Yesterday started out as one of those days where nothing goes right and everything seems to want to go wrong. I felt as if there was a perfect storm of events coming together to keep me from making it to the Sheep & Wool Festival on Saturday (which I hadn’t accomplished in years due to work). My husband was sick and I had a zillion annoying but important errands to run in connection with my daughter’s birthday and my son’s prom. My son informed me that he had forgotten to turn in an assignment and had to go to Saturday study hall at the school. He’s never done that before. There was some kind of charity walk going on that had encircled my neighborhood with hundreds of walkers making it almost impossible to drive anywhere. Even so, I harbored this fantasy of finishing my errands by 10:30 or so and making it out to the Festival before noon. I was running errands in between not being able to pull up any seats on Ticketmaster for a concert (I don’t count lawn seats, for which you have to wait in line for hours and then run like hell in order to actually get a piece of the lawn to sit on, as “seats”). Miraculously, I finished my errands by 10:15.
There was only one problem. I couldn’t leave until I could pick up my son. He was held prisoner until noon, and then I was free.
Things looked up on the drive. It was a beautiful day — at least until mid-afternoon. The traffic wasn’t all that bad. And — because I arrived so late — people were leaving already and I got a great parking spot.
I rushed ambled slowly over to the Exhibition Hall to see if I had won anything. I had pretty low expectations, so it was really great when the first thing I saw was my Bohus:
Then I spotted the Feather & Fan Shawl:
Finally, I found my Peacock Shawl:
I was mildly surprised that the Feather & Fan shawl did better than Peacock because I think it’s simpler to knit. Maybe they rewarded me for sheer size. I don’t know.
If you’re curious as to what won Best in Show, it was not a knitted article. It was pretty amazing, though.
For those of you who’ve never been to this event, it’s pretty homey. Here are just a few quick photographs I took as I wandered around. (These photographs also explain why I am not a photo journalist.)
It wouldn’t be the Sheep & Wool Festival without some shopping. I wasn’t planning to buy yarn. Unfortunately, I can resist anything but temptation. I picked up some gorgeous lace weight cashmere by Just Our Yarn. It’s a very subtle colorway; it’s hard to photograph, however. It keeps looking muddy. Here is the best I could do.
I bought enough of it to make a floaty wrap/shrug/kimono. I just need to find, adapt, or a design a pattern. Suggestions welcome.
I was intrigued by this sweater, which I saw hanging up in a booth and being sold as a kit. It’s called the Trekking Magic Color Pullover. If you google it, you’ll be astounded at how hideous it looks online. In person, this brown colorway at least is very rich and tweedy looking. It’s made of sock yarn, two different colors held together and varied as you knit the sweater. (The color here is a bit drab; it’s better in “real life.”)
When I examined the kit closely after I got it home, I realized I have at least two of the sock colors in my stash. What a surprise.
I plan to make a lot of changes to the style of the sweater (not a fan of the ribbed bottom and cuffs). I liked the idea of the sweater and the colors.
This afternoon, I have to trek back out to the Festival to pick up my sweater and shawls. If I’m lucky, the two skeins of silk yarn that I semi-hid on the rack in one display booth will be gone. Wish me luck.
 
