Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2015

I have finally gotten to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!!  Every year it seemed there was some reason why I couldn't go, but this year was perfect.  The weather was beautiful, and a friend's husband volunteered to drive us there.  We went early on Sunday morning, so it took us only about an hour to get there.  I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but if you've ever been to an outdoor crafts festival, it's pretty much the same but with mainly yarn and live animals.  Oh, and food, lots ... of... FOOD.  Mainly of the lamb variety, which still bothers me a bit considering, but I got over it enough when I came across a lamb sausage wrapped in puff pastry and Moroccan mint tea :-)

Along the path to the fairgrounds (it was held at the Howard Co. fairgrounds), a local group did a wonderful yarn bombing.

Then, how could I not visit with the sheep!

And these sheep were pretty awesome too by local artist Liz Printz (check out her page here for other examples of her beautiful work!)

(photo with permission from Ms. Printz)

Yarn, yarn everywhere.  These hanks by Sea Colors were tantalizing!

Even took home a little sheep of my own :-)  The Bees Folks had yummy honey, hand lotion, and these little candle gems

 
Hope to make it back next year!

Happenings

What a busy week the last one was!  I had a beginners' crochet class on Wednesday night then off to the Renwick HandiHour on Thursday.  Much fun!

I unfortunately did not make it to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  I'm especially sad this year since the Owens Family was there, displaying some of their Coopworth sheep (was Princess there?!).  I haven't gotten a specific update on Princess in a while, but I did get a nice letter and brochure in the mail, explaining that April is quite a busy time on the farm with all the new baby animals -- 135 of them!  Apparently, this year, they used a "teaser ram."  They send in a vasectomized ram to synchronize the ewes' heat cycles, which occur every 17 days.  The first heat apparently is a weak one, in which the ewe releases only one egg (and twins are the goal), so the teaser is sent in so that the ewes don't end up pregnant.  Then, in the next cycle when a ewe is more likely to shed two eggs, they send in the breeding rams.  It worked!  Out of 71 ewes bearing lambs, 58 had twins or triplets!

Which reminds me, so I now have two dog brushes and am ready to give the carding a try.  I have to say though, I'm getting a little nervous about this -- the lady on the YouTube video makes it look easy, but... ;-)

New Zealand and Wool

I got to go to the New Zealand embassy last night!  Mmmmm, they had lamb chops, skewered beef, and beet root mousse canapes, it was just so tasty.  It's a really beautiful building near to the Vice President's residence up Massachusetts Avenue on Observatory Circle.  Thank goodness the rain had let up and the temperature was mild because we ended up doing a lot of walking to get there and get home.

I met a gentleman from the Lamb and Beef Board, and, of course, I had to ask him about what happens to the wool of the lambs before they become dinner!  (You know, I have to say at this point that I try hard to eat as little meat as possible, I really don't like thinking about how an animal had to die to feed me, but suffice to say, no one was thinking about that last night!).  Turns out such lamb have courser wool, so it tends to go into carpet manufacturing.  In fact, the new rug in the Oval Office that was made in Michigan with a special design has a lot of New Zealand wool in it!

Ok, speaking of course wool, I'm running into a problem with one of the yarns that I am making a sample with.  I decided to make the rippled beret with Classic Elite Portland Tweed because it's the right yarn weight, and I thought that the tweeding would look good with the ripple technique, and it does look good (it's a great yarn to work with), but it's stiff!  Now, I'm debating whether to just unravel the whole thing and come up with a new project for that yarn (maybe a purse?) or wash it and see what happens (will it soften?) -- anybody got any suggestions for me?!

Lifetips

Mmm, making progress on the 101 Crochet Tips in 101 Days!  Check out the site, I just added a whole bunch of really good tricks and techniques ;-)

Also, a necklace to go with the bracelet is almost ready.

I missed the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this past weekend.  Every year, something seems to come up that prevents me from going.  This year, I think it was sheer laziness!  It is quite a trek to get there, so what can I say?!  At least there's another festival coming up in the fall in Virginia, so perhaps I'll pull myself together for that one.

Ok, I'm keeping it short this post, but let me leave you with yet another tidbit to chew on -- have you done some research on your competitors?  Who else out there is selling rhinestone widgets?  What are the differences between your product and theirs?  Hard to believe, but the fact that there are such sellers out there is actually a good sign for you -- it means there's a market for your product, and if it's trending up, then there's room for you too.  So, get to your research!