I knit this much sock on the way to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend:



I went, I oohed and ahhed, I met Ravelers (Hi Knifty!), I photographed alpacas and sheep and goats and llamas and blurry sheepdogs (they certainly must have been blurry, because it could not have been my photo skills - they must just blur naturally). All of those photos are at my non-knitting flickr page, but here's my favorite:



I also got this:



And this:



And, er, this:



Oops.

I went with a small budget of cash and a determination not to buy something I could just order online, like Handmaiden or Socks that Rock or whatever...much as I'd like to have some of that. I wanted something unique to the festival.

Only one problem with that - well, two. First of all, you can get just about anything on the web these days. The second problem is...I'm spoiled. I want the soft stuff. I'm not going to knit with something "hearty" just so I can appreciate its unique and rustic roots. Ick. So, I sort of compromised. I bought my sock yarn at Cloverfield, which is based out of Baltimore. I will likely never go there and to the best of my knowledge the stuff that I bought is not available at any of my LYS's ("local" is a deceptive term in my case - most of them are in Alexandria which, while not that far, is a pain to get to and even worse to park in). I can get both C*EYE*BER Fibers and Spritely Goods online, but I would not have thought to do so if I hadn't seen it and touched it myself (unless the Yarn Harlot or some other famous blogger mentioned it - I am a sucker for recommendations) - so, I expanded my horizons and I am looking forward to knitting two pairs of snazzy socks to remind me of the festival. Also, I bought wool, and while that seems like a small thing, I cannot tell you how wrong it felt to be at the Sheep and Wool festival and be fondling cashmere (I wish I had bought that too, though, I thought the price was really pretty reasonable considering, you know, CASHMERE).