We made good time, arriving around 10:30 and before we knew it there was an announcement stating that it was 3:45 and the park was closing! Where did the time go????
The kids were thankful I had them pack the extra clothes -- and so was I! It was cold out! I had on two T-shirts, two sweatshirts, and my poncho and was still freezing! At one point the wind was blowing so hard we had to chase my daughter's hat (I opted to anchor it down with her ponytail which seemed to do the trick!).
We saw Linda of Grafton Fibers (she's still talking to hubby about making me purple crochet hook earrings ... perhaps something like these for me to wear when I'm doing demonstrations at large events?), and spoke with Lady McCrady about possibly coming to the Danbury area to teach a workshop in the future (I bought a hook from her & she autographed the instructions on how to use it for me!) -- I hope she does!
We later ventured over to the GEM show that was running alongside the FIBER. Now that does seem to spell trouble for those of us who like to combine the two, but I did restrain myself. ((grins)) I had given the children money to spend before starting at the festival so they had fun looking at all the rocks. My son chose to buy his birthstone, and my daughter opted for a pretty purplish rock called "fluorite." We then turned a corner in the building and found a lot of kids "hands on" activities -- they were in heaven!
I'd like to thank the Northeastern Woodworkers Association for really exciting my son about working with wood. His helper, Ron, was so patient with him as he screwed, glued, hammered and sawed to make the cutest squirrel feeder! Their goal is to educate the youth about the joys of working in wood. As Ron stated during our chat with him, "woodworking is not offered in the schools anymore and finding people with the skills is getting more rare." That tune sounded familiar. That's one of the main reasons I helped start the "Happily Hooked on Crocheting Club" -- so we could promote and educate others about this terriffic art form!! (BTW: today is the 4 Year Anniversary for The HHCC! Whoohoo!!)
Moving on with yesterday's adventure, we had lamb-burgers for lunch, fried dough for desert. We watched a dinosaur puppet show, a man do a juggling act, and had our pictures taken with a cute sheep. We visited what seemed like hundreds of vendors, each with amazing delights! To the right is most of our "bounty" from the day -- nothing like the other attendees who had armloads and armloads of loot!! The children pooled their money together to get "Fluffy the Llama," while I choose to bring home items that I haven't found locally:* The "Angelina Loose" is little fibers, kinda like roving, which as I understand it you "draft" along with the actual fibers. I'm thinking that I need to experiment with it so I got the hot pink and the turquoise blue for that purpose.
* The license plate cover, well, I think it just says it all ((giggles))
* The silk worm cocoons belong to my son and I. His are the three "natural" colored ones, mine is the blue. We'll spend some time opening one of his later this week; while the blue one is calling to me, "Work me into a necklace!!" (Odd that it should say that, but who am I to question what a fiber wants to be when it grows up?)
* The egg container is really unspun wool fiber of various colors. It will be used for felting experiments. I thought it wize to go "small" until I know which felting methods I like best.
* Also pictured is the "Shirret" crochet hook I mentioned earlier,
* and I got some more charms for my bracelet (a sheep and a llama).
See, with the hundreds of vendors there, I really did control myself! Or did I???
Just a few miles down the road as we were returning home, some activity along the roadside caught our eye. Turns out it was a yarn shop ... and not ANY yarn shop ... it was the Morehouse Farm shop. It's a beautiful store, and we spent a lot of time checking out all the delicious fibers! I didn't get any this time, but I did pick up the book, "How to Make Felt: Create Hats, Bags, Rugs, Masks &Much More" by Anne Belgrave.
Yeah, I'd say it was a great day!! :)
1 comment:
Sounds like you had a really great time! I like your idea about the crochet hook earrings. So cute. And, your son is right. The llama looks like he is having a GREAT time! Very cute smile. :-)
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