Last year around this time I started seeing a buzz on all the knit blogs about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Knitters had traveled across the country to pet sheep and gorge on yarn and festival food. It kind of occurred to me that it might make for a fun girls’ trip someday.
Well, last Friday Jamy and I packed our bags and hopped a plane out of Austin, headed for West Friendship, Maryland. After a very bumpy flight to Detriot and an extra hour sitting on the next plane waiting for the bad weather to clear, we finally arrived in Baltimore. We picked up our rental car (a VW Beetle, a.k.a The Girl Mobile) and headed to the Columbia Sheraton, where we were staying.
The hotel was a funny one — it looked like the original building had at some point gobbled up the buildings surrounding it, resulting in a hodgepodgey summer-camp warren of wings. All that mattered, though, was that our room was clean and the beds were comfy!
Dinner that night was at the Iron Bridge Wine Company, about 10 minutes from the hotel, where we had flights of Shiraz, two tapenades (the tomato one was awesome), Cioppino, pizza, creme brulee, and lemon tart. Back at the hotel, I didn’t even make it through the movie we rented. I crashed out immediately.
Saturday we set out early for the festival. Driving through Maryland is gorgeous. The fairgrounds are surrounded by the most charming farm houses, and that early in the morning a little fog had settled in between the hills. I almost decided to move to Maryland, but Jamy reminded me that they have the dreaded “winter” there. *Shudder.*
We got to the festival as it was opening. It was already a little crazy, and it only got more crowded as the day wore on. The number of great yarn vendors was amazing, though, and it was easy to see that the trip would be worth it. We shopped for a while before settling down for a lunch of gyros and ribbon chips, which were thin spiral-cut ribbons of potatoes fried into chips and then covered in nacho cheese, sour cream, chives, and ketchup. Yum!
Mid-afternoon I had what, after reading the Ravelry message boards, sounds like a classic first-timer experience. I realized that I hadn’t bought much, panicked a little, and bought a whole bunch of stuff all at once. Looking back, it’s all very pretty yarn, but I wasn’t very focused in my shopping and now will have to plan projects for the yarn I got, instead of buying yarn for projects I already was planning on doing. Jamy, on the other hand, was shopping off of her Ravelry queue print-out and was much smarter in her purchases.
My big score of the day, though, was a pattern and four skeins of white cashmere destined to be my wedding shawl. It was the one project that I really wanted to shop for, and I succeeded.
The other thing I really was looking forward to at the festival was the working sheepdog exhibition, which was fantastic. We got to see several border collies, ranging from 1 year to 12 years, each guide three sheep to do certain tasks. One dog would drive the sheep down the field, one would bring them back, and at the end, one of the dogs encouraged the three sheep through a funnel and over a little bridge, which is something that they really did NOT want to do.
After wearing ourselves out at the festival, we grabbed dinner at Sushi Sono, which was a quick walk from the hotel. We realized on the way back that both the hotel and the restaurant sit beside Lake Kittamaqundi, and there’s a lovely walking path along the edge of the lake.
That night Ravelry threw a big party for its users, which was fun even though Jamy and I are both totally shy when thrown into a big group like that. We had wine and knitted and made a few new friends, and Jamy left the party with an awesome door prize from Webs — a pattern and enough burgundy yarn to knit a really cute sweater.
We headed back to the festival on Sunday and found much smaller crowds and a more calm, enjoyable experience. We bought yarn at Brooks Farm and at Tess Designer Yarn, two of the must-see vendors at the festival.
We walked through the sheep barns again, stopping to take pictures and coo at the animals, and we met a charming gentleman named Jim Robison. Mr. Robison introduced us to his Jacobs Sheep lambs, one of whom was born with five horns. We got to take pictures with the special lamb, and then Mr. Robison walked us over to the neighboring barn where we met the lamb’s mother, the 2007 New Jersey State Fair Grand Champion Jacobs Ewe. Our visit with the Jacobs sheep and Mr. Robison was truly one of the highlights of our trip.
For lunch we headed to downtown Frederick, a 50-block historic district packed with shops, restaurants, and gorgeous architecture. We ate at Acacia Fusion Bistro and wandered around being tourists.
Sunday evening we drove into Baltimore where we met my aunt, uncle, and cousin at Philips Seafood, where we all dined on crab cakes in front of a gorgeous view of the harbor. I’d been waiting all weekend to have some Maryland crab cakes, and coupled with getting to see family that I love and haven’t seen in years, it was a real treat.
I had SUCH a great time on the trip, and I really hope we get to do it again sometime. (Did I hear someone say Rhinebeck?)
- Thursday, May 15
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