Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival 2009

Because I am normally so prone to sugar-coating things, I'm really having trouble writing this post.  

Bwahahahahahhahaha.  

Sorry.  

I really crack myself up.  

Hm...

Where do I go from here with this, I wonder, because I love Vermont so much. Despite the fact that my very favorite bumper sticker in the whole wide world says

WELCOME TO VERMONT. NOW GO HOME.

...I don't really mean it. I want you to come and I don't want to speak ill of my state or what it has to offer in any way. And I want to support my local vendors as much as possible, as well as those poor out-of-state vendors who paid whatever it is they paid to set up their booths at the godforsaken Tunbridge Fairgrounds site and tried to offer up their wares (and especially the ones who have entered the 21st Century and accept credit cards, because there is no ATM machine on the Tunbridge Fairgrounds, gah). 

Granted, if the weather had been perfect, it might have been a charming and sweet little site for a fiber festival, assuming one had remembered one's checkbook or cash.  Alas, the weather was not perfect.

 

Here we have the poor people at the entrance booth and table, standing ankle-deep in cold water and mud, trying to sell VT S & W logo stuff.  The lady advised, "Get it now, while you can!  We are SELLING OUT!"  Um, well, maybe not so much.

And here I am, getting a cold shower under a leaky umbrella:

 

BAD HAIR DAY

This site is not suitable for inclement weather.  Full stop. We stood in line freezing our biscuits off in the pouring rain for 20 minutes in order to get a lamb burger, but when we were almost at the front of the line, we asked ourselves, "Where will we eat it?"  There are a handful of picnic tables on site, all out in the open.  There was no place to sit down to eat under cover.  We were sick of it all.  We left at that point and drove north for a fabulous lunch in Waterbury, and then home.

Luckily for me, this was not my first fiber festival (because if it had been, I would be put off from fiber festivals forever more), and especially not my first wet and cold fiber festival, because I was prepared.  This time, at least, I did not almost die of hypothermia.  I didn't therefore have to go in desperate search of already-made knitted woolen items to purchase, which are in curiously short supply at a sheep and wool festival.  Props to my Peace Fleece sweater, my Noro Silk Garden scarf, and my handspun fingerless mitts. The leaky umbrella had to go into the trash when I got home, though.  

I wore my favorite leather Ariat boots with the wool Trekking socks that Cari made me all those years ago, and they served me well.  But thermal duck boots or Wellies would have been a better choice, and I definitely would have preferred to not subject my favorite boots to all the wet and muck.  I love those boots to death, and they are many years old. That model is sadly no longer made, so I was really upset that I was putting them through this torture:

 

Mud and puddles (almost) everywhere, and no attempt made by the fairgrounds people to ameliorate the problem with hay or boards or wood chips or the like.  Very frustrating.

-------------------------

It was great seeing a few of my local friends, and I saw the sweater I now know I want to knit with my Shaba green Peace Fleece:

 

Isn't she cute, even though her lips are blue?  She's meowkat in Ravelry. Her sweater is not knit in Peace Fleece, but I know it would be perfect in it, and I love it.  The pattern (Rav link) is in Vogue Knitting Holiday 2004, and I've already ordered it.  I have a mod or two in mind for mine.

Yay for Ball & Skein! and yay for Nightingale Fibers and yay for Dye Dreams and for Yarn and Fiber Co., and others. I did buy a few truly wonderful items from vendors that would accept credit cards and borrowed a check from Joansie to buy one thing as well. But oh man, at the end of the day I asked Joansie, "If you had not been with me today, and I had written all this in the blog, would you have believed that it really happened?"

Joansie: "No."

I'm tired.  You'll have to wait 'til tomorrow to hear the answer to this question, asked by a lovely stranger in the lamb burger line ahead of us who later tried to become my partner in crime:

"Do you cause trouble everywhere you go?"

 

Comments

[Manise]

How disappointing!

[Mel]

I was going to say those pics sure brought back some memories.

[margene]

Nothing is fun in that much rain and mud. At least you found some goodies to buy and the trip wasn't a total loss.

[AnnaMarie]

It was wet, it was windy, it was muddy..... I loved every minute of it!!!! Yes I'm very wierd *lol*

[Adelaide]

Sounds lovely. Are you coming to Rhinebeck this year?

[gayle]

I had a great time - granted, we got there early before the mud got *really* bad. And I've actually been to Tunbridge fairgrounds when it was even wetter that it was yesterday...

[Carole]

Fiber festivals in the rain are just a drag. I remember NH all too well.

[sandy]

It is funny how the memory turns "almost dying from frostbite" to something really fun! That is how I remember THAT S&W. Kind of the best, most memorable of them actually. The pain has been removed from it all! :D
I have leaky umbrellas too. Time to umbrella shop!
xo

[Jean E.]

I hope you show us your loot when it dries out.

[Renee]

Mother Nature can be a real bitch!

Even cold and wet you look terrific in all your gorgeous handknits. Saw you on Joansie's blog, definitely believing your story. Hope you're warm and dry today and casting on some of your yummy new yarn.

[Joansie]

It was one of those trips that we will be talking about for a very long time. It was fun in spite of the rain and mud and the whacky people that we met.

[Geri]

Quite a contrast to the Tunbridge World fair I attended several weeks back. We have friends who live in Chelsea 6 months out of the year. The wife is a knitter and really wanted to check out the festival. Wonder if she ventured out. Can't wait to see your loot!

[Paula]

LOL. Some of us know the answer to that question already.

I guess they should have stuck to the more northern venue. It had paved paths and an ATM! It was nice here yesterday but I think we have your rain today.

[Bookish Wendy]

Brings back memories. I don't blame you for bailing early!!

[JudithinNYC]

At least you were wearing a gorgeous sweater. And speaking of gorgeous sweaters, I have been racking my brain (yes, I googled to make sure I used the right term/spelling) to remember the name of the sweater you initially wanted to make with your Shaba Green Peace Fleece. I have wanted to make it for the longest time but now I have forgotten the name. Do you know which sweater I mean?

[Marcia]

Yes, well, at least you didn't have to climb down ninety-six billion concrete stairs to get to a frigging football game....then back UP all ninety-six billion stairs to get to a dry car. Just saying. You, at least, had some wool.

[Joannah]

Yesterday sure had it covered in the "wet and cold" department. Glad you lived to tell about it!

[Kathleen]

Could not agree with you more! Initially, I was really excited to have the festival in such a beautiful location but as soon as I arrived I was annoyed by many of the same things you mentioned plus NO TOILET PAPER! I also felt bad for the vendors that were stuck in the dark and narrow barns with low ceilings down by the river...And my mother's car almost got stuck in the mud in the parking lot. I did get some beautiful yarn and cool buttons from Ball and Skein at least. Her colors are amazing!

[Vicki]

Yeah. I was supposed to go on a photographers' camping trip this weekend -- first of all, I hate camping (and never intended to stay overnight -- I live close enough to go home to my own bed every night) and, secondly, it's freakin' wet and (mostly) cold outside. I'm spending it indoors with the heat on... sleeping a lot and fighting something off, I think. Sounds like you made the best of things and had a little bit of fun!! I'm looking forward to "the rest of the story."

[Katie]

Jeez, I look so cold and wet! That sweater was actually keeping me pretty warm, but I did shorten the button loops later.

It will look lovely in the Shaba Peace Fleece. (Don't tell my sweater, but I think I like that shade of green even better!) It was nice meeting you again!

[Mary Fran]

Oh, that looks miserable. We had almost as miserable a day - for some reason, we thought we'd go to the Natick Mall. We hate malls and hate people. Why did we think that was a good idea on a rainy day? Thank GOD for online shopping. I'm not a shopper, I'm a buyer.

[Cheryl S.]

You'd better not mean it, since I'll be coming to Vermont next year.
Pfffft!

[Cookie]

Katie and her sweater are adorable!

So are you with the damp hair, handknits and leaky umbrella. Next will be drier and warm, right?

[Josiane]

Thank you for this post! It makes me really glad I made the trip to the VT S&W last year, and not this year!

[marianne]

Thanks be for gorgeous wool sweaters, wool socks and wool scarves! rats about muddying your good boots but really, if that's as bad as your 'bad hair' days get? I'll take it. Katie IS adorably cute and yes, that is one beautiful sweater she's wearing!
Can hardly wait for the answer and the rest of that story ;^)

[kellys]

Looks like a Scottish/Irish sorta afternoon...perhaps why they got into this whole wool-thing? ;)

[Kym]

Is it possible to HAVE a Good Hair Day in the rain?

[elizabeth a airhart]

oh dear i guess i won't say it was 91 in my part of florida

but i was born up north have memories of the cold rain and mud

the knitted garments look just handsome

i know where natick is i used to live in waban ma
a very long time ago good night

[Diane]

I love Vermont in all of its wet, windy, muddy, mucky glory. It inspires all the wooly goodness of knitting.

And, to answer the question.... Yes, She does cause trouble EVERYWHERE she goes.
I saw it in action in Montpelier on Naked Bike Ride Day.
But, you'll have to form your own opinion, dear reader.

[Judy]

Oh come on.. there must be a lot more you're not telling. I think you just left too soon.

There were more people than I thought would come on a cold rainy day. Things picked up considerably for me comfort wise when I finally found where I had put my socks. It was cold. You have to admit that it is a beautiful fairgrounds. Very Vermont. The clouds halfway down the hills, muted color. Sunday was lovely. Warm and even sunny. The mud dried up and the brightened colors were fantastic. I'm not sure why they locked the toilets before all the vendors had packed up, hmmmm...

[Manise]

Oh I know who you saw in line waiting for a lamb burger!

[Norma]

You do???

On 10/5/09, [email protected] wrote:

[Becky in VT]

I hate to tell you this after the fact, but there were lovely dry picnic tables behind the big vendor building, in the pole barn...

And I think the vendors were doing surprisingly well, by the end of the day I ran in to more then one table with empty shelves and vendors standing around saying "I hope I have more of that at home, or I'll have nothing for tomorrow" Maybe all the cold and rain encourages the sale of wool?