Day 259 September 17 A Wool Gathering

What a wonderful fiber overload.  It has been the perfect fall day, the morning dawned cool enough that I was hanging out the laundry wrapped in my wooly hap shawl for the first two loads.  I started the laundry last night and got up early this morning to finish so it would dry while my friends and I went over to Young's Jersey Dairy, for the annual festival, A Wool Gathering.  Of course being a fiber festival means that you of course want to wear your latest creations to show off and I had laid out my Summit shawl to wear.  I was surprised when my friend Ruth showed up wearing her scarf interpretation of the pattern .  It looked awesome.

Ruth's scarf and the Summit shawl

This would be the first of several surprises this shawl created.

The sun was out.  There was a light breeze. And the temps were low, it was perfect weather for light weight woolies. And there were plenty to see.

There were four main tents this year.  Three for vendors and a demonstration tent.  Plus the stand alone shelters put up by some of the vendors who couldn't get or didn't want space in the main tents.

Personally I think that's smart on their part because the tents that they use have red or yellow striped roofs.  The light inside to be able to judge colors leaves a lot to be desired.  But wooly joys abound.

Catherine and daughter at Knitting Notions

One of the great things about these festivals is the opportunity to visit vendors that you've been visiting for years.  I only see Catherine 2 or 3 times a year, but I'm always impressed that she knows me by name and remembers what I've been working on or how I was the last time I saw her.  Her booth is always a must visit at any festival, but this time I had a purpose.  My sister wants NZ Sweater of her own and the color she chose was Catherine's Aubergine.  Robin told me that she wanted a red, but I swear that she picked a red purple.  Catherine tells me that there is not one drop of blue in this color, so it really is a red.

Of course there is always plenty to see and much to fondle.  Barb really enjoyed the alpaca yarns.  There are a lot of alpacas in Ohio so finding the yarn isn't that difficult at any festival in the state.

And like any large gathering the opportunities for people watching are enormous.

As a spinner I'm always interested in the tools.  I bought a Navaho spindle at the show in May figuring that I could easily teach myself how to use it.  I evidently didn't find really helpful videos online so I took it with me today, determined to find a someone to show me.  I ran into Matt from Wooly Knob while I was wandering through the booths and mentioned my problem.  No problem he says, come by my booth later and I show you.  I might even have an extra one in the truck so you can sit and copy me.  After lunch and one more tent of vendors I got my lesson.  Yes it is simple.  Not really as fast as a wheel, but something that I could use if I wanted to make lopi type yarns. 

I covet the Schacht Sidekick, I have the Lendrum and I had an Ashford Traditional

The sign said this one was built circa 1920

Stopped a Julie's Knitknacks, the MK booth where Julie was demo'ing an LK 150.  I ended up being the walking demonstration of why a machine can be a good investment and how you can make way cooler things than just stockinette.  She had hoped that I would stay around to help her do a bigger presentation on DAK, but obligations in Columbus meant that we had to leave, so we got our ice cream and piled in the car to head home.  A great time was had by all and we all came away with goodies.