MDSW 2015: Plum Crazy

 I made it but it wasn't easy.

We didn't get there until about 2 so we were exiled to the overflow lot. It was a long walk to the fairgrounds. Very long.

The place was all decked out. The yarnbombers had been out in full force.

This year they were handing out the festival guides while gently asking for $5 donations. That's a deal. The festival was bigger and better than ever. I would have needed two whole days to take it all in. Next year.

The first place we went was to see the critters. It was a warm day. The poor woolly things looked miserable. I hate to see sheep panting.

It was too warm for my handknit socks or my shawl. The Mister wore the shawl and got lots of compliments. Next year I'll make him one. Ha.

My first purchase was food and drink. I had been in the ice rink all morning and I was starving.

 Next we took a stroll through the main exhibit hall and the barns. Somewhere along the way we saw this shiny metal spinning wheel. How crazy is that? I also have to confess I spent more time looking at handmade soap than I did yarn. The yarn mojo just wasn't with me this year. It was too warm.

New to the fest were the buffalo folks. I'd love to have brought some of their fiber home but I would have needed a home equity loan. Pretty but pricey.

 Then we headed up the hill to the garment and skein competition. This shawl won best in show. How gorgeous is this?

The teacher in me always gets a kick out of the poster competition. Don't you just love that sheep?

The Mister is fascinated by the auction. He wanted to bid on something this year but it's out of our league. You've got to know what you are doing. We don't so we just watched in awe. It was quite a show.

All the way to the fairgrounds, on our long walk, I promised The Mister I wouldn't buy anything I couldn't carry around because there was no question of going back to the car. Then I made the mistake of peeking into the empty fleece sale. Look at all those orphan bags of fluff waiting sadly for their furever home.

Yep. That's The Mister heading up the hill on the long walk to the car hauling 5.5 pounds of Texel on his back. I've never worked with Texel before so it's going to be this year's TdF adventure.

Texel is not particularly soft wool but it looks like it's going to be fun to wash.

The walk wasn't all bad. We were on some kind of trail by the spooky farm museum that's across the road.

Here is an artful pose of my basket of goodies and the shawl I slaved to finish in time then never wore.

 What I wanted and walked my legs off to find was some plum colored fiber. This will be next year's shawl. I was all jazzed up about the early morning birth of the new princess so I had pink on my mind and this is as close to pink as I want to get.

 Then for some inexplicable reason I bought some Malabrigo sock yarn in these dark, dreary colors. It seemed like a good idea at the time but next to the socks I made from last year's sock yarn haul I have to wonder what I was thinking. I could have done better.

 On the long way home I began to spin for next year's shawl. It seems like a long way away.