Sheep Incognito Blog

Boy, what a weekend!

After a few weeks of feverish preparations getting ready for one of the largest Fiber and Sheep Festivals in the USA, we made the long - and I mean loooooong - journey up to Maryland. Long not neccessarily because of the distance alone, but anybody traveling that distance in a car with three kids armed with Nintendo DS machines and without headphones must be slightly insane - I think I'm a perfect match for that...

Anyway - we did not quite know what to expect at the MSWF - only that there would be lots of people. Oh my, what an understatement. When there is a line for the festival garb in which people line up for 1 1/2 hours just to purchase a t-shirt, you know you are in a verified open air asylum for fiber nutcases. And I happen to have caught that bug, whatever it's called. If you have never been to that event, I HIGHLY recommend it - fun stuff, wherever you look, even if you have no hankerin' for yarn or wooly things. The visitors were as colorful as all the skeins of yarn and roving there - some of them even more vivid (talking about big linebacker type guys in scottish kilts for example - or goths with plateau combat boots and a little baggy of sockwool to knit with - or families where you're not quite sure which one exactly was the parent, and which the kid, and which the mom, and which the dad - and yet, all were there for some awesome things).

Sheep - yep, whole truckloads of 'em. And lots of them tied to shearing platforms in rather compromizing outfits - shorn and wet. And baaaahing, like there is no tomorrow.  But add to that mixture some Alpacas that have to have their rear hindquarters carried (mind you, only the back part with the two back legs - the front apparently walks on it's own) out of a trailer, another that decides it ain't goin' nowhere, not now, not nohow; throw in some clogging old guy with a hat; a guy playing bass on a tin tub; some mini white angora goats; some lamb bbq that would make the turks envious, and a line for the restrooms that reaches 20 people, and you have a surefire event of interesting things. Not to mention the miles and miles of yarn. Wool. Roving. Batts. Spinning Wheels. Drop Spindles. Blankets. Rugs. Sheep Feeders. Herb Plants. Music. Sheep stuff. And everything in between all that. 

Really: Maaaaahvelous fun!

Well, and then of course, there we were in the middle of all of that with our huge booth that Peter the Art Pimp and Booth Warrior set up all by himself.  The people that did meander into our little corner of the festival seemed thrilled with the Sheep Incognito paintings - in fact, to date it was our best show ever! So thank you to everybody that came in and gave the Sheep the time of their life (hmm, that somehow doesn't sound quite right - but there it is anyway...).  We met soo many fun people, and even got to spend some time meeting friends from previous shows that came just to visit the Sheep Incognito again!  All in all, it was a wonderful weekend - the weather, the people, the sales, the show, everything!

Best part of all was getting to finally go buy my Strauch Finest Drum Carder I've been waiting to buy since Christmas. Boy, what a difference that makes! Now that the sheep have their wool bagged in the garage, I can get started washing and carding, without dread of sore arms, and scratched knuckles. Gotta love good machinery!

The one damper was not being able to bring the newest painting along - it just wouldn't fit in the car...but we'll be back next year, and it will be there if it hasn't sold by then.

Thanks again to everybody that stopped in - great fun meeting you all, and listening to your comments about the sheep incognito!

 Pictures might be here tomorrow - still hunting for the iPhone cable...