Script for

Episode 136:

Maryland Sheep and Wool 2011

Well, hello there, beloved sheep spotter. I am taking a little break from creating new episodes right now. I will be back in mid-January with some new episodes, but today I'm sharing a segment from my very first podcast, Spin Doctor, for your listening pleasure. In this episode from 2011, I tell you all about a field trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wolf Festival. I hope you enjoy this glimpse at my pre-SheepSpot self. This year, my husband and I planned to, well, let me back up.

As I believe I mentioned in the last segment and Dallas have mentioned in other episodes of the podcast. I have the best husband in the world. And one of the indices of his bestness is that he is willing to drive me 10 hours to the Maryland Sheep and Wolf Festival and then, three or four days later, turn around and drive 10 hours back. And part of the reason that he is willing to do that is that we are both very fond of Baltimore. I lived in Baltimore for four years at the end of the 1990s and really love that city a lot. So we always, we always, well, this is the second year we've done it, but we planned this year that we would spend a day in the city on, we would drive down Thursday, we would spend Friday in the city, we would get some crab cakes at Fadley's, we would go to the Visionary Art Museum and generally sort of hang out and, you know, probably drive past my old house and.

I feel nostalgic. So that was the plan. And then Saturday and Sunday, we were going to go to the festival and I was going to walk around and do my festival things. And he was going to bring a book and sit under a tree. And so that was the plan. And then we were going to drive back on Monday. So Wednesday, Zora, our cat, you know Zora because she has made a number of cameos on the show. Zora was throwing up a little, which is not characteristic of Zora. Our other cat, Ella, throws up all the time. In fact, just about every two weeks, she throws up something. She's prone to hairballs. But Zora is really not prone to hairballs. And she's not, as we say, a barfer. So I was a little concerned. And actually, I think this started on Tuesday. It started on Tuesday. So Tuesday, she was throwing up a littl bit. Wednesday, she was throwing up a little bit. And Thursday morning, we got up and we were planning to leave, like, you know, nine or 10 in the morning on Thursday.

And she had thrown up all her dinner from the night before, which is pretty much unprecedented for her. So I called the vet and the vet said, bring her in. And well, actually the vet's receptionist said that. And they couldn't see her until 10 o'clock. So we decided that we would bring her in at 10 o'clock because we didn't want to leave the cat sitter with an incipient problem. And also because Zora has a history of, well, when she was a kitten, she got very, very sick. And she had some liver problems and some pancreas problems and many, many, many tests and enough money from us to finance the spin doctor wing of the local veterinary hospital. And we discovered that she is allergic to a lot of food. So there are many, many things that she can't eat. All that she eats really is duck.

And so we were concerned that this might be a recurrence of that and blah, blah, blah. So we took her in. The vet examines her, does a ton of blood work, and she's, There's nothing that's really showing up on the exam. So some of the blood work comes back right away, but the pancreas stuff isn't going to be available to us. The results aren't going to be available until the following morning. So we decided that we would forego our day in Baltimore and that we would actually leave. We would get the results, assuming they were okay. We would go the next morning. And so that's what we did. and Zora was extremely pleased with herself at having managed to delay her departure for an entire day. So we didn't get our crab cakes from Fadley's, which we were both kind of sad about. I'm hoping to make that up with crabs, West Coast crabs, when we're in Oregon for black sheep, because we wouldn't want there to be a crab deficit.

So we left. We got the test results back. They were negative. She was actually, she's been fine ever since. And so we left early Friday morning. We drove and drove and drove. We made really good time, actually. And we got to the hotel in Columbia, Maryland at about 6.30. We had dinner reservations for 8.30. So we kind of cleaned up and got ready to go to dinner. And we went to dinner. We had a really nice dinner in the Inner Harbor. And then we went back. And my plan was, I mean, already, we had plans and Zora foiled them. And then I had a plan about when to get to the festival and how we were going to get a great parking space and all that. But you will shortly see how that turned out. So my plan was that we would get up Saturday, we would have kind of a leisurely.

Breakfast slash brunch, we would, and we would get to the festival around 1230 or one. And I imagined this would be when the first sort of group of early responders, as it were, to the Maryland Sheep and Wolf Festival would be getting tired and getting ready to go home. And boy, was I wrong. So we get there and we are directed by the folks who are running the parking there, not into the main field where the parking is, but rather into a field across the street.

And I am a person who really, really likes to park close to where I'm going. I understand that that is not always possible, but it's always my preference. So I'm kind of grumbling about how we have to park really far away and, you know, we're all the way across the street and blah, And then it turns out that not only are we all the way across the street, but we are all the way across the street and we are being directed farther and farther away, past an enormous field, down a dirt road. I mean, we were practically parked in Baltimore, which is really a good distance from the Howard County Fairgrounds. I'm being facetious, of course, but we were really far away. And fortunately, it was a gorgeous day, and I decided not to be badly behaved about this. So we hiked to the fairgrounds, and my first order of business was the fleece sale.

And I was going to the fleece sale not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of Beth Smith of the Spinning Loft, who was not able to be at Maryland this year. And she had dispatched me with a list of breeds that she was looking for. And so Mr. Spindoctor and I went into the fleece sale and he found a chair and sat down. And I zipped around the fleece sale with my iPhone, with Beth's list of breeds. And I would find a fleece and I would bring it back to him and set it down next to him. And it was his job to guard the fleeces until I could assemble them all and pay for them. And this worked quite well and attracted a great deal of attention from the ladies staffing the fleece sale. And so I found her a Perindale, a Texel, two...

Oh, two rambolays. Initially, that was all I found her. And I didn't really see anything that I was particularly taken by. So I paid for those. We took them outside, set Mr. Spin Doctor up under his tree. And I texted Beth to let her know what I had found and what I hadn't found because there was a lot of stuff on her list that just wasn't represented in this fleece sale at all. And mostly what was at the fleece sale was about 30,000 million Coopworth fleeces and 30,000 million Romney fleeces. And, relatively speaking, little of other things.

So I then decided that I would just go back in and take another look in case there was something I missed during the first flush of wolfhumes. And I actually found a very, very nice merino fleece for Beth and the fleece that I eventually bought, which is the fleece I'm going to be reviewing today, which is a Romney cross. And so I paid for those and took them back to Mr. Spin Doctor and had a little rest. And then I just sort of walked around the main exhibition building, which was really, really, really crowded at that point. And that was a bit trying. Then I looked at the other, the booths, inside booths in the other three buildings. And then I got myself a lemonade and I got Mr. Spin Doctor a lemonade and I brought them back to him and hung out with him for a little while.

And was sort of alternating, you know, checking in with him, with doing a little shopping, with checking in with him. And also visiting the sheep, which is always fun. And in fact, I did meet a woman who, the shepherd of a flock of, the flock of Hog Island sheep at Mount Vernon in Virginia, Washington's home. And so that was, I talked to her for a little while. That was interesting. And then I went and got a mug and some buttons from Jenny the Potter. And that was delightful. And in fact, I am drinking out of my Jenny the Potter mug right now.

And then I was kind of tired and you know I it's not like I need anything so I really I really do not need more fiber at this point so I I wasn't really in a in a shopping kind of mood I had I had gotten this fleece and I had my Jenny the Potter mug and I was you know kind of happy with that so we decided that we would by then it was like maybe 3 30 4 o'clock we decided we'd head home or back to the hotel. And so Mr. Spindoctor went and got the car while I sat with the six fleeces waiting for him to come and get me. And if you want to attract attention at a fiber festival, you know, just sit down somewhere with six fleeces spread around you and you'll have instant conversation. I also encountered some Cotswolds being led back to their trailer. And I asked the person who was leading them, are those Cotswolds? And one of the sheep looked at me and said, bah!

So apparently they know their breed. Anyway, so that was Saturday, kind of a low-key day, except for the frenzy of the fleece sale. And then Sunday, I wanted to make sure that I got there early for a few reasons. One was that Deb Robson's book signing for the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook was happening at 10 a.m. And Deb had told me that they were not going to have enough books.

Something to do with shipping the books from Asia, and they could only ship a limited number of them. And anyway, so she said, if you want a book, get there early because we're going to run out. And so I wanted to get there around 9 so that I could be at the book signing at 10. And we did pretty well. We got there around 9.30 and got an excellent parking place, I'm happy to say. And then Mr. Spin Doctor went and sat under his tree. And I did a little shopping. I looked at some of the outdoor booths while waiting for the book signing to start and, and went to two booths in particular that I thought were really interesting. One was the booth for Solitude Yarn. And if you haven't heard of Solitude Yarn, their worth, their website is worth a look. They do breed specific yarns from flocks around Virginia. So they're based in Virginia and they have relationships with local shepherds. And so they do these breed-specific yarns. And if you're interested in knowing what a commercially spun yarn from, say, Dorset looks like, these are really good.

Kind of resource. And I really wanted to just get a few skeins and swatch with them and find out what they were like. So I did that. They are probably for a lot of people, you know, who are not obsessed with the whole wool breeds thing, probably prohibitively expensive. I got a skein, a hand-painted skein of Tunis that was, I think, $46 for 240 yards, which is probably the most expensive yarn I've ever bought that wasn't, you know, cashmere. But I think it's important to support what they're doing. And as I say, I was really interested in trying some of these yarns. So I did get a skein of it. And I also got a skein of their Corydale and a skein of their Dorset and Suffolk. The Corydale and the Tunis are worsted. And the Dorset and Suffolk, I think, is a DK. And they're all in my Ravelry stash if you want to have a look at them. And then the other booth I went to was the Test Designer Yarns booth, and I'd never been there before. I'd never seen her yarns in person.

I didn't actually buy anything there, but what I wanted to buy was Kitten, which is, I think, 50% cashmere, 50% silk, big skein of it for $75, but I somehow managed to resist. So I did that, and then I went to the book signing, and I got to see Deb, and I got to meet Carol, her co-author, and talked a little bit to the book's publicist as well, and so that was all useful. And it was great to see Deb and great to see the amount of excitement and interest that the book was generating there. I was there on the dot of 10 a.m. And there was already a line forming. So that was all really, really exciting. And so congratulations to all involved.

And then I went back to find Mr. Spindoctor and he was watching the blade sharing competition, which we had seen a good bit of last year. And it's just fascinating to watch. Fascinating to me to watch. So we watched that for a little while, and then it was time for the meetup. The meetup was at 11 in the Three Waters Farm booth, and...

So I head over there and we put all our goods and chattel down and hung out with Marianne for a little while until people started to arrive. And the first person to arrive was Maggie Casey. And I just can't even tell you how happy that made me. So I got to see Maggie Casey and have a little chat with her. And that was really nice. And the other folks who came by, and I'm just going to give their Ravelry names, were Wexford, Needs Yarn, Crafty Puppy Lover, Kimchi Crafts, Kathy Nitwit, S.V. Janice, and Tony D. And it was so, so nice to get to put faces to avatars, as it were, and just generally, you know, get to chat and hang out. And I wish we had had a lot more time to talk. A lot of people were sort of running off in all directions, but it was nice to at least get to touch base a little bit.

And by then, it was almost time for the Parade of Breeds. So we went over to the show ring for the Parade of Breeds, and I got to see live and in person a lot of sheep I have only seen in pictures. So that was interesting. And then we had lunch. And, you know, mostly what there is for lunch at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I have to say I find this incredibly weird, is lamb. And, I mean, it is both weird in some ways and also deeply not weird in others, obviously, because farmers... Farmers need to sell lamb. Shepherds need to sell lamb. So anyway, so we had our annual lamb sausage and ripple fries, which were both really, really, really yummy. I felt, as I always do when I eat lamb, a little bit guilty and a little dirty afterwards. But it was delicious. And then I went to the rest of the outdoor booths, the booths that I had missed in the morning.

And by that time, I was really, really done. I was just tired. So even though, I mean, it was a beautiful day. It wasn't too hot. We had great weather this year. We had terrible weather last year. It was a million degrees, but this year we had great weather. But by then I was pretty beat. So we gathered ourselves up and went back to the hotel where I had a delightful nap and a delightful shower before dinner. And then we had dinner, went to bed, got up. I went to the UPS store and shipped four fleeces, four, five, five fleeces to Michigan for Beth. And then we hit the road. So that was our Maryland Sheep and World this year. If you're thinking about making the pilgrimage to Maryland Sheep and Woldt, Maryland Sheep and Woldt is huge. And I had thought foolishly that Rhinebeck was bigger. Maryland is way bigger than Rhinebeck. So it's a really big festival. There's an incredibly sort of, there's an incredibly genial atmosphere. People are in a really, really good mood at Maryland. They're happy to be there. They're happy to run into their friends. They're excited about...

What's available there. And it's, I really, really like the vibe of Maryland. I mean, the vibe of, of Rhinebeck is, is lovely as well, but it's quite different. It's a little more, I don't know, Rhinebeck I experienced as a little bit more high key.

Maryland is low key. So that's one thing about it is that it's just, it's just a nice place to be because people are, people are happy and they're relaxed and they're in a good mood. And there are so many vendors and the quality of the vendors is so high that I think it's really, it's worth at least one visit.

And it's free. They don't charge for parking. They don't charge for admission. It's the whole thing is put together by an amazing, amazing team of incredibly well-organized volunteers. And it's like a gift to the fiber community. So, I mean, they do ask for donations if you can afford to give them. And I can and I did because I think it's really, really great that they don't charge admission. So the quality of fleeces for sale is excellent, as you would expect at an event of this kind of size and magnitude. There were fleeces there all the way from California. In fact, the Merino fleece that I bought for Beth was from California. So it's a great place to look for fleeces, especially if you want some Coopworth or some Romney. And the venue's really really clean well really really well run i can't speak for the bathrooms actually because i didn't use them but you need to plan on long lines for food at lunchtime but.

Otherwise that you know the whole thing sort of runs like clockwork and so i think i think it's worth it's actually worth worth it it lives up to the hype Maryland lives up to the hype it's worth the visit. If you haven't been, yeah, give it a try once. And also, it's a beautiful time of year in Maryland, unless you hit a fluke day when it's 110 degrees as it was last year. But generally speaking, May in Maryland is a lovely time of year. So, the Maryland Sheep and Wolf Festival 2011.