Retreating With Fiber

The weeks have been flying by as I've been working to get the shop ready to open the first weekend in April, and also time has flown in fibery goodness in preparation for the first "show" of the year. This is a wonderful winter retreat sponsored by the Fibernet guild in Lewiston, West Virginia. Over thirty talented hand spinners gather at Hawk's Nest State Park Lodge twice a year and revel in fiber and friendship.

Three days of spinning bliss

I would go to this retreat even without a chance to sell my fiber, but being able to set up a table is an added bonus to a wonderful weekend. I'm in good company; some wonderful fiber was offered from several local farms and dyers.

Fiber and supplies from Greenberry House

Thanks to Linda, who came and spent an entire weekend helping me with carding some wonderful Shetland wool from Thistle Cove Farm that I had dyed, I had some beautiful fiber to offer to interested spinners. Lots of Bryspun needles went home with knitters as well and there is some dyeing in the future of some of these fiber mavens who picked up the Greener Shades dyes.

The view from our balcony

The weather was nearly perfect; some thunderstorms and a tornado warning not far away added some tension to one evening. Sadly there were some serious weather related incidents during the weekend elsewhere. But compared to the weekend two years ago, which was the year of the snow, this year was almost like spring! Snow started falling just as we were leaving on Sunday but we made it to Virginia with no problems after a terrific visit to Tamarack.

Linda went with me to help out and I think she enjoyed the event as much as I did. It was restful and we met some wonderful new fiber friends and reconnected with some old ones. I'm looking forward to the next gathering!

What I'm spinning: Hand dyed Icelandic roving
What I'm knitting:
What I'm crocheting: Everything hibernating
What I'm reading: Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit selection), Arabian Nights (1001 Books), I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: The roar of a March wind in the trees

Winter Beauty

We're having an unusually warm winter here in Meadows of Dan. Two light snows and a short cold snap have been the extent of it so far. Today it's foggy with a little rain, more like March than January. I keep thinking the weather will get bad and I will have to stay in and spin! I did get back to the wheel last evening and finished spinning up a bobbin of East Friesian wool.

Yes, this is from a sheep. Apparently this breed, the East Friesian, is a relatively recent import to America from Europe and is used as a dairy sheep as well as a meat breed. According to the online resources I checked the wool is considered coarse, but the wool I've been spinning, from a local farmer, is pretty nice. Not extremely soft but certainly not unpleasant. Would be great for hats and mittens. This wool was clean but there are some short cuts in it. I'm going to recommend that they fuss at their shearer and make sure their fleece skirters shake out the fleeces to get the second cuts out.



Things are moving right along at the shop, thanks to the help of a lot of people. My stepdad Wendell put up my larger mailbox so I can keep mailing eBay purchases out and maybe receive some yarn and knitting needles from here and there. Linda and Mary have been coming and helping organize and Stella, Beth and Kathleen have visited and cheered us on. Peter and Kathleen did the huge bulk of the work in moving over all the displays and a lot of the remaining yarn and fiber stock. It has been a wonderful community effort and I'm grateful. Right now I'm pricing books from storage and getting them onto the shelves in the book rooms. An April opening date is certainly looking possible right now.

New Beginnings

Time for tea.

It's hard to know what to say after such a long silence. I know I don't really want to talk about the reasons for my time away from the blog. Many of you already know and it's just something I'm not prepared to handle right now. Maybe someday. But what to say? Should I pretend nothing happened and just go on as if I haven't been away for months and months? Those months were full, and important, and it's difficult to ignore them. Perhaps as I begin writing again those months and events will creep into the paragraphs and entries. 

I do know one thing. I have the most wonderful friends and family in the world, and I'm grateful to everyone for their support and love during this past difficult year. I'm hoping this coming year will be better for everyone, for Greenberry House and for anyone who is reading these words.

There have been more positive changes in my life, I think, and I hope to be able to talk about them as this blog heads into new directions. I'm not really sure where I will go with my writing here, but I think things will remain much the same. I hope to be a little more inspired than in recent years, more sharing, more creative. I hope there will be some interaction with my readers, maybe some discussion, learning and growth. There is still a great deal of the unknown ahead of me, in life and in the business, so I hope you will join me on my journey as I discover my new beginnings.

What I'm spinning: East Frisian Wool from a local farmer
What I'm knitting: Truly Tasha's Shawl by Nancy Bush
What I'm crocheting: Winkle Vest by Tracy St. John
What I'm reading: The Greene Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine, La Vendee by Anthony Trollope
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: Deep Space Nine Marathon
How the diet is going: Gained back almost everything I lost but have started exercising and watching what I eat again. Lost 7 pounds since the first of November.

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?

Country Cousin Visits the Big City

View of Washington from Vantage Point Restaurant, Arlington

A long time ago, maybe even in another life, I lived and worked in the bustling region known as Northern Virginia. Back then it wasn't quite so bustling; it still amazes me to hear traffic reports that include the far reaches of Gainesville and occasionally even mention Haymarket. As for Chantilly, one of my coworkers used to talk about it as her country home town.

Still, it's exciting to be able to travel into the cities, especially with someone who helps out to look after all the complications of getting around. On behalf of Patrick County, then, as volunteers, Charlotte and I traveled up the Shenandoah Valley to attend the annual tourism conference, also known as the VA-1 conference. We were invited to stay with my SO's sister, Kate, in Annandale, not far from the conference site in Alexandria.

Kate went out of her way as our hostess and transportation director throughout the entire weekend. When we had a free moment (not many of those) she fed us tea and lovely little snacks (with some kick; watch those brownies). Charlotte wanted to meet with her granddaughter, Sadie, on Sunday so Kate found a terrific restaurant for us all and turned the dinner into an experience. I wanted to visit with cousin Jane, too, but she was suffering from flu shot induced plague and we had to miss out!


The Power of Travel

The theme of the conference was basically about tourism as a large part of the Virginia economy. Everyone admitted that things have been difficult lately but the tone was upbeat and hopeful. Charlotte and I went up early so we could take a couple of pre-conference seminars. We had to navigate the Metro and after some help from some very nice people, we figured it all out and managed to get to the Alexandria Hilton on time. If I lived up here now I'd love the Metro, at least the times we were on it. Not nearly the crowds I expected.

The seminar I took was on Social Media and Marketing (hey Facebook and Twitter). Speakers pointed out the advantages and power of participating in these types of marketing opportunities. I think the first time I told the county folks that we should do these things was three years ago....

The second day was mostly speeches and a ton of great information. Virginia now ranks 8th in the US for domestic visitor spending. Not bad, especially considering the current economy. TOURISM WORKS FOR VIRGINIA!!!!

Now for the important stuff:

We ate great! And not so expensively. Vantage Point on Sunday was a nice restaurant and we enjoyed the view, the company and the food. It's always great hearing about Charlotte's lovely and talented granddaughters and it was fun to see Sadie after so many years. She and her friend Tiffany are having a wonderful adventure working in the area.

On Monday evening we attended the conference opening and reception at the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. I didn't get pictures because we had a full day's work and I didn't bring the camera, but it is a lovely building. The reception room was deafening, though, with a couple hundred tourism folks all trying to talk. I kept slipping out to look at the marvelous prints of all the Masonic buildings in the country. Not much networking there! I did get a chance to talk to some great people, though, outside the reception room. After things wound down Charlotte and I went out to stand on the steps and look at the city. Lovely to see in the twilight. The food was good at the reception and of course Kate had to feed us when we got home, despite our protests that we were fine. Just a little something was what she said.

Then on Tuesday there was food all day at the conference (even cookies) and dinner with Kate and Gerry in the evening. This was our chance to really have a good talk, since the rest of the time was pretty much all about work and tourism. It was lovely sitting in Kate's cozy English cottage in the middle of Annandale! I went home with stacks of clothes and blazers from Kate's closet, including a gorgeous new coat!


Shopping!

On Wednesday we got up late and headed slowly for home, with an eye toward quilt shops and local yarn shops along the way. We tried to get to a quilt shop in Haymarket but there was a construction mess and I got in the wrong lane. Traffic was backed up half a mile in the direction I wanted to travel when we crossed the intersection so I just kept going.

We made a couple of stops in Sperryville, Virginia. Charlotte wanted peaches and we saw a sign on the way up. The farmers market was also an antique shop and they carried Nancy's Fudge candies. I mentioned that I was from Meadows of Dan, where Nancy's is made, and managed to sell ten of her hot chocolate spoons to a customer! I picked up a few Empire apples because they look like dusky Macintosh.

Our next stop was the Beech Spring Farm Stores. I wanted to show Charlotte their lovely quilts but I fell in love with the little spinner in the picture above. And since I do so many demonstrations, I thought the handled basket from the same shop would be great to carry carded wool.

Once we were out in the country, though, we found our way easily to Rachel's in Staunton. Charlotte is the quilter but I admired the lovely fabrics (and the store cat) in the unique shop. The old railway depot served to house the shop and the Depot Grill, where we had a great lunch.


Orchardside Yarn Shop

Then it was my turn to shop, although Charlotte, who is also a weaver, did her part. We traveled off the beaten path a bit out beyond Raphine, Virginia, to a delightful LYS beside a beautiful stream along a rural road. Orchardside Yarn Shop has a lovely atmosphere, a wonderful selection of yarns and friendly people! And shop dogs...what more could you ask? And who wouldn't love a yarn shop with a bottle of wine sitting in the middle of the table?


Friendly Orchardside folks (and pups)

It was tough to decide what to buy, as I already have plenty of yarn. I hovered over the lovely colors of yarn brands I recognized, then I saw one that was new to me. The two skeins in my "purchases" picture are labeled Pagewood Farm, Hand Dyed Sock Yarn, Denali. The two colorways I chose were Chuck's Favorite and Rainbow. This is a soft superwash merino/nylon blend. I'm looking forward to seeing how it knits up. Probably won't be socks, though. Even though this isn't a local product (it's dyed in California) it has a small company attitude I like.

I can certainly recommend taking the time if you're traveling up or down I-81 to stop at Exit 205 and head west through Raphine to Orchardside Yarn Shop. It's easy to find because there were signs all along the way to encourage you to keep going. Just slow down past Wade's Mill and you'll see the sign on the right.


Hi mama!

I saw some lovely sights and met some wonderful people but coming home to these happy faces was the highlight of the week. It was nice to settle in with the dogs and the cat for a quiet evening of knitting after an interesting week. Now I'm glad to be back at my little shop here in Meadows of Dan and looking forward to a busy October!

Gardening and gathering

Lettuce in my garden

I could bore you for hours with "garden porn" 'cause I love the way the plants look in the evening light. Green comes in so many colors.....and leaves have so many wonderful shapes. But I'll restrain myself here but if you really want to see garden pictures....


Rewards: Amish Paste tomato and wineberries

I've been busy gathering lately, from the garden and beyond. But Sue brought over these delightful red berries that she's been picking out in the wild. She calls them wineberries and they are almost too pretty to eat. I wanted to string them together like beads. I didn't, though. They taste a little like blueberries only better. You can get them from her at her shop, along with fresh sweet corn and beans. Just down Squirrel Spur Road from Greenberry House! Hurry, though, because I don't think they stay in season long and I know people that know about them will snap them up!

I picked enough peas, at last, from the vines yesterday evening to make a nice little meal for me tonight. And I've been picking blackberries, always a favorite of mine, from the brambles right around the house. I'm still getting lettuce, too, from the garden, to eat with local tomatoes, onions and cukes from below the mountain. I've only gotten one little tomato from our plants so far!


Hand Painted Texel Roving

We had a damp morning on Wednesday, a day I had planned to shear a couple of rabbits, so I pulled out the dye pots instead. Hadn't planned on a dye day and didn't have much ready, but I popped in some Texel Roving and did some painting with blue and red. This time I was more careful with the heat and the roving turned out softer...I'm very happy with these results. I'll be banding up the roving this weekend and putting it out for sale here at the shop.


Sandra's Unique Project

I forgot to take my camera to our Stitch 'n Chat gathering last week, but Mary remembered hers and took this shot of Sandra. She's knitting (honest) on Size 50 needles with a thick single made of alpaca, wool and nylon (I think). It's going to be a stole and it really is gorgeous. Sandra says she'll have some similar yarn from this year's alpaca fleeces! We had a nice meeting at the Atlantic Breeze Alpaca boutique and it was lovely admiring all the beautiful alpaca creations.


Barnabas: "This blog needs a cat photo!"

Neglectful Blogger

Be(ar) alert!

I know I haven't been around much lately, but we've been busy digging in the dirt, spinning and selling yarn and enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having here in Meadows of Dan. And also enjoying the excitement of the recent bear sightings in town and nearby. The folks at Lovers Leap Birdhouses posted this recently. I was walking with TJ a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning, and saw a bear of a very similar size really close to the farm. Exciting indeed!


White Rhododendron

We had a little rain on Wednesday so I took the opportunity to get away from the garden and wander around the top of the mountain a little, after shearing two chocolate rabbits. The color, not the confection. I don't remember when the white rhododendron (which is a little pinkish) has every bloomed so well. The big shrubs are just covered with blossoms. I've missed the height of the season...I was down at Lovers' Leap as well and it looked like the picnic area must have been amazing not long ago with bloom.


View from Lovers Leap at what Grandpa called "The Rock Cut"

This has been a lovely week of enjoying good friends as well as summer weather and activities. I found RJ at home while I was rambling around and we had a lovely visit out on her screened porch. Maudie the magnificent cat stalked the birds that were serenading us as we talked, planning the possible addition of a bedroom to my house. Things are getting a little crowded in the cottage on the mountain lately!


Shiny

There are some wonderful new fibers at the shop, and I fell for this Miss Babs roving hard! Love the shimmer and the colors. It's spinning like a dream on my new favorite spindle, the one Mike Clark in Colorado made for me. I finished up the California Red roving I bought in Estes Park in record time and dived into this new stuff immediately. On the wheels I've carded and am spinning up the last of a Jacob fleece that I got quite awhile back from Perfect Spot Farm in North Carolina with the little upright wheel. The Haldane is busy with a variegated Corriedale fleece that I bought two years ago at SAFF from Rising Meadow Farm. Loving how the singles are turning out!


Yarns from Unplanned Peacock, Ferrum, Virginia

And I've been bragging about these lovely yarns from a delightful new vendor here at Greenberry House in our weekly (mostly) newsletter. Natasha is a wonderful dyer and her yarns are so soft and richly colored. These yarns need to be touched!

Adventure!

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

I often think I would like to put aside the many obligations of dogs, cats, rabbits, shop, spinning wheel and garden and just travel around this wonderful country. But then I realize just how attached I am to home and creatures and I come to my senses. But for a change a little travel is nice!

First glimpse of Rocky Mountains, east of Denver

So we took off on a road trip, with the excuse of the Estes Park Wool Market as a destination. Actually, we both just needed some time off. Thanks to Linda and Susan I was able to leave the shop, and dear Kym and Laveta and Diane all looked after the different animals. Good folks around here!

As usual, we got a late start on Monday, because Ron had to work later than he had hoped. By the time we got the car emptied out of his work stuff and the dogs to their different places to stay, then packed, it was after 4 before we headed out. We made it as far as Charleston, West Virginia, before deciding to stay the night. We headed out early the next morning, driving across Kentucky looking for horses and horse farms, then into new territory for me across Indiana and Illinois. I would love to dye yarns in some of the colors I saw...bright greens and rich earth tones that were almost moorit. We stopped in Lawrence, Kansas, for the night and treated outselves to a salad dinner. In Charleston I was able to get the laptop to work for a little while, then it went on strike across the rest of the country!

It was foggy across Kansas, so I didn't see much on the way out. I know several people through Twitter, Facebook, and so on through this part of the country, but without the laptop it was hard to get in touch. And there's just never enough time to do everything I want to do, is there? I even have an old school friend that lives in Kansas now.

Climbing the mountain toward Estes Park

We were getting a little tired after three days on the road and glad to see the Castle Mountain Lodge when we got into town. We had dinner at Nicky's, following the path by the lovely Falling River and surrounded by mountains.


Cathy and Me

One of the main things I was looking forward to on the trip was finally meeting in person Cathy of Catena Expressions. If you're not familar with Cathy and her wonderful original crochet designs and beautiful descriptions and photographs of her part of the world, get on over and have a look. I'll wait.

An unexpected bonus was meeting Mike, Cathy's husband, who is a talented photographer and woodworker. We met for lunch at the Grubstake in Estes Park, and I can certainly recommend the Henrietta sandwich! There wasn't an awkward moment in visiting with these people I had never met in person. They are so interested in so many different things and ideas that there was something to chat about every minute.

As you can see by the photo above, Cathy brought me flowers, beautiful peonies from her garden at home. We brought them all the way back to Virginia, and they're still beautiful on my kitchen table right now.

Handmade Mike Clark Original Spindle

This picture didn't turn out well, but I was thrilled on Saturday when Mike presented me with this lovely spindle he made from a lovely piece of soft orange agate. I'm not a very good spindle spinner, but with this one I've been making beautiful fine singles from the California Red roving I bought at the Wool Market especially to spin with this spindle. It's beautifully balanced and spins like a dream!

More about the Wool Market and our visit to Estes Park in my next post. There are a lot of pictures in this photo set on Flickr.

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!

Getting Ready for the Weekend

A wreath of fiber

New yarns!  New Fiber!  And great new little bags to put your special project in!  it was great going to the festival, but even better to come back with new consignments for the shop.  Under the Dark Star is a new vendor for me, from Central Virginia (Sally, I need your address!) and she has glorious angora and angora blends, along with some other beautiful yarns and spinning fiber.  I'll be putting them up for sale on the web site before long.  But I have a feeling that when people get the chance to touch these wonderful fibers and yarns in the shop, they won't be staying here long!

Hand dyed yarns from Under the Dark Star

It has been a beautiful day, and I've been watching people getting set up for the 4th annual Hit and Miss Engine Show that is taking place this weekend here in Meadows of Dan.  I can see that a lot of hard work has gone into promoting this festival and there should be a lot of fun, music, antique engines, heritage demonstrations and more to enjoy out in the field on Concord Road.  I'll be at the shop all weekend, so come up and enjoy our beautiful breezes and all the things to do here!

Handmade Buttons from Lawre's Laine

Lawre has honored me by being a vendor here at Greenberry House since last year's Sedalia festival.  Her workmanship is wonderful and we also have some beautiful little project bags she calls "Bagettes" that are just the right size for that sock project or other small, take-along knitting.  Clip one on and go!  I've got my eye on a black one with an Oriental print...always go for the drama!

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!

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!

Road Trip!

Texel Wool from Border Springs Farm in Patrick County

After many days of being sick with miserable cold and flu-type stuff, and then more days of frantically trying to catch up on all the things I needed to get done, it was a pleasure to put everything aside for a (ta-dah) ROAD TRIP!

Friend Linda of just-up-the-road-and-under-the-hill-near-Buffalo-Mountain was able to get away, too, and we set out on a long-anticipated trip to the Central Virginia Fiber Mill, near Ruckersville.  Linda drove and we piled five bags of wool into the back seat of her truck to make the three hour trip.  For once we didn't get lost!  It rained most of the way, though, so I didn't get any pictures of the drive through the lovely valleys of Virginia.

Julep, Mill Dog

Julep met us when we drove up.  She's a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, a breed I'd never met in person.   Farm life with the alpacas and at the mill seemed to really agree with her.  Julep greeted us graciously after a proper introduction!

Processing fiber into roving

I heard about the mill on Ravelry, in reply to a post I put up asking about possible Virginia fiber processors.  Since my shop mostly attracts tourists that are interested in Virginia and Virginia products, I thought I'd like to have a Virginia processor handle the Texel Fleeces I bought down in Patrick Springs a few weeks ago.  I was thrilled when someone replied with the information about the Central Virginia Fiber Mill, and Mary graciously agreed to allow us to bring our fleeces up and see the mill for ourselves.  Note: the lovely roving in the following pictures is NOT from our fleeces!

Mary watching the new roving carefully

It was wonderful to finally see how a wool processing mill works at last, after sending wool out to be processed for years to distant mills I've had no chance of visiting.  Everywhere in the spacious building something was going on.  Wool and other fibers were drying on racks; there was a picker back in a corner ready to go to work and the machine that makes roving was working hard.  The next step, Mary explained, was putting the fiber through a pin drafter and then finally on the big spinning machine to create a beautiful yarn.  The machine I envied her most for was the skein winder, which could wind six skeins at once of carefully measured yarn.  Automatically!

I'm excited about working with Mary, who was a delightful hostess and taught us a lot about how she processes the wool.  The Texel we left is going to be made into roving.  I want to spin it myself at first and see what kind of yarn it makes.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Roving as it comes out of the machine

Linda and I had a wonderful time together, as usual.  And as usual we talked ourselves hoarse about everything under the sun.  On Mark's recommendation we headed back toward Harrisonburg to stop at Hank's Smokehouse for a late lunch, and had a wonderful meal.  As both Linda and I would say "Goood.....I reckon!"  We shared a Bourbon Chocolate Chip Pecan pie with ice cream for dessert that could ruin you for any other pecan pie ever (except for maybe your mama's).  Then we headed back down the Interstate toward good old Meadows of Dan, glad to have had the chance for a fun trip to meet fantastic people.  Nice to be home, though!

Fresh from the Farm at Greenberry House!

This morning I dutifully trotted up to the shop through the rain for my first day back with spring hours.   Doesn't really feel like spring yet, watching the rain fall down and the fog crowd in over the bare trees.  But it won't be long until folks are heading for the Blue Ridge Parkway to admire the beautiful bloom of rhododendron and flame azalea, so I'd better be ready.  Greenberry House is now open from 10 AM to 6 PM, Thursday to Monday, until December!