Berroco - Enter to Win

 http://www.berroco.com

 

Berroco yarns are wonderfully soft and of very good quality for your knit and crochet projects.  Click the Berroco link for your chance to win a Free Sweater Kit.  You'll take a survey with only 7 questions and then enter your contact information. It's that easy! 

I hope you win! If you do, please comment on this post to let everyone know.  

And don't miss the Friday Free Pattern for the sweater shown in the picture for the contest! 

Third Annual Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival

What a blast for only $3 admission (and a 5 hour drive to get to Lexington.)  I really wanted to attend the Ky Sheep & Fiber Fest in 2011, but my family was very uncooperative.   A few days from now I'm going to be 50-years young.  I was pretty persistent about making the trip to Lexington, Kentucky this year.  So, my mom and planned the trip together. We had a very nice mini-vaca with no fussing or disorder!  Lucky us!  Back to the festival...located in Lexington the venue for the fest was the Masterson Station Park Fairgrounds and was so easy to find - mom was driving - she found it!  The previous day - Friday - the workshops were scheduled and unfortunately I was able to attend any workshops but maybe another time.  We did visit the classrooms.  The ladies and men were creating some beautiful handmade baskets and brightly colored dyed yarns.   

Lunch was a priority when we arrived to the festival.  Our breakfast was a stiff cup of Wolfgang Puck coffee provided by the hotel.  We spent the early morning visited a subdivision hosting yard sales.  We needed fuel to continue on our journey.  Greek salad with fresh goat cheese and marinated chicken for me and mom chose a Greek Philly steak on a hoagie with fresh veggies. Thank goodness for the shaded picnic table.  The heat was hot with a slight breeze.  

This building hosted the workshops and skein contest and the necessary rooms.  Behind the building under the canopy were vendors, and the Llama and alpaca brought to the festival by the Kentucky Llama and Alpaca Association. They were very cute and welcome being petted and fed out of the hands of small admirers.  

 Look at the colors - all so beautiful together.  I collected quite a few business cards from the vendors.  I recognized some of the business names on the cards from websites I have visited on the web and most have brick and mortar yarn stores.  So going to a fiber festival has the advantage for you to visit stores that have gathered in once venue and they did the traveling instead of you.  There were vendors from near and very far from all over the United States. 

This little mom bird was probably quite surprised to have a sheep & fiber show right where she laid her eggs.  There were chairs and ribbon warning folks not to enter the area where she was sitting.  Many,like me, stopped to photograph her with her family. She squawked at everyone all day in protest.  

This large tent held the roadside market and bistro Kentucky Proud local food vendors.  Mom enjoyed  strawberry and rhubarb sorbet after she ate the mint leaf and pansy.  It was served with the cutest little clear spoon too. 

This was a very large tent and buzzing with activity.  On the right, looking at the picture, was the Sullivan University (Cooking School) sheep cooking contest.  The chef students were wearing their Sullivan University embroider chef's coats.  I could hear the announcer asking for the presentation of the plates.  On the left of the picture there were spinning wheels lined up one next to the other with children sitting on quilts watching the spinners spin.   

Sophie's Fine Yarn Shoppe

"Come browse and be inspired" is the invitation on Barbara Franc's business card for her yarn shop Sophie's Fine Yarn Shoppe.  Sophie's is located in Louisville, Kentucky and has been in business for eight years.  The shop was named after Barbara's mother she told us.  Sophie's has a nice selection of well-known yarns.  There is a wall of knitting and crochet notions and another wall with yarn project totes.  The swift and yarn winder were both very busy readying customer yarn purchases.  I purchased three skeins of Alpaca with a Twist in the color Kentucky blue (color #120) (not really the name of the color from the company, but it is the color known for Kentucky University).  This yarn company is located in Georgetown, Indiana.  If  you live in the Louisville area and Sophie's is your LYS, LUCKY EWE!

What I'm reading now.....

Maggie Sefton writes a good murder mystery and entertains you with activities in her YLS discussing knitting, crochet, felting wool, spinning yarn in their classes while you're trying to figure out "Who did it?"  There is a series of 10 books she has written in the same fashion.  I have read three-quarters of the way through Skein of the Crime and I still haven't figured out who killed Holly.  One Maggie Sefton murder mystery almost read and 9 more to read.  Post a comment if you've read a Maggie Sefton mystery!