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temve and a friend of theirs named M___; they picked me up from the Wendy's across the Wheaton Metro, because the Wheaton Kiss & Ride stops are impossible.
We got there about 10 am, and it was surprisingly little traffic for that time of day. Usually the last mile into the fairgrounds during MDSW takes a good 30 minutes, if not more. But it was raining and forecast to rain all day, so the casual daytrippers didn't come (leaving the hardcore yarn enthusiasts to be all over).
I stopped at the plant nurseries first, and bought 3 petunias plants (purple with yellow edges, and pink with white splotches), 2 fish peppers, 1 mortgage lifter tomato, 2 basils, and 6 cotton plants (from Putnam Hill Nursery.
Next we went to Friends in Reed, a group of basket makers who always have amazing baskets for reasonable prices. I bought a market basket and a smaller basket labeled as a 'bread basket' that is just the right size to drop envelopes in until I have enough energy to deal with sorting my mail.
Then we went to the auction tent -- there were a couple things that tempted me, like a 'surfboard' style tablet-weaving loom -- but it was still early so we checked out what was already there and then walked on.
We walked through the outside north booths until we came to The Bee Folks. It was only about 11, but they'd already sold out of the Coffee Blossom honey and the Mango honey, unless you were willing to by 1 gallon containers (that weigh 12 lbs). I did buy Thistle honey and WildFoam (when the bees have fed on meadowfoam and wildflowers, a good compromise when you don't want to pay the premium for pure monofloral meadowfoam honey) and picked up two bags of honey candy.
It was about 11:30 or so then, so we headed to the Boy Scouts and had lambburgers for lunch. The younger boys take the orders, the older boys handle money and serving up the food, and the dads do the cooking. It's adorable to have an 8 year old concentrating his hardest on customer service because they just aren't able to remember everything yet.
Then we stopped and picked up some candied pecans because the line was short and they're a good snack to carry with you through the fairgrounds.
We went into the Main Barn, partly to get out of the rain and partly because it has the biggest number of vendors. I picked up some yarn from Into the Whirled -- socks yarn in colors Melange (semi-solid copper orange) and Rhinebeck (chocolate brown with bronze notes).temve was surprised at the name, since there is a town in Germany named Rhinebach -- the Rhinebeck in New York state was probably named after it, but is also where the big sheep & wool festival is held in the autumn.
At about 12:45, M_____ had to go the auction and I decided I shouldn't, sotemve and I walked on. I did run into someone I know from the farmer's market, and guided her to Bosworth Spindles and Charkas, partly because I knew where they were but mostly because they make excellent handspindles. I bought a new one out of spalted tamarind (apparently 'spalt' is same word in English and German, but in English refers specifically to spalting in wood instead of splitting in general).
I looked at Wild Hare, walked on, and then realized their Pinnacle DK mini-skein set was perfect for the 8-bit doodlee hat pattern I got from Pacific Knit Company (the place that does the knitting doodle decks.
We then walked through the annex where some demonstrations were being held, cut back through the main barn, and walked through the smaller barns. Tem was looking for yarn to knit a replacement shawl with but kept running into 'not enough skeins' or 'wrong color' but we did finally find something that should work -- a dark blue-purple-green, the colors of an oil slick but much nicer.
I bought a skein of flamingo pink fingering tencel just because I love the color, and a giant skein (5250 yards) of 72%wool/28%rayon in the palest lilac (the colors had already been picked over, so that was the best of a weird lot) to make one of the really big lace shawls out of. Also, I picked up three balls of merino roving, about 6 oz in all, and plan to spin them into fingering for fingerless mittens, a hat, and maybe a smoke ring scarf.
We walked through the south outside booths and came to Kiparoo Farm, which is both very local and a place I used to go to regularly, when I lived in upcounty from where I am now. I picked up 2 skeins of their silk/wool blend in a crimson that will look great when knit up. I plan to get gloves, a hat, and a scarf out of it.
Last, I picked up 1000 yds of a superfine merino lace, which I may make into either Eyjafjallajokull or Simurg.
M______ had managed to buy a spinning wheel, but one that needs a good bit of repair work. They retrieved it and I made my last purchase of the day, a partial cone of extra-fine weaving wool from a Pendelton mill end. We picked up all my plants on the way out and walked through squishy grass back to the car.
We drove back, and then hung out attemve's place for dinner, meeting several of her wife's martial arts students and enjoying no longer wearing wet socks.
temve and a friend of theirs named M___; they picked me up from the Wendy's across the Wheaton Metro, because the Wheaton Kiss & Ride stops are impossible.We got there about 10 am, and it was surprisingly little traffic for that time of day. Usually the last mile into the fairgrounds during MDSW takes a good 30 minutes, if not more. But it was raining and forecast to rain all day, so the casual daytrippers didn't come (leaving the hardcore yarn enthusiasts to be all over).
I stopped at the plant nurseries first, and bought 3 petunias plants (purple with yellow edges, and pink with white splotches), 2 fish peppers, 1 mortgage lifter tomato, 2 basils, and 6 cotton plants (from Putnam Hill Nursery.
Next we went to Friends in Reed, a group of basket makers who always have amazing baskets for reasonable prices. I bought a market basket and a smaller basket labeled as a 'bread basket' that is just the right size to drop envelopes in until I have enough energy to deal with sorting my mail.
Then we went to the auction tent -- there were a couple things that tempted me, like a 'surfboard' style tablet-weaving loom -- but it was still early so we checked out what was already there and then walked on.
We walked through the outside north booths until we came to The Bee Folks. It was only about 11, but they'd already sold out of the Coffee Blossom honey and the Mango honey, unless you were willing to by 1 gallon containers (that weigh 12 lbs). I did buy Thistle honey and WildFoam (when the bees have fed on meadowfoam and wildflowers, a good compromise when you don't want to pay the premium for pure monofloral meadowfoam honey) and picked up two bags of honey candy.
It was about 11:30 or so then, so we headed to the Boy Scouts and had lambburgers for lunch. The younger boys take the orders, the older boys handle money and serving up the food, and the dads do the cooking. It's adorable to have an 8 year old concentrating his hardest on customer service because they just aren't able to remember everything yet.
Then we stopped and picked up some candied pecans because the line was short and they're a good snack to carry with you through the fairgrounds.
We went into the Main Barn, partly to get out of the rain and partly because it has the biggest number of vendors. I picked up some yarn from Into the Whirled -- socks yarn in colors Melange (semi-solid copper orange) and Rhinebeck (chocolate brown with bronze notes).
temve was surprised at the name, since there is a town in Germany named Rhinebach -- the Rhinebeck in New York state was probably named after it, but is also where the big sheep & wool festival is held in the autumn.At about 12:45, M_____ had to go the auction and I decided I shouldn't, so
temve and I walked on. I did run into someone I know from the farmer's market, and guided her to Bosworth Spindles and Charkas, partly because I knew where they were but mostly because they make excellent handspindles. I bought a new one out of spalted tamarind (apparently 'spalt' is same word in English and German, but in English refers specifically to spalting in wood instead of splitting in general).I looked at Wild Hare, walked on, and then realized their Pinnacle DK mini-skein set was perfect for the 8-bit doodlee hat pattern I got from Pacific Knit Company (the place that does the knitting doodle decks.
We then walked through the annex where some demonstrations were being held, cut back through the main barn, and walked through the smaller barns. Tem was looking for yarn to knit a replacement shawl with but kept running into 'not enough skeins' or 'wrong color' but we did finally find something that should work -- a dark blue-purple-green, the colors of an oil slick but much nicer.
I bought a skein of flamingo pink fingering tencel just because I love the color, and a giant skein (5250 yards) of 72%wool/28%rayon in the palest lilac (the colors had already been picked over, so that was the best of a weird lot) to make one of the really big lace shawls out of. Also, I picked up three balls of merino roving, about 6 oz in all, and plan to spin them into fingering for fingerless mittens, a hat, and maybe a smoke ring scarf.
We walked through the south outside booths and came to Kiparoo Farm, which is both very local and a place I used to go to regularly, when I lived in upcounty from where I am now. I picked up 2 skeins of their silk/wool blend in a crimson that will look great when knit up. I plan to get gloves, a hat, and a scarf out of it.
Last, I picked up 1000 yds of a superfine merino lace, which I may make into either Eyjafjallajokull or Simurg.
M______ had managed to buy a spinning wheel, but one that needs a good bit of repair work. They retrieved it and I made my last purchase of the day, a partial cone of extra-fine weaving wool from a Pendelton mill end. We picked up all my plants on the way out and walked through squishy grass back to the car.
We drove back, and then hung out at
temve's place for dinner, meeting several of her wife's martial arts students and enjoying no longer wearing wet socks.
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