Wool Gathering, and gathering wool

I , very briefly, met up with a friend while at Wool Gathering.  We each had our own things we wanted to look at, so mostly it was "hi" and "see you", but she asked what I was planning on buying while there.  To be honest I only had one planned purchase and it was very vague.....yarn that reminds me of sunflowers.  I didn't find that, but I did find a few other things!

I have told you before about watching the sheep shearing, this time The Other Brother peppered the shearer with questions about how the sheep felt about the situation.  "Is it uncomfortable for the sheep to be held that way?  What happens when you don't have them positioned just right?"  I still find it amazing that with all the advances we have in technology that every scrap of wool, in every country, every knitters stash, on every persons back, was sheared by someone just like the man we watched today.  TOB was also fascinated with the old time circular knitting machine that was being used in one of the tents, and asked lots of questions about where she found the machine, who taught her and what kinds of yarn could be used on it.

We did follow my plan of checking out all the vendors first, without making any purchases, and then after fueling the pack mules, making my final selections.

The kids did make several of the vendors, and patrons, laugh while I was making my purchases!

The Other Brother suggested that I buy him some sock yarn.

Me : "Why do you want sock yarn, TOB?"
TOB : "To knit you socks for Christmas...well maybe your birthday next summer.....I am sure I will be finished making them by the Christmas after that!"

He settled for a yarn from Fiber Optic, only the best for his mother's socks, he picked a cashmere blend!

Then The Drama Queen......

TDQ "You sure are picking out a lot of yarns"  when I had several different colorways in my hand to wander outside with to look at in real light (lighting in the tents as you might notice from the pictures is not the best!"
Me: "Well, I stuck to my yarn diet pretty close this year, now I get to eat off the dessert menu, right?"  (I am pretty sure I got a discount on the yarn for that comment!)

And, finally once the pack mules had dragged my purchases back to the car, while eating their reward ice-cream.......

The First Brother : "If we eat anything other than just veggies for dinner, we are plain crazy!  This is the most unhealthy I have eaten all year!"
TOB : "I don't think I even want to think about eating dinner at all!"
TDQ : "Mom, can we cancel dinner tonight?" crunching on the waffle cone that is all that is left of a two (very large) scoop ice cream cone. "And maybe tomorrow too!"

Some very nice things did come home with us, and I stayed well under my planned budget, but even with those dollars to go back into my yarn budget, now to start saving again for next years event!

Much to TDQ's disappointment, all the livestock at Wool Gathering, stayed at Wool Gathering, and to my disappointment so did all the spinning wheels, roving, batts and looms!

But, I am happy to say, TDQ did run off with her yarn purchase after I took that last photo, and was last seen in the living room like this :

Yep, if you look really closely you can see knitting needles in her hand!  I might have to get a door and a big lock for my stash room sooner than I thought!

~M