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May 12, 2007

2007 Possum Trot to Maryland

I know I've been a slacker in getting this posted. After all, it's been a week, but come on! I was tired and I work a lot and I've been playing with my... well, you'll see what I've been playing with in a bit. Enough justifying and rambling, and onto.... MARYLAND!

We all met up at Grinny Possum on Friday morning for the 9 hour drive to Gaithersburg, where we'd be staying. It was early, but everyone was excited about all the yarn and fiber we'd be buying the next day.

A not so great picture of us that morning.

In the front row, we have Angie, myself, and Lara.
In the back row, Ann, Mary, Ralph, Joanne, and Kathy.

The drive was nice, very pretty country, but the West Virginia drivers were crazy. The highway is one long, snaking road, and people were flying through the curves. Insane, I tell you... insane. We made a few stops along the way, including a scenic overlook at the Maryland Welcome Center.

All was not completely well though, as posters near the bathroom warned of bears and abandoned mine shafts. We find neither in the bathroom. Rest assured though, I did not let my guard down and made it our of the bathroom safe and sound.

Finally, around 7 pm, we arrived at our hotel, which was quite nice. Once I set up a gallery for all of my pictures, you'll be able to see them. On the advice of the adorable desk guy at the hotel (who was one souvenir I did not get to bring home with me) we went to a nearby 'shopping center' that had several restaurants. He forgot to mention that this place was going to be completely crazy on a gorgeous Friday night. High school kids everywhere. California Pizza kitchen had an hour and a half wait. We said screw it and went to a little sandwich place there for dinner.

I crashed early, since we had to get up the next morning and head to the festival! After breakfast, we were off and before we knew it, there we were. I knew the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was big, but I didn't realize just how big and how many people would be there. There were cars from all over the country. The farthest I saw was Washington state.

It was sensory overload time once I entered. There was yarn and fiber and tools everywhere. Fiber arts are very tactile, and I was touching everything. Wool, silk, mohair, even guacano. I really thought about buying a bit, but at 7.50 for a quarter ounce, I really don't know what I'd do with it.

And then, there were the wheels. New wheels, old wheels, big wheels, small wheels. The first I tried was the Merlin Hitchhiker. Cute wheel, and I know people who swear by them. It's a great portable wheel, though I'm not a single treadle kind of girl.

In the main building, I met the famous Jonathan and Shelia Bosworth. Very nice people and Jonathan showed my how to sping on a charkha wheel. That was really awesome. Then I spun on the Journey Wheel. Very nice too, though a bit shaky for me. Of course it's a portable wheel so there's usually a trade off.

And then there was this:

A Golding. My fantasy wheel. This one is only $5,050. And I spun on it. How was it? (I'm sure you are dying to know.) Hmmm, let me preface my opinion with this: Too many times, form takes precedence over function. A pretty wheel is great to look at, but if it doesn't have the function you are looking for, then it's a waste of money.

Having said that, how was spinning on a Golding?

LIKE BUTTAH... It was the smoothest, most quiet wheel I've ever touched. I was spinning thread on the 33:1 ratio and all I heard was the soothing whir of the flyer. As you can see, this wheel actually has 3 flyers. Mark my words, when I win the lottery, this is the first thing I'm buying.

Not only did they have the wheel, but also their magnificent spindles.

There were plenty of wheels I didn't try, like this pretty one:

There was lots of good food also. What do you eat at a wool festival?

Lamb. And there was tons of it. Lamburgers, lamb kebob, liamb on a spit, lamp chili. I could go on like Bubba in Forrest Gump, but you get the idea.

Besides all the vendors there were, of course, sheep.

After spending all day at the fest, We returned to the hotel where we ate sheep cheese and crackers, drank wine, and had some pizza. It was so much fun and there were tons of laughs.

Sunday morning, we returned to the festival for another two hours before hitting the road.

So now you want to know what I bought. Let's check it out.

In that pile of stuff, I have a huge, one pound ball of roving, a batt from Grafton Fibers, Fleece Artist roving, two skeins of yarn from Brooks Farm, wool/silk/mohair roving, some jacquard dyes, and a wooden box and stuff wrapped in newspaper.

Wait a second... A wooden box? That's what you went to Maryland for?

Well, after spinning on the Bosworth Charkha, I really wanted one. Truthfully, I'd already been considering one, but I don't have the $$$ for a Bosworth, so I bought one actually from India. Wrapped in the news paper are cotton punis for spinning.

Here's the Charkha opened up.

I'm getting the hang of it. I've spun cotton and silk on it so far, and I really love it. She still needs a name though. I'll have one soon enough.

On an unrelated note, my alpaca fiber is done, and woolly Knob is not charging shipping since it took six and a half months in stead of 8 weeks to finish the order.

So how was your weekend?

Posted by Holly at May 12, 2007 11:05 AM

Comments

Posted by: Sonya at May 21, 2007 10:21 PM

Posted by: Peggy at May 16, 2007 05:17 PM

Posted by: Kirstie at May 14, 2007 12:03 PM

Posted by: tabbyj at May 14, 2007 11:41 AM

Posted by: Sonya at May 13, 2007 09:01 PM

Posted by: Peggy at May 13, 2007 05:00 PM

Posted by: Dana at May 13, 2007 11:04 AM

Posted by: Lora at May 13, 2007 07:58 AM

Posted by: Peggy at May 13, 2007 12:02 AM