where've you been?

I've been meaning to put something new on the blog since maryland. i don't know what happened, but it is the end of may and i'm just getting around to it.
the shepard's market was the second saturday of the month and it was wonderful.....lots of beautiful fiber and fiber folks. having just been to a ginormous festival, with everything available to see, touch and buy, i was struck by the quality and variety we have right here at home. beautiful yarns, rovings, fleeces that come from fiber folks that work hard to have a lovely product. and of course, there was fiber that needed to come home with me and hop right on my wheel!
so what else? my little fiber friend earned three ribbons at the skein & garment competition and purchased  her own wheel. an ashford traditional with lots of extra's that she will need. i had a great time 'showing and telling' about her progress.
the second medusa is done, and just in the nick of time. i had dyed this yarn (BFL) with amythefibergoddess hoping that it would complement an outfit for a wedding that i'll be attending. my cousin is getting married next weekend on 'good harbor beach' in gloucester, massachusetts. the beach. in the evening. i keep joking (not really) that i'll be wearing polar-fleece to brace against those ocean breezes. at any rate, i'll have a stunning wrap around my shoulders....

the colors are vivid! the wrap coordinates perfectly with the dress and jacket. i'll take lots of pics next week of it in action.
which left my needles bare. as i get to the end of projects, the anxiety builds until i know for certain what is being cast on next.

amy and i got these paint-box gradients from fiber optic in maryland last year. she even talked me into buying the kashmir yarn nad i've been forgetting waiting to cast it on. i knew i would need mindless car knitting for the 7 hour drive, but something that would be fun , so it went on the needles today. because i'm me, i can't seem to put it down, so i've already started pondering my next knit to have it at the ready.

mary~land

i can safely say that is has become a tradition to travel to the maryland sheep and wool festival each may. it is truly my favorite trip of the year. my travel companions remain consistent, and we work very well together. we are a group of pretty interesting personalities, and everyone rolls along...laughing at ourselves. in fact we had one incident, where we were laughing so hard, we finally told the instigator that we were laughing at them, not with them. so, the festival.

we traveled down on friday, staying in our usual hotel a marriott residence in. having two bedrooms and baths is perfect for a group, and the shared living room is comfortable for chatting, knitting and spinning. this year the hotel was full of fiber friends, so we wandered down to the lobby that evening, letting the excitement build. the weather was perfect, warm and sunny. everyone heads there own way, sometimes together depending on what we must see. i had two things on my list to purchase and found the first right away. a lovely hand of merino/silk for a hitch hiker scarf. my sister had requested a knitted item to give as a gift, in very specific colors, so i was thrilled to find that right off. of course, several items fell into by bag as the weekend wore on. the best was a hand-turned nostepine (for balling yarn). i watched this being made and i'm thrilled that it was put into my hands!

i had never seen the parade of sheep before, so this was an unexpected delight. it was awesome to see so many different breeds next to each other. the best was the border Leicester  siblings in matching wool scarves...

i brought home three skeins of yarn, three hanks of roving, a fleece and a basket. a pretty good haul.