Mexico and MD Sheep & Wool Part 3

or ... Swine Flu, Celebrations, and Wool.

Firstly, it was May the Fifth a few days ago, but much of Mexico was under lock-down because of the swine flu. Mexico appears to recovering now, but the US has over 2000 (mild) cases (and climbing) reported and Australia has reported its first case. There is a small number of items to consider from here:

• What happens when it hits the poor countries of the third world? We already saw the difference between the US and Mexico.
• What happens in China and India if the virus hits them hard ?
• What happens next winter when flu season starts up again?
  

One not-so-nice example that we have in front of us is this: in 1917 there was an outbreak of early flu here in the USA. It appears to have started in Kansas, where a large number of US Cavalry were stationed. The available DNA from that flu seems to indicate that it had equine DNA included, indicating that it may have started in the horse population. However it started, it was mild, and the cavalry went off to Europe in 1918. From there, research the 1918 flu outbreak - about 100 million people died.

This 2009 flu appears to have two versions - mild and severe. In normal life the mildly-affected people go to work and the really sick stay at home. In Mexico it may be that the really sick (those with the severe version) had to go to work to make a living, so that version got spread far more than here in the USA.

Anyway, I'm getting flu jabs this winter - I normally don't, but this year I think I'll do differently!

Now here's some really good news. Let's see what Man. U. think about that, then!

Liverpool !

West Ham 0 - 3 Liverpool

And Now ...............The Yarn You've All Been Waiting For !

Well, pictures of it, anyway.

To the left, yarn from Hill Farm in Maryland.

To the right, Toni Neil of The Fold had a shop, featuring a lot more wool that I had time to take pictures of here. There's Blue Moon silk shown, along with some of what looks like Alpaca, but I'm certainly not certain (the AG will correct later if need be).


I think that the lady to the left is re-arranging hanks in The Fold, but I'm not sure. The wool on the right is from the same shop - same labels !

TESS'

I'm afraid that, while I really loved some of the colourways throughout the fair, TESS' seemed, to me, to have some of the most vivid and striking offerings.

Here, on the left, in front of a nice blue sweater example is yarn of a hue of orange that I have rarely seen, except on this year's Renault F1 cars.

Just around the corner I found a soft, muted blend of pinks and blues. Somewhat appropriate for the drizzly day we were having.




Here on the left we're still outside, and the colours are a little muted because of the amount of cloud-tinted light. The variety of shades of blue, however, are just a harbinger of what was to come.

I moved inside and found this wonderful array of blues. The colours benefit here from the use of fill flash, so they're really rendering as they actually appeared to my eyes.

Finally, almost an entire rainbow of colours on yarn.

By the way, you see a few hands and elbows in some of these shots: that's because TESS' store was pretty packed. The staff there were busy both times we passed by, unpacking things to replace what was sold, so I guess they were selling pretty successfully.

There'll be one more blog with MD S&WF stuff later today, after I've done some programming and some video editing. Meantime, if you're into giving photographs as a present, take a look here. It's a rather romantic take on personal messaging and something to think about the next time you want to send a birthday card, I think.

TTFN