Another fair season has ended......

.....and now it's time for me to get caught up on things around the house before I can finally breathe again. The 2008 fair went rather well. There were some rough spots....and some lessons learned. Afterall, I am still learning. This is my second year as department superintendent.....and it did go much better than last year. Met lots of interesting people from all over the world.....and was the motivation for those who've always wanted to learn how to spin but just didn't know where to start......or were too intimidated to give it a try. The department sponsor was pleased with how well things went. The store traffic had increased over last year as did sales. Can't complain about that at all. :)

Of course there was a very dark spot in it all. One of my little felted sheep was taken from the spinning area. It was definitely something I was not expecting at all. I had brought both of my felted sheep in so that people (especially the kids) could see and feel something made from hand spun. Apparently someone felt that they needed one of my felted sheep more than I did. "Little Charlie" disappeared the second day he was there....with people in the spinning area.....and a crowd in the barn. Someone had reached over the wrought iron fence that surrounded the spinning area.....to the inside of the table where "Little Charlie" was. At first we were all hoping a child had simply walked off with him and would be returned as soon as the parent saw it. Unfortunately he was never returned. "Little Charlie" did have a label on his belly with his name, my name, and date he was made. I honestly don't think I will ever see this little felted lamb again. I'm just glad that I took pictures and was able to make a small sheep pincushion from the left-over yarn. It was spun from the real Charlie's lamb fleece. The other felted lamb was taken home.....and a lesson was learned. Put things on display that you don't mind if they walk away.

I had taken my Clemes & Clemes wheel to spin on for most of the fair. My Hitchhiker was there for the first couple of days, but it went home when the Clemes & Clemes was brought down. The C & C is a much heavier wheel (less chance of it walking off) and people really seem to enjoy seeing it in action. I did so much spinning this year that I filled six bobbins (spun about 2 1/2 pounds) with singles....which now will be plyed into finished yarn. At one time I also had five drop spindles going. All with different fibers. Most of the drop spindles have been wound off and the yarn finished. Only two still have singles on them.....and those are the ones that I travel with. Now to decide what I will do with all that finished yarn. :)