(no subject)
May. 6th, 2006 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI went to MD Sheep and Wool today. That was the outing.
I wasn't the only person who thought to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival today. Take a look at the parking lot...
The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is a celebration of sheep and wool, so I was pleased to see a lot of sheep on display. Here are some examples of the sheep I saw:
(Because I have a fair number of urban readers, the first two are llamas, camelids from South America. They are not sheep. The third is an alpaca, also a camelid from South America and not a sheep. If I were halfway competent at this blogging thing, I would have taken pictures of the mohair goats and angora rabbits too, but clearly I am not that clueful. The festival also had rather a lot of nice examples of various sorts of sheep.)
The festival had yarn. There was a lot of yarn at the festival and I bought some but I'm not going to make all ya'll look at endless pictures of yarn. Here is a sample yarn picture -- the festival was like this, only much, much more in a vast array of colors, fiber types, plys, and weights. Look at the picture and then mentally imagine how many ways you could make it different without losing the essential yarnosity of the stuff. That's how many kinds there were.
They had people who did weaving. Some of the weaving was pretty damn spiff. Here's an example:
While I didn't see any of the famous oriental invertebrate sheep on display, here is a sample of their wool, reeled onto a niddynoddy. Note how fine it is. This is actually probably six or so individual strands stuck together and still it's very, very fine.
Anyway. There were a lot of people at the thing. Here's a picture of some of them.
And I came upon a young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot:
I also watched the sheepdog demonstration (which was damn nifty and reminded me of working horses at liberty in a round pen) but I don't have pictures of that because I was busy watching. They had crafty demonstrations, which I did not get to go to because I was busy looking at stuff. I probably should have gone to some of the crafty demonstrations because I bet I would have enjoyed them. Unfortunately, a lot of the crafty demonstrations looked like they'd just lead me into temptation vis a vis new crafty things to do and more things to have to not-spend-money-on.
They had a lot of looms. I do not want a loom. I don't want a spinning wheel either, even though there's this guy who makes a portable and quite snazzy yet affordable one called The Hitchhiker. I do not know how to spin and if I have half a brain, keeping it that way is a good idea.
They had absolutely mountains of roving. Wool, when it comes off the sheep, is not exactly ready to use. At that point it's called a fleece. You have to wash and card the fleece so that all the fibers line up in the same direction and smell rather less like a sheep than a fleece does. When you have the fiber all prepped and ready to spin, then it's called roving. I did not buy any roving even though some of it was in simply gorgeous colors.
They had sheep fleeces for sale. They had actual sheep for sale. They had lots and lots of things and I had a delightful time, a lemonade, and a sausage sandwich.
I bought some yarn and (finally!) steel knitting needles in the unwise sizes (0 to 0000) because I might want to make something where I'd need those and it's not like I can buy them around here. I also got three CDs of music. (I am in favor of buying music by the people who are playing it when they're right there in front of me playing it. While some evil record company may get a cut of the take anyway, I figure it's less likely than if I'm buying the CD at WalMart.)
When I got home, I discovered that the prettier of the two bettas was dead. (He was very lethargic when I got him from the tenant's apartment and I kind of expected this.) The other betta still seems happy enough, but he's not getting a name until he's made it through the first week.
I wasn't the only person who thought to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival today. Take a look at the parking lot...
The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is a celebration of sheep and wool, so I was pleased to see a lot of sheep on display. Here are some examples of the sheep I saw:
(Because I have a fair number of urban readers, the first two are llamas, camelids from South America. They are not sheep. The third is an alpaca, also a camelid from South America and not a sheep. If I were halfway competent at this blogging thing, I would have taken pictures of the mohair goats and angora rabbits too, but clearly I am not that clueful. The festival also had rather a lot of nice examples of various sorts of sheep.)
The festival had yarn. There was a lot of yarn at the festival and I bought some but I'm not going to make all ya'll look at endless pictures of yarn. Here is a sample yarn picture -- the festival was like this, only much, much more in a vast array of colors, fiber types, plys, and weights. Look at the picture and then mentally imagine how many ways you could make it different without losing the essential yarnosity of the stuff. That's how many kinds there were.
They had people who did weaving. Some of the weaving was pretty damn spiff. Here's an example:
While I didn't see any of the famous oriental invertebrate sheep on display, here is a sample of their wool, reeled onto a niddynoddy. Note how fine it is. This is actually probably six or so individual strands stuck together and still it's very, very fine.
Anyway. There were a lot of people at the thing. Here's a picture of some of them.
And I came upon a young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot:
I also watched the sheepdog demonstration (which was damn nifty and reminded me of working horses at liberty in a round pen) but I don't have pictures of that because I was busy watching. They had crafty demonstrations, which I did not get to go to because I was busy looking at stuff. I probably should have gone to some of the crafty demonstrations because I bet I would have enjoyed them. Unfortunately, a lot of the crafty demonstrations looked like they'd just lead me into temptation vis a vis new crafty things to do and more things to have to not-spend-money-on.
They had a lot of looms. I do not want a loom. I don't want a spinning wheel either, even though there's this guy who makes a portable and quite snazzy yet affordable one called The Hitchhiker. I do not know how to spin and if I have half a brain, keeping it that way is a good idea.
They had absolutely mountains of roving. Wool, when it comes off the sheep, is not exactly ready to use. At that point it's called a fleece. You have to wash and card the fleece so that all the fibers line up in the same direction and smell rather less like a sheep than a fleece does. When you have the fiber all prepped and ready to spin, then it's called roving. I did not buy any roving even though some of it was in simply gorgeous colors.
They had sheep fleeces for sale. They had actual sheep for sale. They had lots and lots of things and I had a delightful time, a lemonade, and a sausage sandwich.
I bought some yarn and (finally!) steel knitting needles in the unwise sizes (0 to 0000) because I might want to make something where I'd need those and it's not like I can buy them around here. I also got three CDs of music. (I am in favor of buying music by the people who are playing it when they're right there in front of me playing it. While some evil record company may get a cut of the take anyway, I figure it's less likely than if I'm buying the CD at WalMart.)
When I got home, I discovered that the prettier of the two bettas was dead. (He was very lethargic when I got him from the tenant's apartment and I kind of expected this.) The other betta still seems happy enough, but he's not getting a name until he's made it through the first week.
