Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

This weekend was the MD Sheep and Wool Festival. I went on Saturday which is the most crowded day but also you get better selection if you have something in mind. I wanted yarn for a cardigan, DK weight. I found a beautiful wool in a lilac color, which I don't have in my closet. The caramel color alpaca was an impulse buy, the price was wonderful, and I plan to make a stole/shawl and wear it with my new glass pin.

I ate delicious lamb and got to watch some of the sheep judging. I also admired the 4-H entries and did a lot of people watching when I took breaks to rest from the hot sun.

There were more vendors that I remember from previous years. There were a lot of beautiful hand dyed yarn most of it sock weight and I'm not a sock knitter. I still have some of this yarn that I bought before and have to figure out what to make out of it other than socks.


Isn't this a great haircut?














I got a new phone and since Clio doesn't know that it has a camera I was able to take her picture. Isn't she a cutie?


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My shirtdress is coming along but the garden has been occupying me so the progress has been slow.

Meeting up with Andrea

Photo courtesy of Andrea

So what is better than spending the day at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with a knitting buddy? Spending the day with a knitting buddy who also crochets and sews! Conversation was never lacking!!

Andrea and I met for the first time at Philadelphia's Pattern Review weekend a year ago, and we made plans to get together this year at Sheep and Wool. We both had similar plans as to what we were looking for so we kept each other in line ;-) The weather cooperated and we had a gorgeous day. She drove down with her knitting group and they had set up a space under the trees so we had a relaxing spot to meet and rest and chat.

This year the festival was the biggest by far, many more vendors than in previous years, I agree with Andrea that Ravelry has had a lot to do with spreading the word about this fantastic event.

I had commented on her blog about Burda 7866 and how I couldn't find it locally, so she brought me a copy! She was wearing her version of this pattern, and I really liked it. She showed me how she treated the neckline, clever girl!, I believe she'll share on her blog later.

I'm almost done with my son's pjs and I look forward to working on the Vogue 1224, but first I have to finish working on my planters since I bought my herbs and annuals yesterday.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival happens on the first weekend of May every year. I usually go on Sunday because it is less crowded and therefore more enjoyable. This year I went on Saturday because it was the only chance I would have; it was crowded, lots of lines for everything (you should have seen the restroom line, you really had to plan ahead!), but I had a great time and the picture shows what I came home with.

The green is worsted weight Cascade Yarns wool, I just loved the color so I got enough for a cardigan. The very light blue/grey is lace weight for a scarf/shawl I have been wanting to make for a while. The purple is worsted weight wool from Brook Farms one of their semi-solids, it is a beautiful color for a vest.

I got to meet Jody, well I just introduced myself and left her be since she was very busy at the cash register of the Cloverhill Yarn booth.

As far as my knitting I'm still working on Juliett since I had to frog it because it was coming out too small...

Knitting a shawl

Some people love knitting shawls, while I think that they are beautiful, to me they are not the most practicable to wear.

A unos les gusta el tejer mantillas, yo las considero muy lindas pero no muy prácticas.

I did fall in love with this pattern, to me it seemed a little modern and it had stripes, I love stripes. Both the pattern and yarn I bought at least two Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivals ago.

De este patrón me enamoré me parece moderno y tiene rayas, a mí me encantan las rayas. El patrón y el hilo lo compré hará un par de años en el  Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.



I started working on it on vacation, we did a lot of driving in Yellowstone and I would work on it on the less scenic stretches of the park (which were few). Now that I have the pattern memorized it's going a lot faster.

Empecé a tejer este pañuelo-manta cuando estábamos de vacaciones en Yellowstone, pues había mucho que manejar. Tejía cuando los paisajes eran menos impresionantes, y la verdad que eso no pasó muy a menudo. Ahora que me he aprendido los puntos de memoria estoy avanzando más rápido.

I love these stitch markers that Claire gave me when we were in Austin. There are squares, circles and triangles in different metals.

Me encantan estos marcadores que Claire me regaló cuando estábamos en Austin. Vienen círculos, cuadrados y triangulos de diferentes metales.

Progress in sewing and knitting

It has been a while since I attached a collar and then of course Burda WOF instructions are a bit cryptic but I like the way the collar and placket turned out, it yields a very clean finish inside and out. You can also see the pleats which I ended up working from the right side of the fabric to make them look like the picture in Burda's website.


View of the undercollar which was topstitched.


I did make the under collar a tad shorter than the upper collar to help with the shaping and hiding the seams.

So now the most time consuming sewing on the dress is done, I should be able to finish it the next time I sit down to sew.

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If you are wondering why there is a table top on my flower pot is to keep the squirrels from digging out a young plant which they have done now twice!


Our Clio, the beagle, in the background

I have been knitting these fingerless mittens with a gorgeous yarn
I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year. I love this yarn and I love the pattern (from Ravelry Autumn Cable Mitts). I had never made mittens/gloves before and I had a hard time "seeing" how the thumb was coming together, but now I'm almost done and will start the next one.

Just one more...


Fireworks in our yard

Happy sewing and knitting!

A rainy weekend

Yesterday I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I'm glad I did, today has been raining all day, yesterday was overcast but we did not get any rain. It was also the spring carnival at my son's school and as always we volunteered for one shift at one of the stations. It looked like my kids this year decided that they were too old to play so they spent their tickets on the food, so after our shift I left for the festival minus the family.

I met Holly at the entrance and we wondered around until 6:00pm when we sat down to enjoy a lamb dinner. It was very good. We also saw Jody along with other familiar knitters. See if you can spot me in Jody's photographs :-)

As always the yarn was gorgeous and here is what came home with me.

This is a beautiful sock yarn from Yarns Forever that I'm thinking will be made into fingerless gloves.



Next is Misty Mountain Farm Super Fine Naturally Colored Alpaca. I bought enough to make a lacy sweater. The color is a deeper brown the flash lightens it.



And lastly from Brooks Farm a superwash wool (Solana) in a worsted weight for a vest.



I also bought Kim Hargreaves' book Amber. The designs in this book are gorgeous, I couldn't pick a favorite.

Today I'm planning to do some more quilting. I already have my next sewing project (a garment) picked out, stay tuned...

Fad classic vest

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful comments you left about my coat. I am very happy with the outcome!

This design by Wendy Bernard has been very popular and with good reason. The pattern stitch is easy to memorize and it is very pretty. I originally wanted to make it in cotton but I had this beautiful Brooks Farm Solana worsted weight yarn that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last year, and I thought it would make a nice fall/winter vest. Besides, the festival is coming up again soon (May) and it makes sense to use at least one of my purchases.

Because the variation of colors in the yarn you can really see that the vest is done knitting back and forth up to the neckline and then all stitches from front and back are joined in the round. It is more obvious in the back.



I need to remind myself to stand up straight, oh well...

A swingy tank top from Verena Knitting

I started to work on this project from Verena Knitting Summer 2009 last month. I wanted to use the linen blend yarn I bought at the MD Sheep and Wool festival. Andrea and I bought the same yarn, it was a great price and it has wonderful drape.




Even though I took this project with me on vacation I was not able to work on it. I have been having back/leg pain for a while now and sitting is my less comfortable position, especially for any length of time. I'm going to my first physical therapy evaluation/session today in the hope that I will get some help. As much as I am on the move during my day, it is necessary to sit every once in a while ;-)