Having a lovely time....

What a great way to start a weekend! Our eldest grandchild, M., performed Friday evening with the Mount Hebron HS dance company.  She was very happy.  This has been a great year for her.  You can see the happiness on her face as she poses with her aunt and sister right after the performance. She and her family will be coming by today to celebrate and enjoy the food stylings of her other aunt, S. Yes folks, that's right, I'm not cooking this Sunday - do I hear a Hallelujah?! 

As if that were not enough, yesterday began what I like to think of here in Merlin as the Knitting High Holy Days: Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I was to "woman" the Hospitality Tent run by our local Columbia Sip 'N Knit (of which I am a member) and sponsored by a number of ventures local to the MD-DC-VA area. I was supposed to be there at 9, but the traffic getting there was incredibly slow.  So I got there a bit late, but there were no "customers" yet, so no harm done.

I took very few pictures, but I can honestly say a good time was had by all.

I've been coming to Sheep and Wool consistently since 2007.  While I have spent money buying yarn, it's rare for me to buy huge amounts of anything at Sheep and Wool.  I enjoy the company of the knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, farmers, authors, and vendors from all over the country - especially the knitters. It's fun to sit and relax in the Hospitality Tent with my "peeps" and see all the goodies others have purchased.  For some who live in somewhat isolated rural areas, the Sheep and Wool Festival is an opportunity to buy a year's worth of supplies for their business, farm, or artistic endeavors. They buy a lot, but they buy carefully, mindful of their costs and needs, and especially of quality. These are the people who do not necessarily fall into the latest fads in knitting or fashion; these are frugal hardworking people who don't waste their money. Others are fairly well-to-do and enjoy this opportunity to share their passion for their fiber-related craft. Some of the most interesting conversations I've had at Sheep and Wool have been with people I would otherwise have never met from many walks of life.  For that, I feel very lucky.  This year, I met people from Long Island, not far from where I grew up, some from VA and DC, one from Scranton, PA.  The conversation was friendly.  We were all interested in what the other was knitting, what they bought, and where they were from. There was a lot of laughter (see above knitting-related shirt art:)) and, as I said, a great time was had by all.

In terms of stash acquisition, as previous posts have shown, I have been very active on that front in recent months, so I kept my yarn purchases to a minimum and only shopped at that local yarn shop that was selling its remaining wares at under costs.  I stood on a bit of a line for this and a bad knee kept me from really wandering around to ooh and ahh over the goods of the many colorful vendors present. For that I am sorry.  But I was able to make a decent enhancement to yarn and needle stash and also got a few plants for our daughter S's summer vegetable garden.

You can see the three plants above.  Do not be fooled by the bags of projects.  I brought three along, with the idea of discouraging too much yarn buying.  Yarn tends to be squishy. One can pack down quite a bit in the bottom of a bag:). When I got home, I organized what I had obtained and I think I did well.  I added to my growing collection of Shetland wool yarn, purchased two circular needles for sock knitting and two sets of straight needles that were just cute, a ball of self-patterning sock yarn that will likely be a pair for someone in my family, enough of a lovely yellow yarn to make a shawl, three skeins of cotton-ish skeins that were just pretty, and eight skeins of self-patterning yarn that will make one or two grandchild-sized sweaters (depending on the grandchild). All of this cost a fraction of what it would have done normally.  The downside is of course, that another local yarn shop will be gone.

As soon as I could, I logged onto Ravelry and entered this into the stash.  When starting a new project, I will know what I already have and it will be more likely that I will "shop from stash."

Knitting

Yes, there's been knitting.  I finally started the first sleeve of the Truckbeth Carbeth.  It will be a priority to finish in the coming week.  Not likely to be worn until the coming autumn, but what a nice thing to have a couple of new sweaters waiting for you when sweater weather hits:)! More pics to come.

I've made some progress on A Shawl Based on a Weldon's Veil.  I'm still at the lace part, using some nice purpley lace weight held double:

I took it along with me to Sheep and Wool, but it's really not the sort of pattern one can do while chatting, so I left it alone until I could get home and give it the proper focus it needs.

I finished the first of the pair of green socks I've been working on and made some decent headway into the second one - to put the kibosh on Second Sock Syndrome. In the project pouch is a skein of sock yarn to keep me going on the next sock project.:)

I've picked up my second Nina Shawl to work on again - love the colors and hope to take less time finishing this than the cotton one that has yet to be finished!

Gotta go clean up a bit before Sunday dinner with the gang:) Feeling exceedingly grateful for all of life's blessings.

Hope the coming week is good to you, my friend - and God be with you 'til we meet again+