As I said in my last post, I definitely wanted to buy BrooksFarm and Tess at Maryland and they were the first booths I hit!

At the Tess booth I picked up two skeins of her SuperSocks and Baby yarn in a colorway I can't find on her website. It is a range of warm brown. This will be a manly baby sweater for Simon hopefully in her baby cardigan pattern.

Brooks Farm is always my favorite booth, and this year I was drawn to a different color palette. I usually am attracted to their blue/brown combinations but this year I got some reds and a neutral.

This is their Acero in a red colorway:

And here is FourPlay in a neutral and grey olorway:

I'm thinking a wide scarf or shawl in the Fourplay, since it lies so flat as a fabric. I'm not sure what to do with the Acero, but it's a fingering weight yarn, so I'm thinking some lacework will be in order.

I also picked up some natural Alpaca from Misty Mountailn Farms. I was going to make Mr. Lug a scarf and mittens or a hat out of this. It's so soft and a really manly natural color:

I feel I was fairly conservative in my purchases, but really got exactly what I wanted.

In other knitting news I finished my Tess Microfiber Ribbon tanktop and it only took me 2 years! I had actually completed the entire body a while back, but had to finish crocheting the straps. It turned out better and the fit isn't half bad. Pics of that up next!

Posted by jen at 08:40 PM |Comments (3)

All week I told people that I was trying to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool. Most people I talked to gave me that pleasant smile and "Oh, that sounds nice" that they would've given me if I said I was going to a comic book convention or a fish and tackle expo. Then I explained one thing to them that was universally appealing.

The ribbon chips.

Freshly-fried, thin-cut potatoes with sour cream, cheese, chives and jalepenos. Not for the faint of heart, or the waist watcher. A plate full of deliciousness. Everyone seemed to understand why I would travel to Maryland for a plate of those!

Not everyone understood how excited I'd be to run into old bloggy friends like these ladies:

Anne Marie and Lara

I was so glad to run into those two, Carrie, Lolly, Jess, Maya, Sarah, and Sarah (go team mommies). I didn't get to see anyone for too long, since I wasn't staying over this year, but I did get to say hello and talk to everyone for a few minutes and wander with people. If I saw you, and I lost you in the crowd and didn't say goodbye, I'm sorry! I had fun seeing you!

My sister-in-law Pat came down for the trip with me and we had a good time walking around, reconnecting with people and, of course, shopping. I'll post the haul soon - I was fairly conservative, hitting up the essentials (for me) of Tess and Brooks Farm.

I had a really great time, the weather was beautiful and the trip seems to have given me some knitting mojo back. I pulled this project out of the stash and decided to finish it! I feel that my trip to MD and running into other knit mommies should prove that there is life after baby! So go ahead and get yourself a baby. Ok, maybe that's not such a good idea for everyone, but it's just a thought.

Posted by jen at 09:02 PM |Comments (9)

Does anyone remember this from Perfect Strangers?

Well for me it's Maryland Sheep and Wool or Burst.

I'm (hopefully) heading down to MDS&W on Saturday with my SIL lfor some yarn-buying, alpaca-petting, potato-ribbon-eating, bloggy-friend-reuniting, fun times.

I am really excited to go and fondle the Brook's Farm and Tess yarns. It's crazy to think that I was at MDS&W having a hella good time with some great people two years ago and how much has happened since then. At that time I was probably blogging multiple times a week and had many knitting projects going on at once. I felt really connected to the whole knit blogging community (although there were many people at the MDS&W blogger meet-up that I didn't know). Since then I've blogged less and noticed that some of the same people I hung out with at MDS&W have also slowed down their postings - some having babies, some getting married, and some just plain busy! It makes me think we're all on some kind of blogging cycle.

It's been an effort to post for me, but I've been getting more and more free time on a regular basis now that Baby Lug is 1 and things are a little less crazy.We (read Mr Lug) are working on converting to WordPress soon, which is exciting for me since I've been on here with this same site design for a few years. Look for a recap on Baby Lug's first birthday party as well as a general update over the next few days...

See you in MD!

Posted by jen at 10:15 PM |Comments (5)