Yesterday I managed to convince Rudi that he really wanted to head north to West Friendship, Maryland, with me so he could ride his bike while I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

It was a beautiful day — about 75 degrees with blue skies for a drive through the countryside. We arrived just after 3, leaving me with two hours to wander before the festival closed.

The festival is two-pronged. The first part is for producers — people who raise sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and angora rabbits. There are competitions and vendors who sell farm implements and things of that ilk. The other part is for consumers — those of us who use the producers’ goods.

I wandered first through some farmers’ booths, admiring walking sticks and handmade knitting needles, as well as a soft sheep and some humungous (and very friendly) angora bunnies.

Then past a competition of children with their sheep and woolen goods up to the alpacas and llamas. We strolled through a barn of sheep and into a couple of exhibit halls before Rudi decided to leave for his bike ride.

I strolled leisurely through the rest of the exhibition halls, feeling a vast variety of yarns and looking for something specific to finish a project I’m working on. I didn’t find it, but I did find:

Homemade lemonade

Giant eclairs (at a cutrate deal — 2 for $5)

A woolen ball for the cats to play with (it should be noted here that I debated this purchase for a while because I wasn’t sure whether it was good to encourage the cats to play with something made of the same material I make things out of, but clearly Posey (seen below) and Jeremiah feel I made the right decision.)

Size 35 needles for a shawl knit of the beautiful mohair Mum gave me for Christmas (The needles are 14″ long, I think, and wider than my fingers. They have fun lavender with polka dots balls on the top and are made by hand from poplar.)

500 yards of gorgeous apricot mohair/fine wool blend yarn (The current plan is to make a Christmas present from it, but I don’t swear I won’t keep it for myself.)

I headed south through rolling hills to Wheaton, where I finally caught up with Rudi after his bike ride. Both of us had a jolly time and the plan for next year is to bring both bikes and arrive earlier in order to make a day of it.