2005-05-09 - 8:50 a.m.
Sheep and Fool
Going to Crown was like not going to an event, but dressing up in weird clothes to go to a scout camp. Sorry - it just really wasn't like an event for me. I judged stuff, which was my sole reason for going (I don't normally go to Crown, I go to the Sheep & Wool Festival), and I hung out a little with Elspet, which is always fun, and I showed off my freshly dyed hair, which Alan pointed out could probably be seen from space. I likes me my bright red hair, I does. I also likes me some new pottery bowls, and I was dragging people to that particular merchant all day, persuading them to buy things I wanted to buy but really had no need for (and Bob really will sigh at me if I bring home yet *another* mug, no matter how neat). I got two bowls, and very nice they are, too. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sunday was the Sheep and Wool Festival in Howard County Fairgrounds. I always like this thing, but I tend to avoid various SCA people I see - don't ask me why, but I like to separate out my activities. I went with Gen, but that's different, since she's a close friend. No, it's more the casual acquaintances, and the slightly uncomfortable feeling that you want to carry on shopping and looking at stuff, but you don't really know how to end the conversation. I think the SCA ultimatum that you *have* to include everyone in your activities sort of spills over - you kind of feel like you should ask the other person to join you, but neither of you want that (otherwise you'd have arranged to go together in the first place), and in past years I've run into a group of people I know who obviously got a group together to go, and didn't ask me, and now they feel uncomfortable because here they all are in a group, and there I am, on my own. I always want to say "It's okay!! I *want* to shop on my own! I hate shopping in a large group, because everyone takes forever, and I start to understand why children get that whiny tone in their voice when their parent is spending *forever* in one stall, and really, how different is one hank of wool from another?!". But I don't. Rest assured, I'm a solitary mammal, and I like shopping in small groups of one or maybe two. Three is really my limit for companionship, especially in a large crowded place where it's easy to lose people. Anyway. I had a good time - Gen is a good shopping partner, and very informative about fiber, which is something that I know next to nothing about, having never really had much of a desire to learn. I do stuff *with* fibers, not *to* them; as long as it behaves well and looks nice, I'm okay with it. I got a good lesson on different kinds of drop spinning, though. The delightful thing about the MDS&WF is that it's not just about wool and sheep - there were plenty of crafters with nice things (I got a little ceramic hedgehog pin), and while both Gen and I are allergy sensitive to things in random places, most of the booths were pretty safe (except for the one where there was something very strong-smelling - turmeric, I think - and Gen had to beat a hasty retreat), and I only got a mild case of itchies, and Gen was only sneezing every three minutes or so. We got knitting needles, a big long hank (500 yards) of mohair yarn each (mine was pale coral, hers was rose), wool, random spinning stuff, a really cute felted wool bunny with black bead eyes, and the most *amazingly* soft merino wool muff that I ran back and got at the end, because it was soooooo sooooofft (I couldn't stop running my hands over it). We also bought socks. Wool socks. Hand-kitted wool socks that are simply the cutest socks ever, and mine fit *perfectly*. I have never had wool socks where the heel actually sits where the heel should be, and I'm deeply in love with my pink and grey knitted wool socks. After I bought the muff, I said to Gen "As God is my witness, I'll never be cold at Ymir again!". Heh. We told Bob about our treasures when Gen dropped me off at home, and I spent the evening tormenting Bob with the little bunny, because he said it was staring at him. I came out from the kitchen at one point, and the bunny was trapped inside an upended wine glass, looking mournfully at me. It's now sitting on my bedside table, but it's possible that it could develop a complete love-affair with Bob, and follow him around everywhere. Staring. Heh.
Dorsal - Ventral
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