Shepherd's Harvest = bust
I feel disappointed, but it's really quite silly. I didn't find enough to buy. See? Told you it was silly.
I ended up with two items (well, three, if you count the artisan sheep's milk cheese): Ashford hand carders and 4oz or so of handpainted merino roving.
I bought the hand carders because all of the wool that struck my fancy needed to be carded (though I'll be darned if I wash anything). Then I ran out of time to buy any of it, not that I could decide anyway, since I have no idea what to look for in a fleece.
It was super-extra-duper cold and rainy and I wish I'd kept plugging away on Forecast.
There were tons of knitter and spinner friends there, and it was delightful to run into them and chat a bit.
One thing that disappoints me about Shepherd's Harvest is the rusticness of it. I appreciate rustic yarn, but prefer it to be usable (see: Peace Fleece, Bartlett's). A lot of the stuff that you run into around here that's a farm's own processed fleece is heavy, greasy, rough, and not very appealing at all. I'm sure it has its use, but it's rare to find anything that's really unique and a bit more refined. It's very much a fiber festival, and not so much a yarn festival.
The only pictures we took were of the bunny agility demonstration. The bunnies were not too cooperative, but both eventually completed the course.
Something that makes me happy
I'm not sure why, but I am having a love affair with this sock, a toe-up, I'm-going-to-use-this-whole-skein-for-a-sock sock made from Lorna's Laces "Motherlode":
At the rate I'm going, I will have thigh highs, instead of my goal of knee highs. There's something really calming about good yarn on tiny needles doing simple stockinette.
Tipper @ 2:33 PM * link
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