We had a meet and greet with her at the Shalimar tent on Saturday.  It had warmed up and we had a chance to sit and knit and chat joke around and tease Shannon. She's a really lovely person and a wonderful designer.

Connie and I both wore our Frost in Bloom's in Shalimar Breathless and Homage on Saturday and Shannon was kind enough to take a quick picture.  Shannon had on her Ribbon Street Cowl and I was so lax with the camera this weekend that I forgot to take ANY pictures.  I wish I had because she really looked adorable in it, especially when she had it paired up with her straw cowboy hat.  Maybe I can coerce her into a photo shoot.

I finished up the new infinity scarf. If you have a name idea, please leave it in the comments of my last post.  The winner will receive a free copy of the pattern when it's published.  It's currently being test knitted and should be released around June 1st.

I'll have a bit more on MDSW in my next post with a few of the goodies that I picked up while we were there.  I picked up the cutest needle felting kit's from a new vendor!  More on that later :)

Catching Up

The last few weeks that lead up to Maryland Sheep & Wool always have me trying to keep up with everything that needs to be done.  There is a lot of behind the scenes work for Shalimar that gets done ahead of time, then getting everything here at home ready to go is a whole nuther issue.  Our dog is getting older and requires medication three times a day now.  Plus we have a house rabbit.  We have a wonderful pet sitter who comes and stays here.  I don't know what we would do without her!  This year she rearranged her annual camping trip to take care of our critters.  Thank you Lea, you rock!

There are two secret projects that Ive been working on and Beth has test knitted.  One of them will be released sometime next month.  The other one won't be until later in the year.  It's all very exciting and rather 007ish.  So while I can't really talk about what Ive been designing, I can talk about what we have been up to and what Ive been knitting for fun.

Last weekend we went fishing on Sunday.  It was freezing cold and very windy.  It was so cold that my fingers went numb.  I know your thinking, why would you go fishing when it's nice and warm at the house and there are things to knit?  I enjoy fishing and especially getting to spend time with Andy.  He's a trooper and comes to all my fiber and knitting things and is wonderfully supportive.  So Im not going to complain about nearly freezing to death being a little chilly.  Plus for the second weekend in a row, I outfished him.  Yes that's right, I outfished Fishing Yoda.  I have a feeling that may change this weekend, but for now I am the 2013 Fishing Champion of our house.  I need to be careful with that though.  I lost a serious bet to Andy a few years ago and wound up making him a pie all from scratch.

Ive been knitting away on my Audrey in Unst.  Love the pattern and the fit.  The yarn is Breathless DK in Copper Pennies and I can't say enough about how much I'm enjoying knitting with it.  Im hoping to have it done in the next day or so.  All that is left is the neck band and button bands. 



Ive also been working on the everlasting hexipuff project.  Earlier this year Kyle Kunnecke was kind enough to share the hexi's he made with me.  They are the cute ones at the top in gray, turquoise and lime.  I love them and someday before the end of time the quilt will finally be done.  I have 219 of them total.  384 of them will make a small quilt.  It's good to know that it's halfway done.  We have a few road trips planned this year and I plan to work on the hexis then. 





My very good friend Stephanie and her family recently adopted a Doberman from a rescue after their older Dobie passed away.  This guys name is Zeus and he's a whole bunch of fun in a giant puppy body.

 
They had only had him a short time and had to rush him in for emergency stomach surgery.  Something they hadn't been prepared for, and it was astronomically expensive.  Anyone that has pet's knows that vet bills can be expensive, but this vet bill was over and beyond expensive.

The Doberman Rescue is helping out by having a raffle this weekend.  If you are in the area and can help out by purchasing a ticket here they will be at:

DAR&E Spring BBQ

Bennett Cerf Park

544 Manchester Rd

Westminster, Md

April 27, 2013

noon until 4 pm

There are some great things that people have donated for the raffle including yarn and there is a gift certificate to my pattern shop as well.