I meant to post last week, but I was too tired at the weekend and I started a new job this week! Anyway!

Last Saturday my mother and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival…oh. my. god. Wool EVERYWHERE! It was a little overwhelming actually! Considering how much yarn there was available to me, I feel like I didn’t buy very much. But what I did get is absolutely wonderful!

The first stand we stopped at to shop properly was Tess’ Yarns. Absolutely beautiful hand-dyed yarns at decent prices. I picked up one 660 yard skein of sport weight superwash wool with the intention of making long socks for the winter…it’s the squishiest, softest, most deeply coloured stuff…this picture does NOT do any justice to it whatsoever!

I tried getting this in several lights, and two different cameras and it still doesn’t come close! All this goodness for only $25. I was very impressed and would definitely be interested in ordering more from her!

Next major purchase was a much needed swift. This, so far, has been worth every penny!

I tried to capture some action shots of me actually using it, but I have decided against doing this!

Then there was much wandering and eating…and then we happened upon the Tilli Tomas stall. Wow…just wow. Tilli herself was running it, and she was a very pleasant woman to talk to! The best part of this was that she had the yarns waaaaaay marked down from what she has them on the website. So I was able to splurge!

First, Disco Lights in Lime Cream:

This will be some sort of open lacy shawl or some kind of shrug…I’m not normally a fan of shrugs, but I have some ideas on how to make it work.

And then, for pure luxury, Soie de la Mer in Siren’s Serenade:

Tilli gave me a pattern for her Vine Lace Scarf to use for this – I’d scan it if you could see any detail at all in the photo, but you really can’t see much. I’ll be sure to take pictures when I’m knitting it up!

All in all, it was a VERY successful trip! I would definitely go back next year, but with more suitable planning – read: squirreling away my money so that I actually don’t mind spending a bit more!

Watch this space for pictures of my progress on the Simple Knitted Bodice…I’m nearly to the point where the sleeves will be taken off the active stitches – exciting!