This was my 4th MDS&W (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008), and I must say that this Festival was the best demonstration I've had yet of the changes that come about with a baby - along with the fact that this post has taken me over a week to get up!
My first post-baby festival was quite interesting, indeed. Dan came with me (his first festival experience!) to help out, which was awesome - we did a tag team thing a lot. Basically, our schedule revolved around hers. We came late and left early, and took several breaks to get her out of her carseat (stroller) and have room to stretch (the sheepdogs were perfect!). We also got a lot of use out of the mei tai that Paula made for me (if that yarn-dyeing biz doesn't pan out, Paula's got a future in custom baby-wearing!) - while she likes to sit in the car seat and look around, she doesn't really like to sleep in it. But she will sleep snuggled up against my chest in the carrier. And she looked at the sheep:
Fuzzy, four legs, "Baa." Interesting.
I think I only went into two vendor barns and the Main hall. I didn't even make it to Brooks Fiber, but that's OK since I still have their yarns in my stash from previous festivals. Don't worry, I still managed to buy some yarn:
Yarny goodness!
Mostly from Tess... and mostly because every year I wonder "Why didn't I buy more from Tess?" Then I get their price sheet and I remember. But I did get some Superwash Merino for a sweater, and two skeins of the Super Sock & Baby (center bottom). I made the Monkey socks out of the skein I bought last year and I am really happy with them, so I went for a few more. The other sock yarn jumped out at me from the Cloverhill booth. (Can I just say how much I loved that booth? It was great having all of those indie dyers in one place!) The bottom right is Sanguine Gryphon (who I met at the Homespun Yarn Party), and the bottom left is Sushi Sock from the Unique Sheep. The roving is Gale's Art (one of the few bumps she had left on Saturday afternoon - her booth was pretty cleaned out!). And on the left is the Tilli Tomas "Sahara" kit that I won at the Ravelry party. I won a door prize, yippee! The yarn is gorgeous - the color of copper pennies:
Find a penny, pick it up!
Since Sahara is supposed to be a really fitted sweater, I'm going to wait a while to see what my proportions turn out to be (post-breastfeeding at least!), so you won't be seeing the finished product here on the blog any time soon, but it will have a very special place in my stash until then.
As always, the highlight of the fiber festival was the people - getting to hang out with all of these awesome folks in real life once or twice a year never seems to be enough.
Go Team Rav!
And of course I met up with many others at the Ravelry meetups and the party (thanks to Daddy for babysitting so I could hang out and have fun!) - friends from near and far... whose lives I keep up on by reading their blogs (and who I should comment more on!) - more pictures here. And to me, that's really the key of any great weekend - the fiber's just gravy! (OK, really good gravy, but bonus nevertheless).
Until next year! (Or until Rhinebeck in the fall!)
Posted by Sarah at May 12, 2008 02:43 PM | in: events | PermalinkSo glad I got to see you at Maryland - and meet the babe and the hubby. I wish I would have had more time with you all! Maybe next time...:)
Posted by: maya on May 12, 2008 02:27 PMNice haul! I got a couple braids of the Gale's Art roving and some Songuine Gryphon sock yarn too. That stuff is the bomb! It was nice to see you again. Enjoy all that great new stuff.
Posted by: Kim on May 12, 2008 03:22 PMIt was *really* different for us, too. And like you, it was my husband's first trip to the festival. I *think* he's recovered by now. Sorry we didn't bump into you!
Posted by: natalie on May 12, 2008 03:51 PMIt was great to see you! Raley is such a cutie :) Love the tili thomas kit you won...I've wanted to try that yarn for a while.
Posted by: Karen on May 12, 2008 03:54 PMSo glad you guys had a good time. I'm dragging G to Rhinebeck for sure.
And Meli and Raley have found a divergent path - Meli LOVES to sleep in her car seat. The sling thing - not so much!
Posted by: Cara on May 12, 2008 04:08 PMAfter Taos, I think I'd like to go to Maryland!!
See ya soon,
MOM
It was great to see you if only for a few minutes! You were brave to bring the baby and it seems like you all had a great time! :)
Posted by: biglug on May 12, 2008 10:47 PMit was FANTASTIC to meet Raley. even if i did make her cry the MOST. and as always, great to see you. next time there will be more time somehow for everything. xxoo! c
Posted by: chelsea on May 13, 2008 04:49 PMYEA! great pics, S! I loved seeing the whole family there :) congrats on the Rav door prize! very enviable!
Posted by: lolly on May 14, 2008 07:32 AMI'm so glad you were able to make it and hang out for a while!!!! and YAY for Rhinebeck!!! :)
Posted by: Lara on May 14, 2008 09:48 AMI'll be at Rhinebeck this year!! Hope to meet you there! I'll be towing both boys! (Sean will be almost 22 months old (Wow time flies) and Mackenzie will be approx. 3-4 months old depends on when he's born!) But I'm going this year! No questions about it! (I Had to miss last year b/c we moved and bought a house!)
Posted by: Robyn on May 27, 2008 01:32 PM