Fiber Friday - At Maryland Sheep & Wool

My mom and I left Friday morning for Maryland, stopped at every coffeeshop, ice cream booth and bathroom between here and there, and arrived 6 hours later in Frederick.
We failed to take a single picture in which we didn't look like death, so you'll just have to trust me - we had a great time! Frederick is such an adorable town, with a great range of shops. Our perennial favorite is Muse, where each got a little handmade book from YeeHaw Industries to use a trip journal. We enjoyed fantastic sandwiches at Cafe Nola, where the waitress was knitting and was also going to the Festival!

At the festival, we got down to goat picking:

Mom & a sweet Pygora

and farmer meeting,

These lovely Rambouillets belonged to Wit's End farm and produced this:

And shopping!

from the American Cormo Sheep Association, which had the nicest, most helpful lady farmers working!

Merino from Cloverleaf Farms

Socks that Rock, from The Fold

It was a fun, exhausting day, but I ended up with just what I wanted and needed! You'll be seeing that Rambouillet roving, dyed this week, in the next few days.

Maryland Sheep & Wool - at a glance

Click to see more info

These are just a few of my favorite photos from this year Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Tomorrow I'll be posting my own photos and acquisitions!

I'm off

..for the rest of the week; for a drive to Ohio, for coffe-sipping with Mom, for quilt-making, for a bridal shower, a bachelorette party, and and and...

Enjoy your weekend!

inspiration: Asheville

Every Monday I try to post a list of things I've found inspiring throughout the weekend, something to make Mondays a little more pleasant.
This Monday needed no help, since I took the day off and went to Asheville in search of art (Jay had a school project that involved writing about an exhibit).
We started with the Blue Spiral gallery, where we were completely mesmerized by the work of Kyoko Masutani (click any pictures to see bigger):


That's at least a hundred tiny shoes made entirely of...used teabags!

Most of her work was ink on paper or wood, intensely dense line drawings of repeating, organic patterns, layered on each other. I kept commenting that I was drawn to them like fabric and some of the pieces, from afar, looked like a pile of patterned paper or fabrics, collaged on top of one another.

This sort of obsession with detail and tiny little lines is the stuff I'm made of. There's such a...fantasy and organic quality that reminds me of smurfs. I'm no art critic, but this stuff just overwhelms me with happiness.

The happiness kept coming with a lunch at Early Girl Eatery, grilled asparagus salad (newly in season!) with local goat cheese and creamy sweet potato soup. The perfect lunch for hiking all over Asheville. Next we hit Chocolate Fetish and I carried my truffle and chocolate-covered fig to Malaprops,

my very favorite bookstore in the entire world. I enjoyed the truffle with a coconut mocha while appreciating the coffee art.

We dawdled there, talking books and green architecture and found some books that I'm hoping I get from the library, on sustainable farming and self-sufficiency.
Next up was Earth Guild, as I had some supplies to pick up for the Boutique and well, I can never pass by this behemoth of crafting. Hours passed as we browsed books, I dithered over dyes and we chatted with the very crafty, very hippy employees. I love that place.
Before going home, we grabbed a Thai dinner at ...oh, I can't remember the name of it OR find it on any maps...it was Dr. ____, a Thai restaurant on Biltmore Ave....and a cupcake at The Sistster's McMullin

All in all, a lovely day trip!

Monday Inspiration #4

Ok, so it's not still Monday..but here's my weekly round-up, inspired by my trip to Boone, NC. If you're ever in Boone or Blowing Rock, these are the places you should check out (I'll be adding pictures later today)
Espresso News: Good coffee that is roasted on site, fantastic truffles, cozy/grungy atmosphere with 3 walls of floor to ceiling windows and loads of magazines and newspapers to read whilst lounging. There's a used bookstore upstairs, but we didn't check it out. On a brisk, sunny day (like Saturday was), I could spend hours soaking up the sunshine in the warm/coffee drenched air.
Cha-Da Thai: we've only had Thai food one other time (which is crazy, since we're vegetarians) and it didn't impress us. This place turned it all around. The dishes were complex and totally satisfying. Although we both had brown sauces, Jay's had chilis in it while mine was sweeter and they tasted completely different. Ah-mazing! The restaurant also has a definate 'vibe' going on with tapestries, gilded chandeliers...so much that you wouldn't think $14 would cover both lunches!

Laura's Yarn-tastic: Cheesy name, amazing shop! It truly was a fantastic experience as the employee (not Laura) was friendly, knowledgeable and FUNNY! Even my husband had a great time talking with her about men's knitwear fashion. I found some locally dyed yarn (always a bonus!) - Miss Babs handpainted yarn. I got the Rose Garden colorway, in sock yarn...which isn't really me at all, that's how much I loved this place and wanted to buy something! Oh and for selection: they had all of the Rowan yarns, including the new organic, naturally dyed cotton; a big selection of Noro; Brown Sheep; Arcaunia; SWTC; and much more!