Maryland Photo Essay

The first time I went to Maryland in 1999, everyone said, "Get in line for a t-shirt before you do anything else. Nancy and I got to the fairgrounds at a little after 8:00 am (offically the place opens at 9:00). We got a great parking space and moseyed on in. These are the people who lined up behind us - the line in front of us is just about as long. They aren't kidding - get in line for a t-shirt first thing!

I will show a picture of all the stuff I bought, but I wanted to let Jillian see it first. That way, she gets the thrill of the market. I do have other pictures for you though.

The parking lot is actually a farmer's field. We saw him cutting the last of his hay on Friday in order to get out of the way of all the cars. It looks impossibly big and I thought, "please, do we really need this much space?" Yes, yes we do. This was the parking lot when Nancy and I went to drop stuff at the car at approximately noon. There were still cars streaming in at that point.

My skills as an enabler are world renown. I can talk almost anyone into buying just about anything. When my friend Lynne was wavering about buying a Journey Wheel, I told her how wonderful they are to travel with, how easy they are to spin on, and how beautiful they are (she didn't need me to tell her that - she'd already seen them). She went to the Bosworths' booth and sat to spin and she really fell in love. She called me on my cell phone about an hour later and said, "Do you want to see it?" Here she is all loaded up to walk back to her car. That giant bump of fiber is for her Hands on Color Workshop at the Taos Wool Festival this October. If you're going to be in the area, I'd suggest you take her class. She's an amazing teacher. I'd be going if it weren't for this cursed graduate school!

These lovely women are Lynne, Dynese, and Ann. They also drove out to experience Maryland and doesn't it look like they had a good time? They had so much stuff in their car that they couldn't see out of the back window (that's stuff they bought - not their clothes and things they brought with them!). They asked Nancy and me to take some of their stuff back - they only gave us fleece. I don't think they trusted us with their combed fiber.


We drove past this sign for 3 days before I asked Nancy to stop so I could take a picture. Do the people of Maryland know how to name their roads or what? Right after I got out of the car, I heard giant "woofs" from across the road. There were 2 huge dogs eyeing me, so I snapped the picture quick and got back in the car.







Last, but certainly not least - here's the gem I brought home yesterday. This is my Sassy this morning giving it a go. I left the room to get the camera and I could hear the wheel going faster and faster. I said, "Hey! Slow it down in there!" She laughed and said, "Sorry, I just wanted to see how fast it would go." Fast, it goes very fast.