October Days equal Autumn Daze...

Leaves changing on the farm in Meadows of Dan

As usual, things have gotten very busy around Greenberry House! With fall festivals, leaves changing and Pancake Days happening here in Meadows of Dan, I haven't had much time to think about writing. Spinning special orders have taken some of my attention, along with running the shop.


Ms. W's Komodor yarn

I have to admit that I'm not always thrilled when someone brings dog hair for me to spin. It doesn't always hold together well for spinning and sometimes it turns out coarse and lumpy no matter how I much I try to get a nice yarn from it. Adding sheep's wool helps a lot with some of the less cooperative dog hair, though, and I've successfully spun some yarns from a less than promising beginning.

This time, though, when Mrs. W brought in a pound of her beloved pet's hair to be spun, I almost couldn't believe it wasn't alpaca. It was a dream to spin, and I got four beautiful two-ply skeins from it. I think the customer was pleased as well! Now I'm spinning some coarser wool for a special order hat project and I miss the dog hair!

Last week was taken up with catching up with outside chores...mowing the yard, shearing rabbits, cleaning up the garden a bit. This week it rained on my day off, so I cleaned house a bit. Friend Chris is coming down next week to go to SAFF with me, and I really need to scrape off at least one layer of dirt. If the sun comes out this week I'm going to have a hard time making myself finish the house!


Karen Simpson, Master Felting Artist

It has been a fantastic time despite the rush of fall traffic to get together with friends, new and old. I saw Karen at the Chestnut Creek School of the Arts in Galax, when we were invited up to see the new space on Thursday. Karen is a warm, talented artist and I love her work, some of which she made out of my fiber! She's teaching classes already at Chestnut Creek and her talent is just amazing.

The school is in an old bank building on the main street in Galax and I think it's going to be a wonderful thing for the artisans of the area. I met some interesting people there...some musicians, fiber people, potters and other artists. Some I knew already...Kathy was a member of the guild in Independence when I was and Mary is a neighbor.

I also had a lovely visit on Friday with Tammy, who brought a knitting project along that she's talked about on her blog. We had a good time talking about books, dear doggies, ghosts and the Wizard of Oz! Then Linda called on Saturday and we headed down to Christopher's Pizza for more knitting, good music and lots of fun chat. Oh, and great pizza! Linda sang at the Indian Summer Days Festival today with Sammy Shelor, Gale Shockley and Barry Collins. I think she had a terrific time, although she was a little nervous before the show. Today I also met some great people from Yarmouth, Maine, who had heard of the little town where I lived when I was in Maine SO long ago. It was great to talk to them about how things are in the North country and to see the pictures of snow they took up on the Blue Ridge Parkway north of here.


Last Harvest

I guess it's cold everywhere...I've been seeing snow on some blogs as well as in the pictures my visitors showed me. Yesterday morning I decided I had better bring in the watermelons, ripe or not! I cut one over a week ago and it wasn't quite ready yet. But it ripened in the refrigerator and I had half of it for breakfast this morning (quite a little one, by the way). It was really very good. The mountain is not known as a good place to grow watermelons!


Seine Scarf

Even though things are very busy right now my mind turns toward the slower days of late fall and winter. I'm looking forward to lots of spinning time in my warm and cozy room with sleeping dogs lying nearby, and a purring cat that is pretending not to be annoyed because he can't get into my lap. A stack of carefully selected books is awaiting my attention and I'm planning a special knitting project or two, along with lots of crocheting. Do you suppose I'll get half of what I plan to do accomplished before spring?

Festival! (Yeah...again...)

Shockley's Old Timey Days, Hillsville, Virginia


Cindy at her loom (My great wheel, which I demonstrated, and my little wheel in the background)


Betty, another spinner who is also an awesome fiddle player!


Quilter's Show, with quilts made by the lady that ran out of the shot plus some family pieces.


Churning Butter



This is a really nice and growing festival. The Shockleys are very interested in the "old time" ways and have gone to a great effort to find people that still practice traditional arts. I demonstrate hand spinning on a great wheel while the weaver weaves and the quilter shows off her beautiful work, and another spinner spins on a flyer wheel. Not far away is a woman churning butter next to a lye soap maker. Down the path two fellows are working hard making cider out of huge bins of apples. There's a hit-and-miss engine making ice cream, an old time country store, two mills (that I saw) grinding corn meal, a cane mill working, horses plowing, hay stacking, a potter, woodworkers of all sorts, molasses and apple butter being made, fried apple pies available and I'm sure I've left out a ton of stuff! If you want to see an old time farm in action, catch Shockley's Old Timey Days next year. Last weekend in September...rain date the first weekend in October.

The day after the Folk Fair

New Earrings from Rocky Cross Studio

I didn't get any pictures from this year's Folk Fair, although I saw the Chairman of the Community Association floating around briefly with her camera. We had a fantastic day, though, and saw a lot of great people. I was so tired I could barely enjoy a visit and dinner with my landlord last night but appreciated their good food and company!

I saw the earrings above on Barbara's blog not long ago and fell in love with them! They are more beautiful than I can capture in a photo. Barbara is a talented artist and these unique pieces just shine with her originality and her personality. Each pair is different from all the others and the colors are striking!


Gramy's Old Fashioned Hard Candy

I made another serendipitous connection this weekend as well, with a candy make from Dobson, North Carolina. She was selling her hand made artisan candy at the Folk Fair, and I really like her product. It's nice to be able to sell things you love! This is what I would call a "sanded" drop candy, with lots of wonderful traditional flavors such as peppermint, spearmint, sassafras, horehound, blackberry, orange and more. Very much a local product.


Broccoli from the garden

Tonight's planned menu includes fresh broccoli from the garden! I also picked the last of the blackberries this morning, so I may make up some blackberry milkshakes for dessert. According to my sources these broccoli "flowers" that I cut out of the top of the plant are just the beginning...the plants should produce some smaller ones at the sides. After fighting the cabbage worms for the past two weeks it's nice to have a reward!


Mani and Me

There are lots of senior citizens among the animals here. Lily is getting older, at twelve, while several of the rabbits are seven years old and beyond. Mani, a cat that reached his fifteenth year this summer if I'm remembering correctly, was one of the oldest. This summer "Old Kitty" had become quite feeble. I started feeding him special tidbits, fish, well-cooked chicken, and so on to build him up and he had been looking a bit better the past couple of weeks. But on Wednesday evening he vanished and we haven't seen him since. Unusual in an elderly cat that rarely left the yard by the back door. Nothing out of the ordinary happened this week with the animals so I feel like "Old Kitty" decided his time had come and he slipped away.

When Mani came here fifteen years ago, shortly after I moved in, he was a tiny kitten with a badly injured eye. My aunt in Connecticut helped me pay a rather staggering vet bill because he required special treatment to heal the wound. For many years it took a very close look to even notice that anything had happened to him, however, and he thrived as an outdoor cat. Even as a youngster he never got the hang of what a litter box was about, or he was too independent to care. Mani was one of the old-fashioned, cobby bodied tabbies that I used to have here on the farm as a child. I'll miss those black-velvet little paws!

Taking a Deep Breath.....

Vintage and collectible spoons at Greenberry House

I'm sitting here reminding myself to STOP for a minute. It has been a busy week, with the usual good stuff along with getting ready for the Meadows of Dan Folk Fair tomorrow. There have been a few more errands and a bit of advertising work extra but I'm looking forward to the event.

I had a nice surprise when I posted about the Folk Fair on my Facebook page this morning. Deb Goodrich invited me to call in to her radio show way out in Kansas to talk about the Folk Fair and my shop! It was great to talk to her after so many years. We went to school together and Deb is a talented author with a deep interest in local and Civil War history. It was wonderful to reconnect!

I spent most of the Sunday pricing our auction finds from Saturday so they'd be here for people to see at the Folk Fair. Lots of lovely vintage linens and fabrics, books (of course) and some really interesting collectible spoons. Some are older souvenir spoons and others are truly unique...there are some made of old coins, some sterling and some lovely silver plate.


Little Wagon at Mountain Meadow Farm and Craft Market

It's still all about the garden here on my days "off" and I've been picking peas and replanting lettuce in the hopes of having a fall crop. I really enjoyed my Black Seeded Simpson until things got too hot and it bolted. I've been getting tomatoes every day and mixing them in with lovely squash and eggplant I bought locally at Sue's market. Sue got this cunning little decorative wagon from J. D. Briles (336-462-1369) down in North Carolina. It looks great beside her shop.

Wednesday was one of those lovely, perfect mountain summer days. Sunshine, a light breeze and a thunderstorm in the evening. I got out early walked with friend Kym and the dogs, and we enjoyed the last of the moonlight as the day dawned. Then I played in the garden most of the morning, weeding out, replanting, and just enjoying the smell of earth as I picked and shelled peas. Finally I sheared one of my older rabbits, grand dame Highland Mary, sitting out under the spruce trees. She went to sleep and I nearly nodded off myself in the quiet!

Late in the day a thunderstorm blew up, and I settled in with the dogs napping by my side to spin more of the Texel roving. I finished one bobbin and I really like the variations in color from light to dark blue. Natalie and I talked about Texel on our little podcast last week, and I think this week we're going to talk quite a bit more about Natalie and her dyeing and fiber projects. I hear that "What's Needlin' Ewe" is going to be opening in Mount Airy on August 20! I'm going to try to figure out a way to get to the grand opening on September 5!

Well, it rained some...

but who had time to notice? Sadly a lot of folks in Patrick County haven't been seeing the nice showers we've had here in Meadows of Dan. My garden is very happy right now, though. I'm happy, too, because I'm getting a few little tomatoes and the watermelons are blooming! Don't have any idea that we'll see a watermelon here but you never know!


Eggs in a nest in Sue's garden

Sue found a nest in one of her caged tomato plants a couple of evenings ago. She was watering and looking for ripe tomatoes when she saw it. There were four eggs in it and some poking around at bird information sites makes me think the nest might belong to a house finch. According to the books, a house finch will nest twice during the year. There are few things more beautiful to me than birds' eggs. I love the look of them.

I've been wildly busy, trying to get some advertising done for this year's Meadows of Dan Folk Fair, scheduled for August 8 this year. Amazing how fast time flies! I'll be hosting hand spinning demonstrations here at the shop and Blue Ridge Tree Climbing is coming to talk about his interesting tree climbing teaching and demonstrate tying knots. There's a play in town that day, lots of music and crafters and some other demonstrations going on. Even a chain saw artist!

I've also been working on three new web sites, which I'll talk about a bit more when they're all ready for company. And as usual, I'm behind on the newsletter progress but hope to get it out today or tomorrow. I need to start bugging some of my vendors for articles...hint, hint!

And speaking of projects, I've just signed on for a fantastic new one. Natalie of Knit Fit Knitting, on of my talented vendors, is an indie dyer with great ideas for promotion. She approached me not long ago about doing a podcast called "Knitting in the Round" which would feature local artisan yarn, spinning fiber, and the process of creation from the fiber animal to the finished product. We recorded our first session yesterday here at the shop and Natalie has it posted. We also put up a blog, Knitting in the Round, with more details and some photographs. We plan to post a session every two weeks and our next will feature an interview with a local fiber artisan.


Texel Singles

And somehow I've managed to get some spinning time in, between meetings, computer work and the odd weeding session in the garden. I'm trying to fill a bobbin on the Reeves wheel with some fine Texel wool singles. This is yet more of the Texel I bought at Border Springs Farm and had processed at Central Virginia Fiber Mill (there's plenty at the shop if you'd like to try it!) Natalie and I talked about it a bit on the podcast and she dyed it with a cold method which worked well for her. I was pleased with how mine turned out. The roving I'm using for these singles is some I painted with acid dyes in delicate shades of blue.

And some more exciting news that Natalie told me! Not long ago I heard a rumor that someone was going to be opening a yarn shop in Mount Airy, just across the North Carolina line from Patrick County. I was excited to hear about it but then the rumors drifted away. Recently in talking to Natalie I discovered that it's her mother that is involved in this project, and they are just a couple of weeks away from opening "What's Needlin' Ewe?" at 411 North Main Street in Mount Airy. I think it's a great idea and I'm happy to have more neighbors. Yarn crawl, anyone?

At the Estes Park Wool Market

Estes Park Wool Market

I'm not sure pictures, or words either for that matter, can give an idea of what a beautiful place this festival graces. The town of Estes Park is tucked up in the towering Rocky Mountains, and the fairground is within sight of the historic Stanley Hotel. Everywhere you look there is a wonderful view, and the highest mountains are snow-capped, even in June!

Young Yaks

Many things were different at this festival. I had never seen yaks before....

Suri Alpaca

and I had never seen a Suri Alpaca, although I have some lovely suri here from Mary Martin's farm in Bluefield, Virginia. This little guy made me realize why Mary's fiber is so lovely and soft! He was quite friendly, too.

Maybe a Wesleydale?

There were several breeds of sheep I wasn't very familiar with, but like an idiot I didn't get any pictures of them. I think this glorious creature is a Wesleydale, with a wool I have spun before. There were lots of lovely alpaca and pygora goats, lots of beautiful alpacas and llamas, and even a few angora rabbits!

Wool Market Vendors

This part of the show will look a bit familar to veteran festival goers, with lots of lovely yarn, tools and fiber. There were some different breeds of wool here, though, that I wasn't familiar with. I fell in love with a California Variegated Mutant (yeah, I know) fleece from Durakai Sheep and Fiber Arts. Left it sitting for a bit while I walked around but had to go back and buy it. Several people mentioned to me that they had considered that very fleece themselves. I also love the wool from Gleason's Fine Woolies Bond and Corriedale sheep. Just couldn't buy everything I wanted, though, so I had to pass this one up. But if you get a chance at least have a good look at their stuff...it's lovely!

Yarn and wool and color, oh my!

I recognized the names of a few vendors just from cruising around on the Internet, but most of them were quite new to me. That made things very exciting. We ran into Cathy and Mike, with their friend Barbara who has been getting all the wonderful curtains that Cathy has been making lately. Because Ron was along and I didn't want to bore him, we didn't hang around for all the activities. Cathy wrote about some great things that happened at the show during the weekend.

And of course I bought stuff:

Fleece and roving, oh my!

Sorry for the poor shot...it was raining when we got home and wicked dark in the house. When I start working with it all I should get better pictures. The fleece is the aforementioned CVM. When I got home I discovered that Spin-Off had done an article about this wool in the latest issue. So when I tackle the fleece, which will be soon, I should have some idea of what to do with it.

Another purchase was some California Red roving that I bought to spin on the delightful little spindle that Mike made for me. The vendor was Skein Train, and I had an interesting talk with her about another festival, in November, that she is involved with and promoting. So far I've spun an ounce or so of the roving and really like it.

I bought four ounces of a lovely variegated Teeswater/Cotswold cross roving from Black Hills Woolies, and just realized that I somehow didn't manage to get a picture of it! Hope I managed to get home with the ball! I was fascinated by the "cheeky" batt created by Fire Ant Ranch out of Black Welsh and Gulf Coast wool. Looking forward to seeing how that spins as well.

One thing that is the same, seems like, no matter where you go, and that is that fiber folk are special. Friendly, sharing and interesting...even though all the vendors were busy they took the time to talk about their enthusiasm for the festival and for their wools, animals and yarns. The Estes Park Wool Market was a great experience for me, and well worth the long trip!

Memorial Day Weekend

Seen in Meadows of Dan

It is really hard to get out and get fun pictures to illustrate the blog when it just rains all the time here in Meadows of Dan!  Here I have tomatoes, lettuce and peas growing happily in my wet garden but no pictures to show and brag about.  But then, I guess if you've seen one tomato plant you've seen them all!  I've been dodging showers to get things planted but at least I can feel a bit better about all the rain, now that I have a garden!

In spite of the rain we had a busy holiday weekend.  Lots of people around for the Hit and Miss in the Mountain Festival.  I didn't have a lot of time to see what was happening down there, since we had customers (thanks, everyone, for coming by!) but I did see a good many engines setting up and lots of crafters.  There are some folks still down there if you're out in Meadows of Dan today.  Music is scheduled for 2 to 4 PM if the weather doesn't get impossibly bad!

Speaking of music, I looked out yesterday afternoon and saw the young man pictured above out on my neighbor's back porch playing his guitar.  I don't think he was involved with the festival but he stayed out there quite awhile.  I was a little too busy to find out anything about him but I'm sure passing visitors enjoyed seeing him out there!

As I suspected the new yarns and fibers I brought back from Sedalia last week have been very popular with customers.  Quite a bit of angora blend yarn and some alpaca went home with customers this weekend.  I hope I get to see some of the lovely things they create!  A couple of felters came in as well, and some nice return customers from last year.

Cinema on the Lawn, Chateau Morrisette

Friend Jane has been spending the weekend with us, camping out in a tent in the back yard because she's allergic to Barnabas, the cat.  Since she can't stay in the house, it's great to have something fun do in the evening.  Saturday night another friend, Mary, was free to go with us up to Chateau Morrisette for a mini girlfriend get-away at the movies.  This is our third time, I think, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  His Girl Friday, with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, may not be the best movie ever made but it was terrific under the cloudy skies on the lawn at the winery.  Everything is funnier, and better, when shared with friends!  There were other friends seated nearby, with their delightful little dog, and a friendly young couple we didn't even know to chat with.  Friend Kym put the event together and she did a great job.  The food was really good, service was excellent and with a smile, and the cost reasonable!  I think the next show is Labor Day weekend, and we'll be there for the fun!

It's raining today (no surprise) but already a few people have drifted into the shop.  On my agenda for the day is to finish up this week's newsletter (Ok, I haven't even started it yet!) and I'm hoping to put some books online and on the web site.  This weekend I managed to put some of the sparkling yarns created by Linda Wright of Wild Iris Wool on the site, along with some vintage postcards.  

Texel Roving

Oh, almost forgot!  I did a dye day last Wednesday and it took awhile for the roving to dry in this wet weather.  Very pleased with the results, though.  This is the Texel roving I had processed at Central Virginia Fiber Mill from the fleeces Linda and I bought at Border Spring Farm.  Nice so far!  I'm hoping for another dye day this coming Wednesday.  Come on over and bring your fiber!

Festivals, Friends and Fiber Frolics!

Greenberry House at Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival

I have to say this has been a wonderful week!  Busy, of course, but truly special in a lot of ways.  As I mentioned last week, Chris of Woolybuns came down for a visit and to go to the Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival with me.  I don't know what i would have done without her, as we loaded her car and mine as full as we could manage.  Tough on Chris to have to do so much driving after her long trip down from Connecticut but she tackled it like the trooper she is!  Her lovely yarns were the hit of the booth!

Setup was a breeze, partly thanks to the SO coming along to help with stuff and partly because of the great location we had under the pavillion.  Ron had the bright idea of bringing two vintage oriental rugs along as a floor to Greenberry House booth, and I think that they really set off our fiber and yarns.  Not to mention giving us a place to put all the fiber that over-flowed the shelf space and also making it easier on the feet for standing all day.  I told him he isn't getting them back!

Under the pavillion, Sedalia 

Dana, Dianne and the rest of the staff did a wonderful job putting the festival together.  Dianne acted as emcee all day and was a riot as she handled the raffle and the announcements.  I almost typed "rabble" instead of raffle...think that means something?  It was obvious how much hard work had gone into making everything run smoothly.  I overheard a couple of conversations that indicated people would love to see another Sedalia Fiber Festival during the year!

At long last I got to meet "The Thinking Knitter", Rae, in person!  She's just as delightful as she seems on Ravelry and on other projects I've become acquainted with over the years.  Plucky and hard-working....I saw her throughout the day and she seemed to be in helping mode every time.  And of course I got to see some old friends...Sandy from Mosaic, Lawre from Lawre's Laine, Natalie from Knit-fit, Mary Ellen from ISeeSpots.  And I know there were lots more folks!  New friends and old, fiber folk are fantastic!

Cooling Off

We were so lucky with the weather!  The storms held off and although it got hot there was a breeze most of the day.  This lucky llama settled down in front of a big fan late in the day and the wind shows off the length of his coat!  

I picked up a new vendor that I'll be talking about in the next couple of days and also have some new items from Lawre's Laine that are absolutely awesome.  I didn't buy much for myself, just some beautifully dyed silk from Bransonas.  I saw Chris over with our booth neighbor that makes awesome looking handbags.  I didn't get her information because I have a hundred knitting bags and didn't want to be tempted.  Our other neighbor was Long Locks Ranch in Riner and I'm talking to them about selling their lovely mohair yarn at Greenberry House.

It was wonderful visiting with everyone, new friends and old, at Sedalia on Saturday.  Hope to see everyone at Sedalia again next year, along with lots of new people!

Getting ready for the festival

Getting ready for the festival

It has been a lovely, if busy week!  Lots of meetings, gatherings, some demonstrating and then more meetings.  Today I'm concentrating on pulling together all the stuff I need for the Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival.  Fortunately friend Chris from Connecticut decided at the last minute to come down with her darlin' Kiri!  Here she's sorting through her gorgeous angora blend yarns, from sock weight to fingering, and pricing them to take to the show.

New Yarns from Wild Iris Wool

One of the highlights of a week filled with fun and interesting stuff was a visit by Linda of Wild Iris Wools.  She brought lovely new yarns to sell here at the shop.  See that shiny green one?  Gorgeous mohair single!  And look at the sparkles in that pink and the yellow!

Sue of Dan River Books in Meadows of Dan talking to visitors at Lambsburg

On Tuesday there was a Chamber of Commerce gathering in Meadows of Dan that was well-attended and lovely. Got a bit of bad news about a dear member of the community, though, which I pray will turn out all right. Had to rush away and attend another meeting in Stuart, which was also very interesting. There are some clever people around working on some amazing projects.

Wednesday was another fun day, although I was really tired when I got home.  I went with a small group of Meadows of Dan representatives to the Virginia Welcome Center at Lambsburg, which is on I-77 just north of the North Carolina line.  We set up demonstrations of traditional crafts and talked to over 300 people over the course of the day.  Lots of folks from all over...Michigan, Ohio, Canada and beyond.  I always enjoy this type of demonstration and the staff at the welcome center is just amazing.  So friendly, knowledgeable and helpful!

Beautiful new raw alpaca!

Mary Martin, who lives in Bluefield, came to Meadows of Dan on Sunday and brought lots of wonderful alpaca fleece.  There was one bag I snagged right out of the box...too beautiful to pass up.  She brought rose gray, fawn, brown, gray and especially black.  This is all raw fleece, blanket and also some blending fiber.  Can't wait to get into my bag!  We'll have some if it at Sedalia.

Finished Glittering Capelet

The sun has finally come out, after such a long time hidden by rain clouds.  The yard has finally been mowed and I planted tomatoes, peas, and lettuce early in the week.  The sky is lovely right now, with soft-looking puffy clouds skirting the horizon.  There's a bit of a breeze and I'm hoping this is a good sign for the festival tomorrow.

Chris and I have been catching up on the stories and in general having a great time along with working on getting ready for the festival.  Her puppy, Kiri, has been an angel.  My Lab, TJ, less so but he's working on it.  He's too much dog for Kiri to play with but she made a game try at it last night.  When she comes back next year she'll give him a run for his money!

Highland Fling!

Greenberry House Booth at Highland Games Festival in Ararat, Virginia

Everyone can always tell when I've been demonstrating at an outdoor event.  Inevitably I get sunburned, and usually it's just one arm, or half my face or part of the back of my neck.  Comes of sitting under a pop-up tent in the middle of a field and forgetting to move with the shade!

Jamestown Pipe and Drums

I don't do as many festivals as I used to, now that I have the shop to tend.  But this festival is held just twelve miles away, in Ararat, Virginia, which is still in Patrick County.  So the SO helped me pack up the car and Mom volunteered to look after the shop while we headed down Squirrel Spur road.

 

Gonna toss the caber now

Oddly enough, it was warmer at home before daylight than it was when we got down the mountain to set up!  Of course, I'm sure everyone knows that part of getting ready for a festival is getting up in the dark so you have time to walk and feed three dogs, feed and at least talk to three cats with a couple of minutes cuddling time in there somewhere, water and feed the German Angoras (always hoping it will get to be daylight before you have to go to the barn but it never is) and make sure Dad has his medication for the day.  Then the car has to be loaded up in a hurry because the SO didn't get back with it until 11 PM the night before.  Naturally I forgot important things, like business cards and the banner for the booth!

We managed to get set up in plenty of time, of course, and found enough business cards tucked in here and there around the car and my many knitting and spinning bags to get through the day.  As always, it was lovely to be able to talk to so many people.  Since it was a "home" show, I knew a lot of the spectators.  Quite a few were from Meadows of Dan.  There were lots of visitors from North Carolina, though, so it was worth being able to hand out cards to some new spinners and to several knitters and crocheters.

We had a front row seat for the games, just across the open field, and it was fascinating to watch the different events.  There were lots of weight challenges...those highland lads are strong!  From watching for a bit, though, it looks as though there was a good deal of skill involved as well as strength.  The crowd favorite was the caber toss, I think, but I thought the sheaf toss was pretty interesting, and required a good bit of skill.  There are more pictures of the games at my flickr site.

Reynolds Homestead Weavers Guild

It was nice to see these folks out on such a beautiful day at the festival.  They are members of the Reynolds Homestead Weavers Guild, and a very talented group.  Fiber arts were well-represented at the festival!

Although I didn't get a chance to check it out, I could hear music most of the day, in addition to the amazing pipe and drum corp that marched by us and performed out in the field.  There was a large tent with a stage and another tent for the audience so that they could listen to Celtic and other music in comfort!  There were also lots of clan tents, food vendors and a couple of places to find traditional-styled clothing!

Black Highland Cow

My posts are rarely complete without a picture of an animal!  I fell in love with the look of these creatures long ago.  Wonder how hard the wool would be to spin?

Sheep Shearing Day!

Me and Sandra of Thistle Cove Farm

It's spring again, and this past weekend we headed out on our spring journey to Thistle Cove Farm for Sheep Shearing Day.  A week or so earlier than in past years, but everything came together for a wonderful time.

Beautiful Tazewell County, Virginia

Thistle Cove Farm may be located in the most beautiful place in the world.  I'm not positive of that, since I haven't been everywhere, but it is truly lovely in the Cove.  Everywhere you look there is a peaceful scene, and as always I have lots more pictures of the wonders of the area.  

Sheep Shearing Day Vendors

Although the wind did blow a little, Lost Arts Guild members were out in force with their wonderful handmade items.  A luthier, a blacksmith, a loom maker, a basketmaker, spinners and more set up around the lovely old farm buildings and talked to visitors and demonstrated their crafts. 

Singing on the farm

When the shearer came and set up I went down to help with skirting the fleeces.  That's my favorite part of sheep shearing day.  Who wouldn't want to be up to their elbows in fresh, beautiful wool?  Sandra's fleeces are absolutely wonderful and I enjoyed every minute working with the lovely women who pitched in to help!  I came away with two beautiful fleeces, both Romney, that I'll soon be processing and spinning up!

All too soon it was time to pack up and say good-bye to new friends and old.  Sandra is a great hostess and we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the farm.  I brought back some of Sandra's lovely handspun yarn to sell at the shop.  She has some nice gray and white Down breed wool skeins here now that would be perfect for sock yarn!

Camels along the road

Along the way home there is much more beautiful scenery in Southwest Virginia.  I had to stop and see if the camel I spotted two years ago along the road into Tazewell was still there.  Not only was there a camel...he had been joined by an entire herd!  

Sunset over Buffalo Mountain near Meadows of Dan

Although it is delightful at Thistle Cove Farm, it was nice to get back to Squirrel Spur and our own little flock of rabbits, cats and dogs.  The shop was capably manned by friend and fellow knitter Kristen on Saturday, so it was nice to walk in on Sunday morning to greet a busy day of customers.  I've spent the week spinning, dyeing and knitting, very pleasant with the cooler weather.  Hoping for warmer weather next week so I can get some long-delayed bunny chores out of the way!

Another Meadows of Dan Folk Fair Success!

Friend Jane teaching weaving at the Kids' Tent. Jane graciously agreed to spend the day and camped out in the yard the night before!



Me playing hillbilly and spinning with lovely Tammy who came to visit! It was so nice to see her. She gamely spent the afternoon talking to people about spinning and it was fun to have someone to spin with. She's wearing a lovely shawl she knitted here; there's more about it on her blog.



Sweet Mary helping with our butter churning demonstration. The local antique dealers loaned me different churns to help show how butter was made, but I was afraid to use their pieces. So I got an old blue jar off the shelf at home and we managed to get some butter out of milk from a local Jersey cow. Nex time I'll use a solid lid, though, instead of the kind with a ring! It didn't really take long to get butter, once the milk warmed up!



Meadows of Dan Folk Fair. I didn't get to see much of it, of course, but there were activities all over town, music all day and lots of great things to eat! We thought there were twice as many attendees as last year!