My Husband Made Me Do It

I swear, I went to Cummington, aka the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair, with a List.  There were three things on that list and I did not want to get another fleece.  (Stop laughing....I know who you are and where you live.)  I was going to pick up some roving I had ordered from Barb Parry, get a kit for Susan Lawrence's new Beach Glass shawl from Judy at Ball and Skein, and then stop by Buckwheat Bridge Angoras' booth to see if Sara had found any more of the roving I'd bought from them in New Hampshire.  That's IT.  No fleece, unh, uh, no way, no how.  Yes, well.  Let me tell you what happened.

First, some pictures.  I did bring the camera this time, although I neglected to take any shots of Barb or Judy in "the stalls", or Diane, with whom I had a lovely chat in the shade while The Big Guy was standing in line for lunch, or, well, mostly everyone else I ran into.  However, it turned into a lovely day, and there was much color and atmosphere, although mercifully, not the crowds of some other sheep and wool festivals that shall remain nameless!

Getting pretty for the judges


Hello, Dalai


I want a yurt so much it hurts!


Happy faces

 
What it's all about!


No, THIS is what it's all about!

So, how was I led into temptation?  My path to perdition went like this.  I was under a tree talking to Diane when I hear Big Guy call my name from up on the porch of the 4-H building.  He beckoned, so off I went to see what the problem was.  No problem, exactly, just that the judge's talk on picking a fleece was about to begin, so I followed him into the building.  Big mistake.  The talk, see, was being held in the room where the fleece judging had earlier taken place, so there we were.  Surrounded by all those juicy bags of sheepy goodness.  I was okay at first, but then I heard this little voice.  "Psst.  You there.  Yeah, you.  Look at me over here, the grey one right at the end of the row.  That's right, me.  You want me.  You know you do.  You are powerless....you are going to buy me.  You are MINE, woman!"

What could I do?  I sidled over across the path, pretending to get a better view of the judge, and was overcome by the wool fumes, I guess, because I started to look at this devil fleece.  Then I touched a few locks.  By the time the talk was over, I was draped over that bag trying to hide it!  Here was the problem, by the way.  We were not going to be allowed to stay in the fleece room, but would have to leave and wait in line, like everyone else, out on the porch.  At that point, I pretty much kissed this fleece good-bye.  There had to be a line forming by that time, right?  So, I meandered around the room checking out some of the other fleeces (congrats, Barb: a blue and a red!), resigned to leaving "my" fleece behind.  After all, I was NOT going to buy a fleece at this festival.

Hubby isn't as dumb as he looks, though, and apparently wanted that fleece as much as I did.  He had disappeared.  When I finally went outside, there he was.....first in line!  What a guy!  Yes, we did get that fleece.  It's a gorgeous, charcoal grey Corriedale.  And it happened to have a blue ribbon, too, for the class.  Oh, sorry.  Wanna see?

The photo does not do this beauty justice.

See Barb Parry there in class 5 and class 3?  Well, I didn't realize this till I was downloading the photos later, but my fleece, winner of class 6, was entered by Nicholas Avello.  Go down those lists and see how many ribbons he and another person named Avello won!  And, ahem, he got both Grand and Reserve Champion.  Grand was for MY FLEECE!  Whoohoo.

And, yes, I did get some of the stuff on my list.  Roving from Barb, check.  Shawl kit from Judy, check.  More roving from Buckwheat Bridge....well, you can't win them all.  Instead, I got a great little spinning wheel tool basket from Wendy Jensen.  And, as we were wending our way back east on that endless Route 9, Big Guy lets out a yell and points over to the right, out my window.  Down off the highway, lumbering across the shallow stream towards the field and woods, was a huge black bear!  (My first bear sighting!)  No, of course I didn't have the camera handy.....

Comments

[Shelley]

Those husbands! Nice Grand fleece, T! What are your plans for it? Sounds like that was a trip worth taking.

[Manise]

That was a wonderful day and your fleece fantastically gorgeous! It was fun being second in line to you both and the pre-buying banter on the shady porch. Congrats again. Glad you got the last wee wheel basket. I love mine.

[Liz]

Big Guy is definitely a keeper to wait in line for you. Congrats! Hope you show the progress and the final results.

[Chris]

Wow. He not only goes to fiber festival with you but holds a place in line for you to spend money! I'm impressed. With the fleece, too.

[laurie]

What a guy! That, a fleece, a bear, and it was a grand day. Despite my being busted by your camera.

[margene]

Oh my! You had the best weekend ever! How fun (for me) to see Laurie in action.

[Anne]

Honestly... how could you have left that Grand fleece just sitting there by itself. Nice score! :)

[Karen]

Good score! are you going to send it out for processing or do it yourself? I could never get Michael to go to these things with me much less stand in line like that!

[Kim]

That guy is a keeper! Nice fleece!

[Stephanie]

Oooh, pretty fleece! Good job, Big Guy!