Solitude to Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, May 7th and 8th
Big week!
Last Thursday Solitude Wool was reviewed by Clara Parkes from The Knitter’s Review. And it was a very complimentary review too. We were thrilled and then busy filling orders…from the new shopping cart. That was great fun. Thank you to The Knitter’s Review and a hand shake and a “pleased to meet you” to those folks who signed up for this email because of it.
From one excitement on to the next; it’s almost here: the 38th annual Maryland Sheep Wool & Wool Festival. It is this weekend, May 7th and 8th at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland. Admission is free and there are so many different kinds of sheep, shearing exhibitions, talks, fleece sale, auctions, vendors, a yurt— just everything. It is a pretty easy drive from DC or Baltimore. If you don’t like crowds, I recommend coming Sunday. You will actually get to talk to vendors then and it is much more relaxed. And on Sunday you can see the sheep to shawl competition.
This year there is a new special event book signing on Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Two of the authors we know personally…Andrea Price who wrote Knitspeak: an A-Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns…(which we sell pre-autographed in case the line is too long. Andrea is a Dupont Farmer’s Market customer…and designed a market vest with our Corriedale Cross yarn, and you can get her pattern from us as well. And Deb Robson (along with Carol Ekarius) who wrote (and hand spun samples of all the different breeds of wool) the new book: The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. We are dying to see this! We met Deb three years ago at MD S&W and have been e-corresponding since. This is a book we have been anticipating!
If you come…you had better come by the Solitude stand and say “hey.” We are located in the Outside North Vendors area…across Midway Blvd from the Yurt. And if you do come Saturday morning (ohhh, just come both days and take the pressure off!) you can see Sue Bundy show her Karakul sheep at the Show Ring. Their farm is RedGate and their sheep will be in Barn 1. But of course you can come see Sue at our stand when the show is over.
We are working to finish up all the new things we want to bring to the Festival this weekend. Here is some of it:
a new kit for bottle insulators. Very simple! Very effective at keeping hot things hot and cold things cold. Wool is a super fiber…especially Karakul wool.
and several more new sock kits in the Dorset yarn.
Hope you can come, and I’d better get back to preparation!
Thanks,
Gretchen