Last night I returned from a trip to Massachusetts to have a visit with family and friends. My brother, Gus, flew me out so that I could help him with a booth he was offered at Sheepshearing Day in Waltham, MA, just outside Boston. If an exhibitor was demo-ing or showing some livestock, the booth fee was waived. I was the demo-er. Gus has worked to develop a couple of yarn lines from his Shetland sheep. One is a 2-ply jumper weight yarn, and the other is a 3-ply dk weight. Both are blended with 5% silk and are lovely to work with. As of now, there are 3 natural colors and 4 yarns which are dyed with natural dyes.

The weather prediction was for rain. It had been raining off and on since I had arrived there Thursday. The field the tents were set up on was quite wet, and we didn't think to bring drop cloths. But the day ended up being quite sunny and things began to dry out.
I was fortunate to be able to spin on Gus's wheel, custom made for him by a man on Fair Isle who built it out of driftwood. A sweet little castle wheel, but unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it. We thought we'd brought a clean fleece - also unfortunately, this turned out to not be true. So I spun all day in the grease, and today, 4 days later, my hands and arms still ache. Lots of people wandered through the tent and were fascinated by the spinning process. Sheepshearding Day isn't necessarily something that attracts a lot of fiber people - it's mostly set up as a crafts fair, with sheep shearing demo, sheep dog demo, folk dancers, and lots of booths selling mosly non-fiber related things. Oh, and don't forget the food vendors. (Sorry, but I couldn't bring myself to sample the Fried Dough or Sponge Bob Square Pants popsicles!) This was Gus's 1st experience selling in such a setting, and at the end of the day, it turned out quite sucessfully. Lots of cards were distributed with his website information
(www.swiftriverfarm.com)
Preparation for the day took all day Friday - winding skeins and wrapping ball bands, putting kits together, packing up, and trying to predict just what we were going to need. All in all, too much fun!

Next:
further adventures in New England and the Adirondacks.