The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is one of the highlights of my year. Held the first weekend in May, it is a huge gathering of fiber animals and the people who love them and their fiber. I go on Sunday, get there right as they open and don’t leave until the very end. It is my idea of a perfect day – rain, sun, hot or cold, it’s all good.
Last spring I hadn’t been knitting so much; my son was going through a very difficult time, which meant I was as well. So I set myself a budget to keep myself in line. No collecting yarn just to collect yarn this year – I wanted each purchase to count, to be translated into a doable project. Often, I start with the barns or even the Main Exhibit Hall and then wander to the upper part of the Festival grounds. But last spring, I started out at those upper fields. There’s fun stuff up there if you ever get the chance to go: a silver spoon jewelry person, herb gardeners, the person with the angora bunnies, some weaving, some yarn…There was the cutest baby being cuddled and ogled, and I can’t resist some baby squish.
Oh look! I was right outside of Neighborhood Fiber Co! I ducked into the tent, and there it was: the Comfort Fade Cardi . I didn’t even know what a Comfort Fade was, but those colors! In that squishy yarn!
I managed to bust my budget in the first hour I was at the show. Le sigh. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of my day, brought my yarn bundle home and there it has sat. With not even a glimmer of what to do with it.
Now that the terrible, awful, no good, very bad stuff is behind us, I turned back to my yarn. I finished a project, I did a quick baby blanket, I am in the midst of finishing up a sweater. And my bundle started to burn a hole in my yarn basket. What does it want to be? What shall I make from it? I considered something easy – another round of Paris Toujours from Isabell Kraemer. A new sweater? I sent a group text to my knitting-pattern-go-to-people (those who keep up more with what is current on Ravelry) and suggestions abounded. Check out my Ravelry favorites: I’m The Loomist. Kynance Cove by Isabell Kraemer was a possibility. Or Interlude by Lisa Hannes.
Ultimately, Breathing Space by Veera Valimaki won. The original calls for a fingering weight yarn, but others on Ravelry have used a DK, so I think I 
will be ok with some swatching and adjusting. You can see miacrista’s version. Isn’t it wonderful how generous knitters are as they share notes and tips?
I can’t wait to share my journey of knitting this sweater here and on Ravelry. Who knows, maybe a new trend of knitting Breathing Space with Neighborhood Fiber Co.’s Studio DK will start. 😉
Victoria Rothenberg
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