MdS&W, the Report

Sheep & Wool was a blast, as always. Weather was beautiful, if a bit cool. I thought about bringing my fleece jacket out of the car but then decided walking around a sheep show wearing a jacket with the logo of a USDA agency on it might not be the best possible idea.

I forgot my camera, so no pictures of sheep. You will have to take my word for it that they were patted.

We did not find any sheep who spoke Poodle. We asked, but no luck. Several of the Jacobs seemed amenable to trying to learn Poodle, but we were concerned the horns might have a negative effect on the overal Poodle illusion.

The pygmy goats did not even seem amenable to learning Poodle. Which is a pity, because a pygmy Angora goat is just about the right size for a a suburban yard.

'Name that Pattern' is always a fun game. I spotted a variety of patterns I recognised, including Endpaper Mitts, at least one Swallowtail Shawl, and a lot of Clapotis. I mean, a lot of Clapotis. I may be the only knitter on the internet who hasn't made one yet. I sort of keep meaning to, but a great deal of the charm of Clapotis comes from the yarn, I think, and I haven't yet found the yarn that says to me 'I am meant to be a Clapotis. I am meant to be your Clapotis.'

I also saw a Marley's Ghost and I think saw a Clementine in a variegated yellow and green yarn. If I am right that it was a Clementine, then that's very appealing in variegated yarns. I have some Knitpicks Memories in Rocky Mountain Dusk (the grey-blue-purple-pink colourway) which I may redirect into a Clementine. I was trying to make a shawl from it and it just didn't take to that. Normally I'm not overbothered by pooling colours in variegated yarns, but as the shawl got bigger the lighter colours, especially the pinks, seemed to be ending up on one side of the shawl and not the other. Not good, so I ripped it all out. The structure of Clementine, however, might be better suited to the yarn.

As for shopping, as usual, there was an embarrassment of riches. This year seemed more crowded than last year, or maybe it was that the Viking was present and sticking close, so I didn't get to browse books as much as I would have liked. I would very much like to get a good long look at Victorian Lace Today and the new Interweave sock compilation.

As for what I bought, well:



Fiber Trend's Estonian Lullaby baby blanket pattern and two skeins of Mauch Chunky (60% New Zealand wool, 40% U.S. wool) in 'Juju Fruit.' Not exactly extravagant. No idea what I'll do with the yarn, but I loved the colour (violet heathered with shades of grey) and I'm sure I'll come up with something. As for the pattern, I have some yarns lying about which would work well as baby blankets, and I am a big fan of Fiber Trends patterns. They're so well-written, even complicated projects look straightforward.

I did also buy Maman some very beautiful handpainted yarn, as a Mother's Day present, but that doesn't count againt my personal yarn karma because I paid for it and handed it immediately to her. (She has a pattern in mind for it and unlike me finishes things fairly regularly, so no, I'm not contributing to the yarn delinquency of my mother).