Countdown to Maryland Sheep and Wool!!!

As a knitter living in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., nothing (um, not many things) thrills me more than the anticipation leading up to the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The MD Sheep and Wool is the largest fiber festival in the eastern U.S. On the first weekend in May each year vendors, farmers and crafts people all gather at the Howard County Fairgrounds and collectively celebrate our love for all things related to wool (and other fibers), knitting, spinning, crochet and other fiber-related crafty pursuits. This will be my sixth consecutive year of attending this festival. Obsessed knitter and yarn addict that I am, these are my high holy days--especially because the fest usually ends up being on my birthday--as it is this year. I am already squirreling away some cash so that I will be able to buy some new yarn. I need to go through my queue in ravelry.com to see which projects I will look for yarn for.

One of my favorite parts of my annual pilgrimage to the festival is the impromptu picnic lunch that we have on the lawn. A group of us local D.C. knitters usually all meet together at that spot and eat our lunches, rest form the morning's excitement and show and share the purchases we've made, and plan our strategy for going after the other items on our 'must have' lists.

Last year I attended the Ravelry and met up with a bunch of peeps that I've only ever corresponded with online. Cici took pics and you can see them on her blog.

I live a pretty chilled-out life that's largely devoid of excitement, but I am excited about driving up to Howard county, getting stuck in the looooong line of traffic, hanging out with my peeps--and oh yeah, buying lots and lots of yarn. See you there!