these so-called vacations will soon be my death

Usually when visiting the DC area, I like to head back to Kentucky on Saturday. Gives me a day to rest up and get everything back in place before I have to work. Upon the suggestion of the Knitting Pirate I decided to put it off until Sunday and.... go to Maryland Sheep and Wool.

We didn't didn't arrive at the crack of dawn to rush the gates, but we did head out early (for us, on a weekend) and got there before the morning was over.

To put it simply, it was overwhelming. To scout everything before deciding on items to purchase is impossible. You need to plan your prime targets and hit them quickly and then meander around and see what else there is. Evidence of this with The Fold's booth, which was almost stripped (excepting certain colorways) of Socks That Rock yarn. I managed to snag a nice colorway called Footzey Foo.

But that is a thought about what to do for next year. MD Sheep and Wool is a wonderful place to learn things. We watched a gentleman demonstrate how to make brooms with his 150 year old simple yet well designed machines. There were all sorts of animals and fibers to be experienced as well. There were sheep (of course), goats, llamas, alpacas and rabbits around to meet and we fondled yarns made from their fibers. (Llama is surprisingly soft!)

We were in an alpaca booth, commenting on how roving isn't dangerous to us (unlike yarn) since we don't spin (yet)... and then were then snapped up by a lady who took about 10 minutes to show us both how to spin with a drop spindle she had on her and gave us the basics for what to look for in roving. We then spent the rest of the day looking for lightweight spindles (with another lesson on what to look for in a drop spindle by a booth owner) to learn on and some starter roving. We ended up with 1.1 ounce spindles and about a half pound of multicolored Romney roving to play with.

Near the end, we managed to meet up with aurenta and her friend, which was wonderful as I haven't seen her in ages, and wandered around and chatted before they had to leave. We managed a bit more shopping after that but it was near the end and shops were closing up. Next year, get there earlier!

That evening we dropped everything and spun up singles with our new spindles and roving. :)

So now, pictures...

The pirate and I each bought a skein of this colorway of Fleece Artist sock yarn


The Socks That Rock I snagged


Half pound bag of Romney roving


Spindle with single from the roving on it.


Wrapped the single around my hand some to show it off.

Finer than I had managed before, although I need to practice to make it more uniform.

having waited this long of a winter

This is for robiewankenobie

	First Spinning Effort Got a drop spindle and some black roving from Stone's Throw last year. Here are my previously unposted efforts. Top right is the first try ever. Then the spindle with current yarn on it and below it some roving.
	Close-up There's probably another sad lump of fiber somewhere I can't find at the moment, but this is the last thing on that spindle. The single is about as thick as a worsted or sport yarn.