MDSW 2016 Part 1

The alarm went off at 6 am yesterday morning and I jumped out of bed and hit the ground running. I had someplace to be.

 It took me about an hour and a half to make the drive up to the Howard County Fairgrounds. I thought I was outsmarting the crowd but oh, no. Everyone else must have thought the same thing because at 8:30 the traffic was horrific and the parking lot was already almost full.

 It was a grim spectacle. We have had two weeks of rain and it took it's toll on the outside vendors.

I had vertigo from sinking into so many mud holes while trying to shop. The booths were sinking.

That's the line for Miss Babs and yes, I am standing at the end of it. It took me 50 minutes to pay for my one skein of sock yarn. I did have fun commiserating with my fellow linemates. We had to be crazy to stand in a line that wrapped around the building-in the cold drizzle.

At first the main hall looked like this. Not bad. When I got back in after paying for my yarn it was elbow to elbow. Not good.

 To escape the crowd I went to the garment and skein competition exhibit. I was underwhelmed this year. I did like this mini sweater though.

I also liked this kid's poster contest winner. It was captioned "wool is fun!". It is, isn't it?

 I kept seeing herds of ladies with sheep ears. Then I learned why. For $40 you too can join the herd with these crazy cute headbands. Baaaah....

 Outhouse selfie! It's my favorite part of the fest. No lines. No waiting.

 Lunch.

I ate my pretzel while watching the sheepdogs do their thing.

 I spent so much time looking at the fleeces that three different people thought I worked there and asked me questions about fiber that I couldn't answer.

 I couldn't find anything that I wanted but I did find more of Finley. He's the lovely little fleece I bought last year that I am washing and spinning now.

 The stitch marker swap went well.

I brought 40 packs with me and came home with only 8.

I ended up with a handful and then some.

I got my badge....

...and a snowcone. Rootbeer.

 My last stop was to pick up something green for The Mister. He sat it out this year but gave me a fistfull of cash to spend so I wanted to bring him back something. He really wanted a lamb burger but I'm not going there.

Back in the car I took stock of what I bought and spun a tiny bit of the fiber for next year's shawl before hitting the road. I'll show you what I bought tomorrow.