Maryland Sheep and Wool!

Over the weekend, I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday and Sunday with two friends (but I left having made some new ones!). All in all, it was pretty awesome! I mostly went with a purpose in mind, to buy myself a spindle, a knitty noddy, and a bunch of fiber. Mission accomplished! And while doing that, we shopped a whole bunch, talked a lot about fiber and spinning and knitting and crocheting and weaving, met new friends, ate some delicious food, and looked at a whooooole lot of sheep (and a goat, and a couple alpaca).

Maryland Sheep and Wool was held at the Howard County Fairgrounds, and as such it looked a lot like you'd expect a county fairgrounds to look. I was rather shocked by just how many vendors of different sorts were there! But in the end, the cutest thing to photograph was the sheep. :)





The friends was there with also appreciated the sheep.



Most of the sheep didn't really want the visitors to touch them, but this one was quite happy to have me stand there and pet his chin like I would a cat or a dog.



Of course, there were other animals, too. Like alpaca, goats, and dogs...


A lot of the sheep were getting sheared...most didn't seem to like it much...


There were tons, and tons of people there, especially on Saturday.


So what did I get? A lot of spinning stuff! My main goal was to leave with my own spindle and a knitty noddy. I was able to get both! The knitty noddy was the cheapest I could find of the size I wanted. For the other, I tried a bunch of different spindles before settling on one made by Kate of Kate's Cauldron.


I chose this one for a variety of reasons, mostly because of it's weight and because of it's neat spiral design, which has meant that I haven't dropped it once in all that alpaca I've been spinning that's on there now. :)

I chose one that has a Z spiral on one end and an S spiral on the other, so I can use it to spin in whichever direction I want! I'm really happy with it, and so pleased that after looking at so many gorgeous spindles, so many of which were really expensive, I was able to find the one I liked best and it didn't need fancy embellishments or expensive wood, and therefore was very reasonably priced ($30!)

The rest of my budget (which, amazingly, I didn't exceed or even end up meeting!) was spent on FIBER! This is most of it:

Most of these are pretty plain; I'm planning to mix the blue and the green in to something. The braid of roving in the middle was my "big" indulgence, it was full price and high-quality and I love the colors.


In addition, I also went hunting high and low for a colorway that reminded me of Supernatural, so that I can spin it and make something out of it for Nerd Wars.

I'm actually considering having it be a "Dissertation" - a three-month project instead of a 1 month project - because I'm going to have to card in the glitz and then spin it and then make something out of it.


I'm already looking forward to it!

All in all, I had a great time! I'm so glad that I decided to go, and now I have spindle to bring with me when I leave tomorrow. I bet I can get a TON of spinning done on the plane and on the beach (as long as I don't get sand in my yarn!).

In completely unrelated news, my team ended up winning Nerd Wars! I was shocked and very excited! To top it off, one of my submissions (the Arctic Fox I made in April) to one of the challenges ended up winning the challenge, and is now in the running to win the category as a whole (it's complicated, and not worth explaining just now, but if you're interested, I'll explain in a comment. ;) ) I'm pretty damn happy about it, and getting pretty excited for the next round, too!