Maryland Sheep & Wool Part 1

In order to get to the Maryland Sheep & Wool I had to leave my house after work and drive up to my parents' place 3.5 hours away. The general idea was that we'd leave around 4 or 5 am and Jackie would drive the five hours there while I slept. In reality I napped for about.. one hour. The rest of the drive was spent chattering excitedly about wool and spinning and knitting. Should have expected that, huh?

That left me in a short of hyper, underslept and over caffeinated state which is exactly the right state to be in if you want to spend all the money. We started strong, boys and girls, looking but not purchasing as we swept out from the entrance. We saw sheep and coo'd at them. We saw yarn and squeezed it. I studied roving but observed that I could dye what I saw myself. We visited The Merlin Tree booth and almost had a falling down. Merlin Tree is very, very clever and put out several of their wheels so people can try them. I spun happily for several minutes while Jackie arranged to have her Hitchhiker fixed and all thoughts of saving up for a Kromski Sonata escaped me.

Still, it wasn't until we found the Love Happiness Sangria booth that we got in trouble. They were selling lightly alcoholic, delicious sangria by the jug for $15. So we bought a jug, got a couple cups and a whack of ice, and proceeded to spend all the money. The first stop was The Homestead Hobbyist, an incredibly talented dyer I know from Ravelry. He'd done the dyeing for a spin-a-long I signed up for and when I got my fiber I just knew I'd been a jerk not to get some for Jackie.

*drool*

I'd gotten the two monster braids and asked around but Ken wasn't selling them at the Faire. D: Fortunately the lovely Lenora offered to bring her extra braid and sell it to me. Lenora is very kind - now Jackie and I have matching braids of some really luxury fiber to spin. She also bought two braids of Ken's Merman blend. He'd brought quite a few beautiful things but hadn't increased his price like every other vendor on site... making his amazing colours and exquisite fibers (yak! Mullberry silks! merino!) the most affordable thing at the fair. Seriously... he was selling merino-silk blends for less than some folks were selling junk felting wool.

Merman sparkle!

I bought 3.5 lbs of black merino from the fiber processing company Jackie likes and she picked up a whole whack of craft Romney for her dryer balls. She's making really pretty, useful things and has a shop down in Florida stocking them for her. I want her to make some for my Etsy shop but first she has to stop selling out instantly.

After dropping off our giant bags of wool, we got to the auction site just in time for the spinning and weaving tool auction to start. Whuff. We, uh. We bought everything. Okay, not *everything*, but we made a few key purchases. I bought an adorable Roadbug spinning wheel with one bobbin and a second bulky flyer and then later a bag of 5 bobbins to go with it. Jackie got an umbrella swift, a pre 1860s yarn weasel in really good shape, a Louet sized carrying bag, and... I feel like there was something else, but I can't think what.

The auction was very interesting. The auctioneer was engaging and professional as well as being a fiber artist herself. She generally knew exactly what the items were worth and got it out of us. The lower priced items went for much more than I expected - ball winders and shuttles were selling for crazy amounts as people got swept up in the bidding process. But the high priced items - spinning wheels, looms, and the like... they often sold for less than I'd expect.

There were a few exceptions - the auction had three pieces of Golding  equipment for sale and basically everyone was waiting for those. A ballwinder went for $550, a spinning wheel (!!!) for $2000, and a ring spindle for $150. The auctioneer said she'd never seen a single piece of Golding equipment up for sale in all her time and I believe it. These were exquisite pieces of craftsmanship and everyone knew it.

Of special interest to Jackie and me were two Country Craftsman spinning wheels. Jackie and I each have one and Jackie recently bought a second one that's missing a few parts (treadle and footman). We love our CC wheels passionately and we've been debating whether the spare is worth getting the missing parts turned... if we could sell it at a profit or what. The CC wheels at the auction went for very pleasing prices. There was an unfinished Franzek with stool, distaff, lazy kate, and six bobbins that went for $600. I had to chew on my auction number to keep from bidding on it myself - it had a jumbo flyer and all those bobbins. I've never seen one of those for sale.