the Village Knittiot

Maryland is a mere five days away and it looks like things are going to be quite busy this week. I prefer being busy, since it will almost guarantee that the hours and days leading up to Saturday don’t stretch on endlessly.

My charming husband has decided to accompany me in order to play the role of my id — which sadly seems to be lacking (or locked up somewhere) when it comes to making purchases. In truth, I just have a hard time making decisions in general and tend to get overwhelmed easy. So I’m bringing a grounding element with me. Perhaps he’ll find some fibers that he feels compelled to have as well. Mr. Knittiot hasn’t been crocheting much lately, but there is nothing like a fiber festival to get you in the mood.

Despite the sleep deprivation on Saturday night that came courtesy of a very inconsiderate and obnoxious neighbor who has a stereo system that I would like to smash into a million little pieces with a very large hammer, it was a lovely weekend. Good time with friends and lots of knitting and fibery accomplishments.

Since this is going to be my first trip to Maryland, I am doing a little prep work. On the subject of this particular festival, I have received some excellent advice from my fellow knitters and Maryland veterans. It has all pretty much been the same — you will be overwhelmed by the magnitude. Without question. This usually serves to make me positively giddy with anticipation. Even so, me and the being overwhelmed, we are good friends (you know, in the way that mortal enemies are) and we go way back. So this week I intend to give some thought as to what it is I am looking for at Maryland, with the full and total understanding that if I want to chuck it out the window the second I step onto the fairgrounds, that is perfectly acceptable.

After much swooning over Juno’s amazing finds, I am contemplating fleeces. With my upcoming Summer of Knitting Naturally, you don’t get much closer to the source than that. I am also going to be on the lookout for farms that are more local to my neck of the woods — not necessarily for purchase at the festival, but for later use — and also operations that are using organic methods to care for their flocks. I also want to try out a number of different spinning wheels. I won’t be in the market for a new one for a good year, I bet, but when it comes time to buy, I want to have a much better idea of what I am doing than I did the first time around.

I want to find some Socks That Rock, because working with this yarn has been one of those distinct pleasures that I want to repeat again and again, and I am one of those people who just likes to see the colors in person. Definitely need some undyed fibers for this summer’s experiments in plant-based dying. And I’m highly curious about soy silk, bamboo, hemp and other plant fibers for spinning, so I may have to grab a little of each of those as well for experimentation purposes. If I can manage to find anyone with information on using plant dyes or who sells plant-dyed yarns, you can bet I will be hitting those booths.

Every year at Rhinebeck I start out with a small notebook and a pen in my hands and the intention of taking detailed notes to help me remember the various suppliers and what they offer that I like so much. By the time we get halfway through the second barn, I have usually abandoned them and entered that trance-like state in which I am mesmerized by everything I see. It doesn’t typically wear off until we are safely back at home and I realize I can’t remember anything I thought I would. I vow to take better notes next year and the pattern repeats itself. I want to avoid that cycle at Maryland. I’m not sure this is a very realistic goal, but perhaps if I gave myself permission to only jot down notes when something was really, really amazing or fit in with some of my above stated goals… Or maybe, I should just relax and enjoy my day. Hmmm. What a novel concept. Have I mentioned I’m a very goal-oriented person?

The Kiri Shawl, or as mine has come to be known — Ruby Joy, continues to progress. I honestly have never been happier working on anything as I am this. It is beyond beautiful. Needless to say, I will be working with Alchemy yarns again, there is simply no question of it. I have refrained from stating out loud that I am trying to finish this before Maryland, because I didn’t want the accompanying sense of pressure and/or failure. However, thanks to yesterday’s progress, a sweetie who will be working the next several evenings and Smallville and The L Word on DVD, I think we can safely commit to blocking by Thursday evening or Friday morning. But I am not making any promises. I will be at Maryland on Saturday, with or without the shawl and either way is just fine with me.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 1st, 2006 at 7:48 am and is filed under Summer of Knitting Naturally, this Knittiot Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.