Sunday, May 04, 2008

Maryland Sheep and Wool Yarn Gluttony: Don't Judge Me

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2008
Peeper-Lou (my Maryland Sheep and Wool knockaround pal) and I had a glorious time today. The amount of yarn purchased was, as you can well imagine, akin to what Ma and Pa Ingalls or other some such homesteaders might have purchased in provisions before leaving the Big Woods. In other words, a shit load. We'll get to all that in a minute. First some observations about what you can expect if you attend Maryland Sheep and Wool with Peeper-Lou:

-within minutes of arriving, you will likely be consuming a funnel cake and a lime fizz. And then repeating this gesture right before leaving, thereby insuring that you might likely feel like vomiting and sleeping at the same time.

-she is strongly attracted to any and all demonstrations, and used the power of her charms/ability to invade the personal space of others to get the demonstrators to let her try whatever they're doing. In this case I am talking about basket weaving and spinning. She now is begging for a drop spindle. Help. Uncle WonderMike, can you be of some assistance here?

-she will be inexorably drawn to any and all creative anachronism people (this is so the opposite of me) and bluntly ask them "Who are you supposed to be?", which after speaking with several of these comely wenches becomes "
What are you supposed to be?".

-if the possibility of free buttons at a Ravlery meet-up has been suggested, and these said free buttons run out, well, that is going to set her off. Because this girl is all about buttons. "My mom is on Ravelry, are you sure you don't have any more? No, not the small ones, the bigger ones that you write on with the sharpie...".

Behold the spoils:
Maryland Sheep and Wool 2008

Despite the peculiar behaviors above, we had a great time. There were the vendors that I was looking forward to seeing, like Shelridge Farm , Tess and Brooks Farm, who all had their usual fabulous yarn and patterns. Miraculously the Fold booth was not crowded and the shoppers were civil. There were other unexpected surprises: The Llamajama alpaca yarn was new to me, as was the Cloverhill shop from Baltimore which had an incredible selection of indie-type sock yarn.

Perhaps I need to be concerned about the lessons I am teaching my daughter with my yarn behaviors. When we pulled up to the house after our long sojourn and I began to get out of the car, Peeper-Lou frantically said "But mom, wait...aren't you even going to try to hide what you bought?". Yes, I might as well have her hand me a bong and a lighter at this point...

37 comments:

Kirsten said...

Funny, as I snuck in with my bags today, I thought what a bad example I am to my children when I try to hide the spoils.

Sorry we were there on opposite days. Looks like you got some great loot. Tell Peeper Lou that Rhinebeck is pretty fun too! She sounds like the best of fiber festival companions. Anyone who encourages the consumption of funnel cakes is good people in my book!

peaknits said...

omg, what a great trip - the loot - did I say omg?

Dave said...

Oh my! That ought to fuel the ADD for a while. :-)

sophanne said...

We left at noon today but the thought had occurred to me to where a shirt that asked "Are you ADD?" Next year, next year.

What a haul! I'm still recovering from fumes- I"ll have to wait to post.

sophanne said...

wear not where doh- it's the fumes it's the fumes

Anonymous said...

Oh my, that yarn is making me swoon just a bit. How funny is Peeper-Lou abetting you with hiding your purchase?! I made that mistake once and forgot, asking Jim to get something else out of my trunk. He came in and said, "Um, did you want this bag of yarn too?" Busted! Hey, it's not like we're cooking up meth. It's just yarn! Glad you two had fun!

a friend to knit with said...

oh yes. i am a daughter of a hiding mother. i know all too well. she taught me to hide. why "spoil" all the fun? :)
it looks like you have some fabulous things to hide!!!
glad you two had such a great time. wish i was there!

Vicki said...

So. Jealous. You didn't buy THAT much yarn. And such a nice variety :)

Kim Mears said...

Sounds like you are training her well! What a fabulous haul!

vanessa said...

hhahaaaaa, thanks for the laugh!

Sereknitty said...

Oh my, the 'spoils' are fabulous! Can't wait to see the F/O's!

indieknits said...

Very jealous! Looks like you came home with some good loot.

Terhi said...

Well, wow. WOW. I'm so jealous.

Sarah said...

I hope that if I am lucky enough to have a daughter one day, I can train her as well as you have trained Peeper-Lou in the ways of fiber!

Lovely acquisitions!

weezalana said...

LOL! Peeper-lou really needs to come out of her shell. ;)

Kim said...

It's good to know that others bought with the same abandon as I did. Your new acquisitions are fabulous! Not only did I buy a ton of yarn, but the "one blob of roving" on my list of things to buy turned into mega amounts of roving. I was flying high on wool fumes.

Amy said...

Hee, hiding what you bought! Too funny. Sounds like you had a great time, and the haul looks *awesome*.

nicole said...

Hilarious. Should we call A&E and book you for an upcoming episode of Intervention? Or maybe Dr. Phil would be interested:

"Mother-daughter enablers: the seedy world of fibre addiction"...

So green with envy about your loot! Sounds like you had a great time.

Yarnhog said...

At least she's learning good stash enhancement practices at an early age!

I bought my eight year old a drop spindle to stave off his demands to use my wheel. He turns out some very nice singles--but now he's insisting he REALLY needs to use my wheel because it will be much faster. What have I created?

Jessica said...

LOL! Hope you get that girl spinning. Sounds like she'll be a natural (and you might get some good yarn out of it too). It was nice to see you this weekend!

Unknown said...

Delicious yarn!
Mmmmmmmmmmm Funnel cakes!

Ah yes, I too have been taught the ways of putting most purchases into one bag, my mom always called it "consolidation." hehe

Veronique said...

Drooling over your new yarn, as usual... And wishing my mother taught me your clever tricks!

Anonymous said...

Glad it was fun! Look at all that yummy yarn!

Angela said...

Thanks for the synopsis. It was *almost* as good as being there! Glad you had a great time.

KeanaLee said...

My name is Keana & I'm a hider.

Lolly said...

ha! a lighter and a bong? that is a big leap! :) WOW, you totally scored some amazing goodies! great colors!

So... we missed each other AGAIN. Next year? perhaps?

Diane said...

Congrats on your great haul-o-yarn. I think my daughters would prefer being poked with a knitting needle over spending the day at a yarn festival with me. lol

Jennie said...

WOW!!

Rhonda said...

I was there also. It was great. I love the Maryland Sheep and Wood Festival

WonderMike said...

SCORE!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, tho, you got some primo fiber, My Dear!

And spinning is my THANG du moment, so I'm happy to enable the best way I can. What is Peeper-Lou spinning: soy silk, bamboo, ingeo? I know it can't be wool because she's way too fab for that.

I need to get my video camera out so I can upload some videos for her to Flickr. Stay tuned!

Sonya said...

Peeper-Lou has learned well. How do you manage to buy yarns in so many different colors? I only seem to buy purples and the reds and blues that make purple. Mmmmmm... funnel cakes. I haven't had that barfy/sleepy feeling in a long time.

Dove Knits said...

Eheehee, she sounds like a character!

Nice haul!

Knitting Bandit said...

I've had those "bong" moments as a parent too.. Mine are mostly an "uh, oh..I probably shouldn't have said that!" Thanks for the laugh!

Romi said...

Those are some mighty fine spoils, there, chickie! :->

wazz said...

O my! look at all that yarnie goodness. How I wish I could have been there. *sigh*

wazz said...

PS what is a funnel cake?

Octopus Knits said...

Hee, hee! Sounds like you guys had a great time (and you got some fabulous yarn)! Woo-hoo!

I can't believe I forgot to get me some funnel cake :0 Doh!