Wet Through To The Underpants

It is almost impossible to describe the degree of wet and cold that was the NH Sheep & Wool Festival. It was pouring so hard when we left Laura's house in the morning that I decided to leave my camera in the suitcase. Dave captured it well in his photos here.

Before we left for New Hampshire on Friday, I advised JoVE and Tigger (who has charmed the daylights out of all of us and we all want to adopt her) of the weather forecast and, knowing Jo knows wet weather -- she lived in England, after all -- I figured she would own proper rain gear, so I suggested, "bring your rain gear or.....stay home."  I'm so friendly (!) and I really have a habit of beating around the bush. I think I need to work on being more direct, don't you?

I packed what I considered to be enough wet-weather gear myself. I packed my Gore-Tex raincoat and hiking boots from L.L.Bean. Pretty serious stuff.  HA! Not. The boots, with my thick wool hiking socks, served me well.  I stepped in puddles ponds while at the fairgrounds which went just short of the tippy-top of my boots, so thankfully my feet stayed warm and dry, but my jeans instantly got three inches of soaked.

Then the rain was pounding down so much all day that it was soaking into the thighs of my jeans and pouring down off my Gore-Tex jacket, which also subsequently soaked all the way through. You know something else about denim jeans?  They wick upwards. I know this because the water started at the bottom of my jeans and wicked upwards to my thighs, which were also getting their share of the rain, and then wicked upwards in a sort of "chaps" design over my butt, soaking through to my underpants and chilling me to the bone.  Oh, yes. Very comfy indeed. I really did not think the rain pants would be necessary. Next time they will be packed. I promise you.

At the picnic, Cate, who is much smarter than I, had already left to find and purchase herself some mittens when people started telling me my lips were blue. That is when I also noticed that I was shivering and I could not feel my hands. Sandy, who stayed snug and warm all day in her Starmore sweater and oiled canvas barn jacket (she was HOT! In more ways than ONE!) dragged me along to various vendors where we tried to buy their knitted samples. They would not sell them to us. One woman even sneered at us like we were eejits and told us, "Nooooo, you have to KNIT YOUR OWN!"

"PLEASE! We're DESPERATE! Norma is going to DIE!" 

K-n-i-t   y-o-u-r  o-w-nnnnnnnn! Was the eery chant that followed us, like some repeated line from a horror movie. K-n-i-t   y-o-u-r  o-w-nnnnnnnn!

We finally found someone who was not sold out of handknitted items, but all she had were hats and headbands. I bought an awesome handspun/handknit/polarfleece-lined headband (see photo below), but my hands were so frozen I could not write the check. I hope the bank will cash the check for you, kindly vendor.

After turning down a few overpriced low-value items, we hit mitten paydirt:

The mittens (which were subsequently soaked through and through and are shown drying, here at home) are FAB. They are made out of recycled wool (possibly even cashmere) sweaters and put together with polarfleece linings in a most creative way. I love them as I can only love a beautiful piece of art made from recycled items that literally may have saved my life (or at least prevented me from getting the flu). Actually, I am thankful that the inclement weather and lack of preparedness forced me to find these.  The price was fair and they are so special I am thrilled to own them.  Being in the first stages of hypothermia at the time, however, I did not note either of the vendors' names. I regret that I do not have this information for the blog. 

I carried my heavy canvas bag from Maryland 2005. It got soaked through and through. Paper receipts, and even business cards, inside disintegrated. My leather wallet inside the canvas bag got soaked, and the paper money inside the leather wallet got soggy. I know I am sometimes prone to hyperbole, so at this moment you are not sure whether I am exaggerating. Cate, Jo and Tigger are my witnesses. They can describe the state of the items inside my bag if you don't believe me.

At one point I said to Laura, "There really is not even a positive spin we can put on this weather," to which she replied, "It's not too hot."

Then I was in the ladies' room and I heard two women talking. One of them said, "At least we're not being eaten alive by blackflies."

There. And I thought I was the glass-half-full one in this group.  Huh. Have I got a lot to learn.

I'm running out of steam and time (there is a Mother's Day brunch to get to).  I met several more new friends and old, and I'm sorry for not enumerating everyone at the moment.  (Maggie, I love the soap!) I don't want to close before I mention how much fun I had spending most of the day with Hot Sandy and Dave. I am thrilled to find out that in real life Dave doesn't suck. Even though he kept telling me ALL FREAKIN' DAY that my color choices are "haggy," (bitch) he at least did it in a most charming way.  Hi Dale! (oh, all right. Hi to you, too, Carole!)

And when Sandy tells you a story about second-hand gifts, don't believe a word of it. 

Comments

[Dave Daniels]

Yes, it was a great time. And I am SO glad you didn't buy that yarn that looks like it would be for an old Hag. (Why age before your time, darling?) And, yes, you didn't suck, either. And not as heavy as I thought, either. (Hah! I know I am gonna get a smack for that one!) And the picnics this year can only get better.
And thank you for the yarn for Sandy, she REALLY appreciates it!

[Cookie]

I'm so glad you all survived without arks.

Haggy? How dare he!

[Rachel H]

at least you weren't in danger of another sun burn. *ducks and runs, giggling*

[Manise]

I was witness to your soggy wallet while waiting in line with you for fried dough :-) sticky fingers and all with fibers attached ( hehehe)

It was great to finally meet you and enjoyed talking with you. Your description of your jeans matched what mine looked like.

Glad to see your porch is so dry- it's still raining here....4 inches since Friday evening.

[pippi]

haggy???

it was nice to meet you; you and my angora, in one corner!
i still feel soggy!

[JessaLu]

Well, I'm sorry I missed meeting/seeing everyone but I'm not sorry that I missed getting soggy underpants. ;o)

[Scout]

OMG. I'm trying so hard not to be a total wise-ass about the weather there. So I'm just not going to say anything. Good lord I would have been the crankiest bitch EVER if I had tried to go to that.....

[jillian]

Wow - that sounds like serious drama!! And yes, you need to be more straightforward. I mean, do you really think people will read between those kinds of lines??? :)

But you managed to have fun (I think) and that's pretty cool. Those mittens and the headband are very cute! It almost makes me wish I had weather for which to wear such things.

[Katy]

I promise that it wasn't me who wished that weather on you, even though I was bummed about missing the festival. Really! I swear!
Great mittens, though.

[sandy]

You know, it's a good day when the people don't suck. And thanks for noticing that I was so friggin' hot. I was. I can't help it.
;)
Are you non pruney yet?
xo

[Lucia]

Ruth and I really, really wanted to go and meet you and Dave and scads of other people, but in the end could not muster the necessary enthusiasm for driving into a monsoon. Yes, we are total wimps. It sounds like we missed a really wet and wild time. We'll just have to hope we catch you at the next one.

[Marcia]

Sounds like a helluva lot more fun than WE had this weekend...long story. Good blog fodder.

[blogless sharon]

yes indeed ,It weas freakin cold. but great to see everyone. norma hope you found a cozy fire to warm up

[Carole]

I never got to say goodbye to you! I'm glad you made it home to warm up and dry out. I can't believe you were actually cold because you're so HOT.
Oh, and Dale says Hi right back.

[Laurie]

That was a perfect description. And you were BLUE. If you (thankfully) hadn't not stopped talking, I would have been forced to administer CPR. (At least it would have warmed ME up.)

[Kathy]

Great to see you! It was cold and yet SO fun.

[Debi]

Welcome to my weather June thru October, Norma!

At least you had good company and fried dough :)

Pear Drops start their journey tommorrow!

[Melanie]

Yeah, I was there today (Sunday) and while it was still pretty damn wet, it wasn't anywhere near as awful as yesterday. Thank god for Gore-Tex, that's all I can say. (Ziplocks. Ziplocks are the way and the light when it comes to keeping stuff in bags dry.)

[Lee Ann]

Somehow, you escaped without buying a wheel. I'm amazed.

[Cheryl]

Hey, thanks for letting my try on your mitten yesterday!

You're not kidding about the wet jeans thing. Those things get damn heavy when they get soaked through. I kept thinking mine were going to fall right down. I looked like someone's plumber every time i bent over a basket of wool. That was hands down the worst wool festival weather I've ever experienced.

[Beth S.]

Mittens in May! What is WRONG with the world?...

(They're pretty nifty mittens, though.)

[Vicki]

I pulled on St. Brigid yesterday -- practically the middle of May, for cryin' out loud, and while I love to wear that sweater, I hope it was for the last time 'til fall!!

It's never a bad time -- even when cold and wet -- when you're with friends, hm?

Happy Mother's Day Norma!!

[Laura]

Aww - how miserably fun. I want to be at every fiber festival. heh Maybe I'll go to one some time - and maybe it won't be ummm.... mitten weather. heh See there's another positive spin: you got some great mittens out of the deal. :)

[Mel]

And for some reason you felt compelled to apologize for not removing your mitten to shake my hand. At least I was able to take my sopping wet jeans off for the drive home.

[Chris]

Gosh, I'm really glad you didn't die at NHS&W - wouldn't blogland have been all a-twitter?!

[Tish]

I usually have a ziploc bag or two in my tote/backpack which would have come in handy (tho mine are more to protect my stuff from the random knocked over cup of hot chocolate, dog hair, mud from the "oops Mom, your bag accidentally fell out of the car into the soggy parking lot"- yes, that has happened!!, etc). Maybe you should get a pair of wicking poly-pro long johns for the next wet/cold fiber fest. Glad you survived the weekend!