First things first, while I did make a few celebrity sitings, I was far too bashful to take any pictures (and in fact, didn't even introduce myself to all the bloggers I said hi to... Sometimes I just told them their red Rogue was beautifully done).
Now, on to the meat. (Though I agree with Stephanie about eating lamb at a wool fest being counterproductive to my knitting, so I did not actually have any meat while there.)
My friend SR and I were traveling together. (She has no blog yet, and my desire to meet "total strangers" did not encourage her any to get one.) She was the intrepid driver while I played the not-so intrepid navigator. We made it there and back in one piece so I would have to say that we both did a pretty good job.
As far as the blow-by-blow of the Festival, I won't go into gory details today. Suffice it to say that we got to the fairgrounds early both days and left with our trunk full each time.
We both tried something new and picked up the beginnings of what I hope becomes another unmanageable stash:
Lara, yours is the red-yellow-purple bunch next to the blue, it is a fine wool and tussah silk blend... You will have the softest prettiest thrums ever!
I hated the drop spindle on Saturday night. I could not get the feel for it at all. I felt very "stupid" about the whole thing... Like, "why doesn't this feel even a little bit right?" Even our Guest-House mates, Harriet and Rebecca (both from Martha's Vineyard), who were very accomplished spinners could not help me get a feel for it. They gave good advice to upgrade to better tools. So on Sunday, we stopped by this booth:
My gratitude for the fabulously patient Sheila is too big for me to express right now. Plainly, she helped me get the feel for the spindle. But more importantly, she saved all those purchases from the regret pile, made me feel much less "stupid," opened the door to a whole new skill, and was absolutely wonderful about it. Seek these folks out whenever you can. They are good people. (As far as loot goes, SR had a great conversation with Jonathan about charkas and almost left with one, but instead snagged not one, but two spindles. I loaded up on the sleek purpleheart spindle on the right in the roving picture above and got some great online references from Sheila. )
Well, did we get any yarn, you ask? Some.
Most of my haul
Missing from this picture are the eleven skeins of super bulky wool that is already on its way to becoming a nice winter over-sweater.
Most of SR's haul—minus three huge bags of roving and a couple more skeins
SR heads back home today and I have some major catching up to do on sleep, housework, and of all things, knitting. With all the shopping, gabbing, and gawking, I hardly knit a thing.
I am currently working on a proper gallery of all the pictures fit to print, so stay tuned.
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