NHS&W

It was COLD.  It was drenched.  It was like Noah was being called once again.  Alas, I was not one of the anointed called onto the Ark.  I was left to jump and wade the puddles with the rest of the fiber-afflicted.  (Let me just say one word:  sneakers.  That's all we will say about THAT.)

It was blogger/commenter/knitter/spinner dense.  Links and a reasonable bedtime are mutually exclusive this evening.  If I left you out, do the Harlot thing and call out in the comments.

Blogless Sharon was a ship passing in the night, as was LauraJ.  (LauraJ was the only person I saw even close to the alpacas.)  Carole, Julia, Manise, Maryse, Kellee, Stitchy, Wendy, Elisa, Dave, Norma, JoVe, That Laurie, Knitigator, PumpkinMama, Cheryl, WoolyBuns, Lucy Lee, Pat from Wild and Woolly, Mamacate, Sandy, and all the other usual suspects swam to the festival despite the monsoon. 

Streams formed, rivers coalesced.  Ponds became lakes.  Dave's blog has pictures.

I fell fast and easy.  Ward Brook Farm, run by Ingrid Byrd, seduced me quickly.  I succumbed to a Corriedale/Romney X fleece from a sheep named Felicia.  In what would become the theme of the day, bloggers rolled past, offered their 3 cents worth ("oh YES, that is a good one DO it") and rolled through.  The fleece was soft, well-skirted, clean, and a color that hummed at me.  When Ingrid *cluckclucked* over a stray piece of hay that she found as we examined the fleece, I knew I had found a good woman.  Kellee enabled me, and then helped me ease Carole into the fleecy way.  (In my own defense, Carole FORCED me to help her.  I was the best that was available at the time.  Luckily for me, Kellee and Mamacate also strolled by the Coopworth booth within that same ten minute time interval, and rubberstamped an easy decision for Carole.)

I am now sourcing roving and fleeces through people I will see again.  I bought some exquisitely prepped Icelandic roving, and know where to call if I like this, can spin laceweight from it, and aspire to a Hyrna.

Foxfire Farm provided a source of stunning cashmere/silk roving in colorways that had most of us swarming the booth shamelessly.  The picture doesn't do justice to the depth and variety of the green, but I can't leave you with just your imagination.

Skyeview Alpacas finally sated my lust for alpaca fleece.  Grey, some color variations, soft.  Grey does not show itself on grey days.  Pictures will follow when I start to spin it.  I'm going to try it straight from the locks first.  It is very clean.  If the discontinuity involved in spinning locks makes it difficult, I'll send it out for processing.  I'll try that soon.  (How could I not??)

Maryse made the day very special.  She gave me a talisman of bone mojo that she crocheted.  Here, a picture is most definitely worth a thousand words:

Comments

[Mel]

Sneakers?! I could say something about your fiber-addled mind, but I must confess that I opted not to change from my hiking boots to my Muck boots because it would have delayed me getting through the gates by another 30 seconds. It didn't help the 'paca folks that getting to them was rather like swimming the English Channel.