Mizzurah

A blog entry with photos is long overdue! We got back from Sedalia, Missouri last night. The Heart of America Sheep Show and Fiber Fest was a blast! First, it was held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds, which are huge--the biggest, reportedly, in the USA. The fair has been held there since 1901, and the entire festival was held in the "Swine Pavilion." Swine Palace, more like. Cool breezes and great natural air circulation (pigs get hot in the summer) and nice architecture, spotlessly clean, and the show ring was filled with angora rabbits, pygora and angora goats, llamas, sheep, etc.

The emphasis of the festival is on learning. I took a class taught by Zelma Cleaveland of ZK llamas on spinning llama fiber. Here's my sample card at the end of the class. Zelma is a fantastic teacher and if you don't do much sampling and mixing of fibers at home, this sort of class is for you. (I do a lot of sampling at home, but for the sake of research, I had to take a class and Zelma was the right teacher for me!)
There were also classes on rughooking, bobbin lace, weaving, knitting, crochet, and all sorts of other things. The number of classes was astonishing.

The other thing I must say is how downright friendly, open, and talkative these folks are from the "Show-Me" state. I was amazed by how welcome and at home I felt. It was such fun that I seriously wondered whether I'd make the 470 mile trip (each way) again next year just to visit them!

Sedalia itself was an interesting town. It's smaller than my town, but had far more diversity in some ways. We ate Middle Eastern food, fabulous BBQ, and had our choice of Asian restaurants and homemade independent pizza parlors...but there just weren't enough meals to get to all the restaurants we wanted to try. Meanwhile, the Scott Joplin festival was happening at the same time. We didn't get to hear much ragtime, but we did make sure to tour the historic downtown and check out the architecture. Beautiful!

You'll note here that there are few photos. That's because I used an old fashioned 35 mm for the trip and the film still needs to be developed. In the meanwhile, I'll leave you with the (ahem) yarn that I couldn't manage to leave in Missouri. (I also bought some buttons and a row counter, but I'll spare you that!)

Two skeins of Tongue River Farm Icelandic Sock yarn (naturally gray and white), One skein of Tongue River Farm Icelandic Lopi yarn (bulky weight gray, I see a hat coming on here) and ..one skein of multi-colored Colinette jitterbug sock yarn and one skein of Regia silk sock yarn. The last two skeins are from Knit and Caboodle Yarn Shop in historic St. Charles, MO. I randomly decided we needed to stop in St. Charles for lunch. I must have special radar--I found the yarn shop right away!

I promise-more photos soon. The Prairie and sky were breathtaking! Oh, and does anyone know why all these people in Miz-or-ee call their state Mizzurah? I never managed to ask.