Festivities

Massachusetts is not a large state, but it is a wide one, and Mass Sheep and Wool is on the other side of the state from here, two+ hours away. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and I was in good company with the other Stinkers - the Crafter, the Pirate and (still-blogless) Jess. Incidentally, the group nickname had its origin in the Pirate's boyfriend mangling of S 'n B into "Stinky Bitches", which we then adopted as our own. We find this charming.

Given the length of the ride, it only made sense to stop at Webs on the way. To, you know, stretch our legs during the long car drive. Amazingly enough, I managed to remain 100% tweed free despite considerable temptations in the tweed department (this may have had something to do with the stern cries of "NO TWEED!" from the other Stinkers). I was also practically assaulted by a Louisa Harding wool-silk blend in a delicious chocolate brown, but it was quite a lot more expensive than I wanted it to be, even at Webs prices. I prevailed.

That's not to say I didn't buy anything. I had acquired a respectable but not excessive amount of yarn, when I spotted a sample sweater knit up in a teal-blue-green Berroco Ultra Alpaca that was, quite literally, jaw-droppingly beautiful. The pattern was a nice-enough v-neck pullover, but it was really all about the yarn...



I've made socks out of this yarn, and I periodically visit Windsor Button's wall of Ultra Alpaca to marvel at the subtle, gorgeous colors. It's probably my favorite solid-colored non-sock yarn. And now it's mine.

Mass Sheep and Wool, the main event of the day, did have some very lovely things, though I found it rather more spinning-focused than finished yarn focused. That was ok with Jenny...



And I still managed to find a little something...



The dark pink is three skeins of mystery wool-mohair yarn (I'm cursing myself for not getting a card from the owner because this stuff is gorgeous), and was part of the Callisto shawl kit. I saw Callisto in the first barn and kept coming back to pet it, try it on, etc. It's lacy, but not really lace and is 100% lace-knitting-symbol free. Hurrah!

Plus, there were sheep that looked like this...



And as always, no festival would be complete without food. If anything, this festival food was even more exciting than at the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival.

In particular, Mass Sheep and Wool had Taco in a Bag.



This epicurean delight consists of a snack bag of chips with sauteed ground beef, shredded lettuce, cheese and sour cream thrown on top. Thriftily, the whole thing is eaten straight from the snack bag. Brilliant, efficient and delicious. And almost endlessly funny. Don't believe me? Sing "taco in a bag" to the tune of the infamous SNL short "D*ck in a Box" and I'm sure you'll agree.

Sunshine, yarn, and a gang of ladies with an equally juvenile sense of humor? It really doesn't get much better than that... Thanks ladies for such a fantastic day - I haven't laughed that much in ages!