Special Sunday Night Edition: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Shopping Spree

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Last weekend, I indulged my love of all things fiber-related at the 38th annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival held at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland. It was a series of classes with Jacey Boggs and Esther Rodgers, chatting it up with new and old friends, dining and of course, shopping!

Here’s a recap of what came home as a “business expense”:

The weekend kicked off with a terrific Nuno Felting Class with Esther Rodgers of Jazzturtle Creations.  At left is an image of the batt I made and the resulting nuno felted scarf.  I enjoy felting periodically and am getting into it more and more.

While I was able to take a number of classes, there are many great teachers that I will probably never have the good fortune to learn from so I picked up a number of books videos —

I picked up two Rita Buchanan DVD’s:  “How I Spin” and “In Praise of Simple Cloth”‘; Deb Menz’s DVD on “Fiber Preparation and Multicolor Blending Techniques”; “Know Your Wheel” by Alden Amos, Cindy Lair and Linda Ligon; and three Judith MacKenzie DVD’s:  “The Gentle Art of Plying”, “Spinning Luxury Fibers”, and “A Spinner’s Toolbox”. 

After some consideration, I decided to splurge a little and bought myself this absolutely yummy shawl coat from Opalessence (click on the link to see pics of the shawl on a lovely model). It is made from bamboo and is ultra soft. Since I’m taking a weaving class in July, this gives me something to shoot for!

I was on the mad hunt for a rather spectacular knitting bowl and on Sunday morning, all the way down by the lower corral, I found Sue Henshaw Pottery and bought one of her beautiful pieces.

I’ve been wanting to make the Manuela Brice Trellis Lace Shrug pattern on from last Sunday’s post and worked it up in some lovely red alpaca/mohair from Feederbrook Farm that I bought at the festival.
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I also took the opportunity to pick up a couple of cool books to add to my collection and was able to get them signed. I finally bought a book I’ve been wanting for ages:  “Continuous Strand Weaving Method” by Carol Leigh Brack-Kaiser of Hillcreek Fiber Studio.  I also bought “Spinning Wheels and Accessories” by Pennington and Taylor to help me in identifying old wheels I sometimes purchase.

And, finally the BIG SPLURGE…the beautiful felted rug from the Kyrgyz Collection from Mountain to Mountain, a partner of Vista 360. Sorry I don’t have a better picture yet — I think it’s going up on the wall in the bedroom and we’re still debating how to hang it on the wall.

So, as you can see, the festival proved to be a lot of shopping fun this year and I’m having a great time with all my fiber-related goodies!

4 thoughts on “Special Sunday Night Edition: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Shopping Spree”

  1. I got a rug from them, as well. It’s on my dining room floor and I adore it! Your’s is lovely!

    1. Arlene Ciroula

      Thanks, Jacey! They were all so beautiful — it was hard to choose. Thanks for being such a super teacher also!!

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