Sunday, May 17, 2009

Maryland Sheep & Wool Adventures!




I'm finally getting around to posting again. Sorry about the loooong delay guess I was focused on the trip!







As you know, we just returned from our trip to Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland. Thirty one fiber fans took the bus ride to Maryland with us. Joe, our driver, was very gracious and tolerant and safely drove the group around without once telling us to, "settle down".


Even early Friday morning Joe kept his cool while we laughed, knitted, shared stories, knitted, drank Mimosas, watched "The Wedding Singer", sang along with The Eagles, and drank Mimosas and talked some more. Poor Joe....what is he thinking (these ladies cannot sing!)?
















Lunch at Phillip's Seafood in Baltimore was delicious. My favorite was the crab cakes and something called Crab Imperial which I'm thinking had a lot of butter in it. Our Baltimore fiber celebrity, Erin Taylor Bell (aka MamaE C-Eye-Ber Fiber) joined us for lunch and brought a couple of door prizes: a hand dyed skein of sock yarn and two skeins of hand dyed worsted for two of our lucky ladies!


We walked around the area, went to Barnes & Nobles (the craft section, of course), and posed for cheesy tourist photos. Fun!!




















Friday night, we were all checked into the Columbia Hilton. Many ladies went out to dinner and several, including me and mom, stayed in and crashed in our P.J.s. Loading a bus at 6am made for a long day.


Saturday morning brought the big day to life! We woke up to dark, cloudy skies and the threat of storms. We did get rain but fortunately, it was more of a cool, breezy, misty rain so we weren't blown away but stayed comfortable among the sometimes "standing room only" crowd. Someone said they were glad we had the weather we did instead of hot, steamy sun to heat up the farm animal aroma.























Now you see 'em....................................................

now you don't. Good Dog!



As you can imagine, the festival was all I hoped it would be and more. I was lucky enough to find a large vendor of spinning wheels and promptly sat to spin on a Kromski Minstrel. SWEET! Later, I
found a vendor of glass button and markers who agreed to sell to Knit Picky. Another vendor will be sending us hand made drop spindles that are well balanced and spin effortlessly. I'll let you know when these new goodies arrive.
















Two entrepreneurs...one politely wiping kettle corn from her lips. And the MSAW crowd!

Saturday night we all enjoyed gathering in the Hilton atrium as GuidoS Dreamy After Party. The door prizes were spectacular and 4 of our ladies won big! As for fashion, Kim wore her Sasha skirt and was one of the stars of the night. The more wine she drank, the more she shimmied. Sarah wore a beautiful pink knitted dress, in a size 2 maybe, and looked like she stepped out of the pages of Interweave Knits. Somebody got pictures of Sarah but I don't remember who. (Please send if you have any-she wants one and so do I). And Laura's Unique Sheep samples were draped throughout the party adding color and creativity to the Hilton! There were many more hand knit items just too many to name them all!

Knit Picky gave a strong Southern whoop every time one of our knitters won a prize. A group of ladies from Canada won several things, too, but remained very calm. We joked that with a few more glasses of wine, we could easily teach them to whoop it up! They thought that would be fun, too.

Sunday we slept in a bit and then met for brunch. We choose from a waffle station, an omelet station, shrimp and salad and a large variety of pastries. And coffee...lots of hot coffee.

With full bellies, we boarded the bus with our luggage, yarn bags, purses and newly purchased goodies. Most of us quietly knitted or napped as the rain poured down and we cruised along the highway towards home. We arrived home around 7pm with new friends, new stash additions, new spindles and a contentment in knowing we had a wonderfully full and fulfilling weekend.

Thanks to all who joined us and I look forward to a future trip together!
Jo