I had plenty of knitting time on the plane to Switzerland and Italy, so I took along a little lace scarf I'm working on.  The pattern is Lace Ribbon Scarf, and it's a nice little pattern that uses sock yarn (I chose Araucania Ranco, and I'm probably halfway finished.  It's pretty easy once you memorize the pattern....I just won't tell you that it took me hours of knitting and un-knitting to do that.  :)

Here's a close-up (click to embiggen):

I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend.  Here's a picture of some of the Festival headliners:

There's all sorts of stuff at the festival, and not just sheep and yarn (although that is a major draw!)  They have all sorts of events, a Sheep to Shawl competition (yep, teams include a shearer, 2 spinners, and a weaver, and they really do go from sheep to shawl right there in front of everyone.

Here's one of the more exotic blue ribbon winners in the handspun yarn category:

And here's a better picture of the winning yarn.  A little creepy, but very clever, wouldn't you say?

The sheepdog herding demonstrations are always cool:

Funny how much of it still applies to life 200+ years later...

I saw this article earlier about some activist knitters this week, and it's the inspiration for this week's title:

Grannies holding a knit-in to protest the war in Iraq clashed in a shouting match with pro-war activists in Times Square on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict.

About 30 members of the Granny Peace Brigade, some sitting in rocking chairs and wheelchairs, were knitting stump socks for veteran amputees and baby clothes for Iraqi families at the Times Square military recruiting station that was damaged by a small bomb on March 6.

"You want a piece of granny?" Frederick Olbrey, 70, yelled at about half a dozen war supporters gathered across the way as the grandmothers sang "God Bless America."

Olbrey, a 1950s air force veteran, was campaigning with the granny brigade to demand that troops be brought home now.

I love it when I see that people are still involved and out there doing things to change the world at age 70 and above. It makes me think maybe I can do the same thing when I'm their age.  :)

Best magnetic ribbon ever.

I'm quickly squeezing this post in before we head out to celebrate CBtY's 13th birthday today, but I'll be back later with some more goodies for you in the comments...