Monday, April 29, 2013

The 104th Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival

Beautiful day at the 104th Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival
Waking up early is always a battle for this self-proclaimed night owl, but with the aroma of coffee in the air I managed to get up early, and got out the door fairly early this past Saturday morning.  We were off to the 104th Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival that turned out to be a beaut-i-ful spring day!

TuckerWoodsYarn I couldn't resist adopting.

Joining up with other members of my CGOA Chapter, we set up our booth displaying a wide variety of crochet projects we created out of natural fibers; wool, alpaca, cotton, and so on.  The crocheted projects that seemed to be a hit this year were felted crochet (a purse), and a scarf (crocheted with the "seed" stitch) that had a woven look to it.  Our demonstrations on Tunisian crochet and crocheting with unspun roving were also a hit.  In fact, I just received this compliment via email from one of the visitors to our booth:
Heavenly roving by SheepShed
"Saw you at the CT Sheep and Wool festival yesterday. You showed my Mother and I how to crochet with unspun fiber. Bought some [roving] while we were there and tried it today....what fun; you were right. Thanks, Melissa
Thanks Melissa!  I love when we hear back from visitors from our booth!  :)

When I wasn't in the booth, I was out enjoying seeing all the animals (there was even a bunny on a leash out for a stroll!), and looking at all the eye-candy at the various vendor booths.  I treated myself to two three new goodies:
Giraffe bag by StitchedbyJessa
1. Beautiful "blue" merino/teucel roving from www.SheepShed.net that I used for demonstrating with throughout the day (in fact, many of my Chapter members went & bought some for themselves too!)

2. A skein of hand-painted sock yarn by www.TuckerWoodsyarn.com -- perhaps to be worked into the collar from the "Heros, Hooks & Heirloom" book I mentioned the other day.

3. A project bag by http://stitchedbyjessalu.bigcartel.com/ -- naturally I went with the giraffe theme bag (how could I not? lol).  It was the perfect size to hold my roving, my project, and my crochet hook!

This was a great kickoff for the 2013 Sheep & Wool Festival/Fair season and I'm looking forward to attending more!  :)

Friday, April 26, 2013

... the ties that bind us: family heirlooms ...

I'm sure I've mentioned this many times before, but I think it is well worth mentioning again:  I love Piecework magazine!  Cover to cover!
 
Family Heirlooms: Granny sporting her
new crocheted tiara.
In the mail today was the May/June 2013 issue, which included an article by the author of a book I mentioned here at CWD back in 2007 (http://crochetwithdee.blogspot.com/2007/06/heroes-hooks-and-heirlooms.html) ... "Of Heroes, Hooks, and Heirlooms", by Faye Silton.  While I still highly recommend this book, I was thrilled to see the author has now offered the crochet pattern that her fictional character, Mia, could have created.

... and since I'll be at the Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival, I now get to shop for a lovely yarn to crochet it with.   Whoot!

                                                                       --*--**--*--

In just the past couple of weeks actually, I've learned of some family history I never knew -- of a young couple that met at a yarn mill, fell in love, married - and fast forward a few generations - here I am! (More proof that I have yarn fibers in my DNA; lol

I also saw for the first time a picture of another relative who was a Canadian Mounted Police Officer -- who also loved to crochet (I'll have to post his picture sometime).  The feeling of family connection/history -- though holding a copy of the young couple's marriage certificate, to holding a picture, was amazing!
 
To me heirlooms don't need to be something worth a lot of money, but it does have to have some emotional or family ties.  I think this is why my mother was quick to have "dibs" to be the next in line for the crocheted tiara I recently designed/crocheted for granny -- because it is something tangible we can hold close to our hearts.  Perhaps this is why Silton's story resignates in me the way it does.  :)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Join me at the 104th Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival!


Looking for me?  :)

I will be at the 104th Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival this Saturday with my CGOA Chapter members, The Happily Hooked on Crochet Club.  We'll be in the WHITE Barn offering FREE Beginner Crochet Lessons, demonstrations on Tunisian Crochet, and demonstrations on crocheting with Unspun Roving.  I look forward to seeing everyone visiting our booth!  :)