It was a mixed bag for the weather- windy with sunshine, rain, and hail even! We even managed to luck out with a non-rainy period so we could walk around Hahndorf ( a small town that boasts its German heritage) a little bit! We weren't in the right area for the sweets shop that carries US imports- darn it all ( Thanks again Robbie, for telling me about them)- but we did spend a long time in a clock shop.
RJ loves clocks and I love cuckoo clocks- this shop had lots of all kinds of nice clocks. We didn't purchase anything in the town as we were out of cash after the Fibre fair and the bakery ( called Lobethal Bakery- but we were in Woodside- !?!) we hit for breakfast - $2.20 for one choc. iced yeast donut! Plus nearly $3.00 each for a slice of apple strudel ( for DH ) and a danish pastry type thing that had dollop of apricot preserve in the middle for me. PLUS! loaf of onion and herb bread that was worth every cent of it's over $4.00 price tag. Crazy crazy crazy!!
But oh well- it's only once a year-ish!
Anyway- first person we bought from was Suzie Horne- she has Finnish Landrace- she was very low- not alot of choice this year- as the Littlehampton event cleaned her out pretty well....she even remembered us from LAST year- and we only talked with her- didn't get a chance to buy anything! She especially remembered RJB- that pleased me. :)
If you have not had the chance to touch Finn wool for yourself, please do ! You will love it I bet! It is VERY soft. I am continually amazed. I think it is my favourite fibre to date. Here are the photos for our goodies from Suzie's stand:
Below is a close up of some of the dyed Finn from Suzie.
Below are the two rovings- the purple is more pinky purple than this and the gold is more pale than this- but this is the best I could get out of my camera! lol
Here is the best photo of the green shades Dh bought:
Then we visited with, and bought lots from, Kathy Baschiera who has batts that she cards up- they are FABULOUS. Got some of those, then I went silly - RJB picked out a handpainted roving from Kathy ( in pinks and blues and purples!!!!!!! go figure!?) and I got several, will write them out with their pictures.
I have a goal to own one of each of the 17 colourways she does- eventually! lol
Here are some photos of what was brought home:
Above is one of 4 of tri-colour batts she did up HOT PINK, green, and gold. I'm a sucker for bright happy colours. Can't wait to see how this spins up.
Below you will find a few pics of the dark green batts she did with some Glitz fibre added in.
I LOOOO_OOOVE to touch this and photograph this- it is so soft and shiny and sparkly..*sigh* wish I'd gotten more... you can also see to the left of the green is a light bright sky blue- it is beautiful. IF I can get a picture of it to come up true I will post it. All that I took were no where near as pretty as it is in real life. This tiny peek is closer than I could get with any 'single' shots.
OK- and here are my real heart racers- the rovings...
This pic above shows the whole group- below you will see individuals of all but the pink/purple one.. that wouldn't photograph purple for me- just BLUE... so this is the best picture of that.
Above is one that was an experimental colourway she and her friend Hazel created called "Daffodil". She wants more yellow in it so this group she made was a one off thing. I *had* to have one! :) Below is "Flowering Gum". Brilliant name- brilliant colourway. I 'heart' it. :)
The above one is called "Outback"- fell in love with that one and Flowering Gum when I saw them at the Heart of the Hills market in Lobethal.
Below is one called- "Sharon"! Can you believe it?! I was bold and asked her a few weeks ago if she would ever try a yellow and red/rust/burgundy colour - and she did! And then when we arrive at the stand she shows it to me- and my name on it!!!! I was so embarrassed and flabbergasted as the same time! lol It was/is very flattering to have a roving colourway named after you... never in a million years did i think that would happen! (I hope she sold out. If not I will have to have more...) I really do hope it was well liked- I know I love the colours. I love where the yellow and the reddish colour meet...like on the lower edge of the picture. Just brilliant. ( Thanks Kathy- I am well and truly spoiled now! )
THEN! - THEN! I went over to the Lucinvale Farm stand and found more of FINN...... had some dyed locks i loved so got them -
and a bag of cream/white finn and a caramel colour I have not seen before- ohhh the pictures can't do justice to the perfect caramel colour of this fleece. The photos:
Above is the bag of white Finn- below is a lock taken from the bag. So SOFT.
And here is the caramel coloured one that I wrote about earlier, although it really doesn't show the right colour here- the ends of the locks are more what the colour is in sunlight:
We looked around a bit more only to find approx. 500g of white alpaca for $2! It felt nice and soft and seemed pretty nice for that! Not much VM in the one I chose!
THEN Richard bought a fleece for $4.....not sure what is 'wrong' with it- other than I think it might be last years shearing. From Eagleview Farm- it wasn't her fleece though- she was selling it from some she had from someone else- but it is 1.9 k of border x merino! Here's a peek:
Didn't even look at the Bennett and Gregor this year. Didn't seem to have alot in the spinning fibres- just the huge felting batts and yarns. RJB also got a little plastic canvas lolly bird ( had a lollipop in it's "beak"...) - it's cute.
Then with all of RJ's urging-it was off to Melba's. It was a success as RJ found his beloved construction vehicle toy with a chocolate bulldozer taped on! :) This time was a 'plow' sort of thing. Not sure what it actually is- but he loves it.
Hope you enjoyed the post and
hope you are well.
4 comments:
I so loved reading your post! You've made me even more determined to learn to spin those rovings look so yummy!
Thanks for sharing :)
Cute pic of RJB! Love it.
My comments on your haul, in one word - jealous, jealous, jealous.
You've been to both events, which one would be worth more for a gal travelling four hours or more to get there... just in case she finds it necessary to take the trek next year... yaknow, can't have her pulling out all stops and going to the wrong one...
It's a pity Lucinvale don't have a website (not that I've found anyway). I love your haul of Finn there.
We went to the Melba's Chocolate Factory in January this year. Arrived at 4.15pm to find they close at 4.30pm. Oops. We had a mad dash around anyway and found chocolate to buy and taste test first. We had planned to go to the cheese factory there too, but they also closed at 4.30pm too.
I want to do the Haighs tour at some stage too. Yummy stuff that.
Every year I hear about the Mt. Pleasant gig, and every year I hear about it AFTER the fact. I would so love to go, and I'm going next year if it kills me. DH works right down the road from there in Birdwood...I wonder if he heard and just didn't tell me...the louse! Well, I'm truly jealous of all your beautiful things.
As to the Hahndorf American candy...you would have probably died when you saw the price tags for THAT..so probably best you didn't :) I still have a bit of price tag shock from time to time when I compare to American prices, but I'm getting over it.
Sounds (and looks) like you had a wonderful time. The pictures are excellent, but I know what you mean by not capturing the colors to do full justice. Ah well.
Cheers,
Robbie
Oh Youy lucky thing!! I managed to score a big bag of Finn lamb fleece, and contacts for more finn mixes but not sure which one to try yet! The colour you stashed are simply divine,again lucky you,theres no fibre festivals anywhere near here!! So glad you had a wonderful time!
Post a Comment