Dear Jan,
Home from Shepherd’s Harvest, and I made it without buying two fleeces like last year. I held myself to a mere one and a half. heh!
The point of a fiber festival is the fiber. I made a study of the fleeces for judging and captured shots of quite a few - you can see them here if you want to look at the wide variety with breeds labeled.
The bunnies were also well represented. A photo spread of the surprising number of Angora-type rabbits is here. I’m not sure who these two are, other than cute.
But the best reason to go to fiber fests is to see friends, and I saw many. One standout is Catherine Friend (yes, that’s right), author of the newly released Sheepish: Two women, fifty sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet. Her previously published Hit by a Farm and The Compassionate Carnivore have been well received, and HBAF is downright funny, so I am looking forward to digging into this one.
Another standout - Gwen and her incredibly beautiful Fair Isle tam. The colors are both calming and exciting to me, and the workmanship just lovely.
But my BFF (Best Fiber Friend) for the weekend was Kimberly, who agreed to go halvesies on this gorgeous gun-metal gray Romney fleece. At first we were bidding against each other, but an armistice was reached and now we have a solid alliance.
I hope any of your negotiations this coming week go equally well.
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.