Wool

THE OTHER NIGHT, as the wind charged against the windows, I reached for a wool blanket to cover my feet. My house is notoriously cold and drafty, the kind of place that beckons staggering monthly fuel bills. The blanket that kept my feet warm was a 1940 model pieced together my grandmother, Lily Rose. She made all our blankets because she knew how to conquer a Baltimore winter. Wool blankets have kind of disappeared today in favor of down-filled coverlets and electric blankets and well-insulated houses that don't admit a chill.

This is the time of year when I feel a bit tweedy, a bit green in the wool, a bit Irish, even though the Rodricks clan from which I descend was Portuguese (Rodrigues) and not Irish (Roderick). From years of experience, I know something about the wide interest in things Irish - this tendency the non-Irish have to identify with the freckled people. It's a seasonal condition. St. Patrick's Day, falling as it does on the cusp of spring, catches even the most miserable among us in a hopeful and ready mood.

In an unusual demonstration of before and after yesterday, seven Carroll County 4-H'ers modeled wool outfits while each walked a lamb around the show ring.The event was part of the annual Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair, which will be at the county Agricultural Center in Westminster the rest of this week.Contestants were judged on their sewing abilities and how well they handled the animals.Although entrants could purchase their outfits or borrow a sheep, contestants received more points for having made their outfit and owning the lamb.

Steve LaPlanche - "Sports Steve" to his friends - says he hasn't missed a professional football game played in Baltimore since 1956. His streak, he says proudly, is 358 games and counting. "I started going when I was 3, and I haven't missed a Baltimore home game since then," said LaPlanche, 59. "Ever since I was born, sports was like a magnet to me. I've lived and slept sports. " But LaPlanche, whose loyalty has lasted through Baltimore's NFL Colts, USFL Stars and CFL Stallions before settling on the Ravens, isn't simply a dedicated fan. He also makes a proud spectacle of himself at every home game with an intricate homemade getup.

Old-fashioned wool flannel baseball shirts, the kind worn until the 1970s, are hot.That's good news for Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co., a Philadelphia firm that first made major-league uniforms in 1938.It got out of the team uniform business in the 1970s but returned to flannels after someone brought in a couple of old shirts to be repaired in 1985. The company wondered if there was a market for old-style shirts and, after researching styles and fabrics, produced a small run. Now Mitchell & Ness offers more than 250 shirts, jackets, sweaters, caps and pennants covering the period from 1890 to 1969.

Lamb meat - in the form of ribs, kebabs, burgers, gyros and sausage. A rainbow of skeins of wool. Wooden spinning wheels, sheepskin rugs and the baaing, fleecy creatures themselves. All things ovine were showcased and for sale yesterday at the 33rd annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, which runs through today. The free weekend festival, billed as the largest of its kind in the country - featuring spinning, weaving, knitting, abundant food and cook-off contests, folk music, and plenty of wool for sale - always takes place the first weekend of May. In past years, about 50,000 visitors have flocked to the two-day event, sponsored by the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association, at the Howard County Fairgrounds.

Smartly dressed women are increasingly turning to the warmth and style of shearling this winter.Shearling coats do two things at once. They are warmer than other wools, or leather or most furs. And because of their rough-wear origins -- shearling was first worn for the hardy outdoor life -- today's shearlings are usually cut to look sporty.In the right shearling coat or jacket, you can't look overdressed, even if you put one on over a ball gown. Cognac and brown, as well as several shades of green are popular.

Scratch and sniff. That's the story of wool, yesterday and today. The former is the old wool, the clothing of itchy necks, overheating and Michelin Man bulk. The latter is the new one: soft as peach fuzz, toss it in the washer, odorless. After a two-decade assault by the makers of synthetic materials, wool is making a comeback. "What's old is new," says Pete Gilmore of Eastern Mountain Sports, a major outdoors outfitter. "Wool never totally went away, but it's coming back with a new spin."

Set in a low-income apartment in New York City, the landscape of TNT's new made-for-TV movie, The Wool Cap, is graffiti-scarred and bleak. Although the seasons change during the course of the film, it always seems to be a rags-of-winter-gray February day or a darkly empty, cold December night. Don't let that keep you from seeing this latest collaboration by actor William H. Macy and director Steven Schachter, who last year brought Emmy glory to TNT with the acclaimed Door to Door, an inspirational film about a disabled salesman who refused to be defined by his limitations.

There were the lambs, of course, snuggled sleepily in their pens. And the aroma of grilled mutton kebabs and the lilt of hammered dulcimers.But for aficionados, the real draw of the annual Sheep and Wool Festival in Howard County is something a little earthier."

Mick O'Shea's already plays two roles in Baltimore: Traditional Irish pub — maybe the most traditional — and after-work watering hole. For a lot of people who work in the downtown and Mt. Vernon area, it is the de facto happy hour spot, with live music, weekly specials and an unpretentious beer and wine menu. Among Irish pubs, it may have the best spot on the St. Patrick's day parade route, and a rotating cast of Irish bands second only to J. Patrick's. Like any Irish pub, Mick O'Shea's attracts a boisterous crowd, none more so than on Ravens game days.

Lynn Zwerling speaks of knitting the way others talk about yoga or long distance running or even particularly potent cocktails. It's life-changing, she'll say. Mind-altering. Zen. The Columbia retiree doesn't care if she's making a hat, a sweater or a scarf. It's just the way she loses herself in the lightly clicking needles, plush wool and repetitive motion. Zwerling, who's 67, took up knitting after retiring from selling cars, quickly becoming an evangelist, more enthusiastic than skilled.

Clayton, Dana and Edward got a crash course this weekend in where wool sweaters come from — and it's not the store. The first strand of the story was told to the Pickett children beside a field where a pack of border collies were corralling sheep and moving them in and out of pens. It was a well-attended demonstration at the 38th annual Sheep & Wool Festival, the largest such event in the country with thousands of participants. It's part marketplace for spinners and knitters, part family outing and part instruction from the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association.

In my dreams, the hardwood floor in my living room is partially covered with a warm, off-white, subtly patterned area rug. But in reality, the thought that salsa, barbecue sauce, a beagle with muddy paws and all manner of dirt might somehow appear on that floor makes my dream quickly turn into a nightmare. The good news, I've learned, is that there are plenty of great-looking, kid-proof, pet-friendly, slob-resistant rugs and carpets available today. New fiber technologies and the time-tested qualities of wool mean you don't have to sacrifice your lifestyle for style.

I've just spent two days in training on a system that generates business reports, and I understand so much more about the power of my company's particular tool and its application in my job. I also have a really bad headache from glancing at the teacher's screen up in front of the classroom and then back at my monitor for the better part of six hours each day. But here's the thing. Now I really want a Janet's World Home Management Database. Why, the JWHMD already has the requisite long and unmemorable acronym — it will fit in perfectly in the IT world.

Keep warm or cool in the Buff Name: Buff What it is: A 27-inch-long, 10-inch-wide seamless tube of merino wool that can be used to heat and cool the head and neck. Available in Europe since 1992, Buff came to the U.S. in 2003 made of synthetic material. The merino wool Buff was released in August. How it works: Despite a ridiculously simple design, it works in many shapes and incarnations. The Spanish manufacturers say it can be used 12 ways: as a cap, a bandanna, a scarf, a balaclava, a hair scrunchie and a headband, among others.

The Maryland Mania, the most recent team to try selling pro outdoor soccer in the Baltimore area, has collapsed after one season, leaving a group of Columbia-area investors more than $650,000 poorer.Investors voted last week to fold, and the team subsequently released players from their contracts, general manager Sheldon Phillips said. He confirmed that the group -- including a racehorse owner who is retired from the hardware business, a horse trainer, a doctor, and a restaurateur -- considered moving down a competitive notch into the semipro D-3 Pro League next year.

Q Most of the guys in my office wear only dark suits, but a few of the more daring sometimes wear tan wool suits as well. I just bought one on sale. Now, I'm not sure what colors to combine with it. Any suggestions?A: The typical businessman wears clothes that vary little from morning to night and from week to week. He dresses in dark blue and deep gray suits for work, and only feels free to break out of the mold on weekends. There is another time when variety is yours for the taking, and it's now, summertime, when the living may not be easy, but at least it is a bit looser.

I found little bugs under my mattress, but I've seen them before along where the ceiling meets the wall. Please tell me they are not bedbugs! Your photos show the larvae of a carpet beetle. These tiny oval beetles are in the Dermestid insect family. Their diet of organic materials ranges from wool, silk, fur, feathers and food items such as grains, spices, dog food and birdseed, to the occasional mouse or animal remains in your attic or basement. Control of carpet beetles is primarily prevention - clean, clean, clean.

There's a reason why Marie Long is dressed in purple, almost from head to toe, and it has nothing to do with the Ravens. The retired social worker from Southwest Baltimore says that dressing monochromatically makes her look taller. She chose this particular vibrant color to attend the Morgan State University Alumni Association's "Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast" at Martin's West. While she has fun putting together her one-color outfits, Long says, she's careful not to let her fashion define her. Self-described style: : "Eclectic" The look: : Purple wool boucle suit.