The animals. Without the animals it's really just Yarn Mall. Not that Yarn Mall is a bad thing, but this sign is no joke.
It's not just the alpacas, though, I love them all:
The events. I actually did a lot more event going than I have in years past. I hardly shopped at all on Saturday, in fact! The Make It With Wool fashion show was not as good as the Maryland Sheep and Wool fashion show/sheep parade, but still, I love seeing people in their best of their handmade duds. I didn't take this photo of the Leapin' Llama contest, and it's from a few years ago, but it gives an amazing sense of the hilarity of this contest.
(photo by Tchotchkes)
Learning new stuff. Two years ago I got to try spinning on a pendulum wheel. One year ago I got to try Jonathan Bosworth's reproduction of a Han Dynasty spinning wheel on which one could spin two threads simultaneously. This year I tried something a little more mundane, which is inkle weaving. The upside of its seeming mundane-ness is that when I was totally charmed by it, I could easily give it another go. Behold my new toy, made by Threads Thru Time out of some gorgeous Ambrosia Maple.
Hanging out with friends. I was so glad fellow blogger Emily could come this year, rocking her amazing vest and laughing at the length of the Sanguine Gryphon line on Saturday morning. My dear friend Katy came this year for the first time, and although I'm not sure she met her goal of petting a sheep while eating some sheep, I'm pretty sure she did both separately. My husband also came for the first time and was completely won over by pygora goats. Convenient, since pygora goat ownership is an aspiration for me.
The people watching! It's Yarn Prom! I should have gotten some photos of the amazing knitwear I saw this year. My favorite sweater I saw was a pullover with a colorwork yolk that was done to look like a Greek amphora. Pure genius.
(photo by Ben Sutherland)
The food. No holds barred. Fried pickles, maple cotton candy, garlicky sauteed artichokes, beans and escarole, cheese and wine tastings, caramel apples, unfried pickles, and some birthday apple crisp.
The shopping. Indeed, there was some shopping. I didn't buy a single full skein of yarn, but I did pick up some miniskeins for the Beekeeper's Quilt. Then, there were the spindles and fiber...
This spindle (a featherweight Bosworth in swamp kauri) and fiber (alpaca/silk from Gale's Art) came home with me.
And a silk hankie from Miss Babs
Some other goodies, too. It really is my favorite weekend of the year, what else can I say?
No comments:
Post a Comment