How cute is this?...

This is Jake. He's VERY cute. I got to spend the weekend with him. And I spent some time with Paul's family too!

We went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

....where we caught the shuttle from the parking lot:

...Saw some alpaca:

The brown and white one is named Lollipop!

We also watched a sheep herding demonstration:

These dogs are really pretty amazing. ONe of them was cooling off in a tub of water:

Did I mention that it was terribly HOT there??????

As with most festivals, there was a spinning/weaving contest. Here is the Harley-Davidson group competing! :

Seriously, they look like they just get up from knitting/weaving, hop on the motorcycles and ride away!

And here is a sneaked picture of some podcasting celebrities:

That's Jasmine in the pink hair, from the Knitmore Girls podcast. (http://knitmoregirls.blogspot.com/ ) Her mom, Gigi is also there but you can't see her in this picture. I took it from a really long way away because I didn't want to be obvious! I've talked about knitting podcasts before --- I really, really enjoy them. A group of about 5 or 6 podcasters had a meet-and-greet on Saturday (I missed it), with giveaways and goody bags, just like Ravelry does. Try them out sometime -- you can listen to them on an i-pod or on your computer.

We didn't stay too long because it was so hot. Believe it or not, I didn't buy any yarn! I was just so hot and couldn't concentrate on what I wanted. I did see a lot of nice yarn and roving though, and I did buy a cute t-shirt. And, of course, a cherry slushie.

**Oh my gosh! And how could I have forgotten (I edited this post after a "reminder") that we saw Joan at the festival????? She was there for two days in the heat and I can't wait to see what goodies she came home with. And now she'll be back at the knit-ins after being away ALL WINTER!!! WE MISSED HER SO MUCH!!!!! How did we survive the winter without her? (Does that make you feel better Joan? Lots of gushing about you!) ***

Have no fear --- yarn WAS bought this weekend! We went to a yarn shop in Old Town Alexandria, Fiber Space:

This is Erica, who can finger knit and maybe someday will be a needle knitter!:

I was slightly envious of the very nice, spacious classroom with the very cool retro table and chairs!:

I got a great sock yarn from a local hand-dye company, the Neighborhood Fiber Company. All of her yarns are named after neighorhoods in the Washington, DC and surrounding areas. This yarn is called Capital Luxury Sock in the "1600 Pennsylvania Ave." colorway:

Very cool. It is a merino, cashmere, nylon blend. Mmmmmm, soft.

And finally, after we got home, I found this guy in the yard, trying to get the attention of his girlfriend:

Pretty interesting to watch. But then a thunderstorm came and they ran away.