Harvest Fair, Swamp Yankee Days, Fiber Twist, Sunshine, and Rain...

On Saturday, Sept 20th I was at Coggeshall Farm with my spinner friends for a demo. It was a bit cool in the morning, but the day quickly warmed up. We were under a period replica tent and awning so the sunshine was not beating on us too much. Some actually sat out and enjoyed the warmth of the day. If I did that, I would be red as a tomato. It was good to see some people I hadn't seen since the RI Sheep and Wool Festival last May, or even since the retreat last February.

I managed to get a good portion of the same fiber I've been spinning on my Sonata done. It's the "good and plenty" from DkKnits.

There were many period activities for children including a rope ladder over hay bales and a magician. Food was available and several people said was very good. I'm trying to stay on my diet plan, so brought my lunch with me.

Sunday was spent with my husband. We went to the Mansfield CT Flea Market where I scored a luggage carrier to roll my wheel bag, chair, and tote bag around with instead of carrying it across fields and such. At another spot I found a nice big stainless steel stock pot for dyeing. Pat found a couple of tools and some hinges to use on the new fence gate. From there, we headed 6 miles up the road to the Coventry Farmer's Market and Fiber Twist. He bought me some fiber from the Painted Sheep, and after resting in the car a bit, we went back in to watch the dyeing demo by her. Sandi, Marva, and Lisa had rode up together, and Gigi was there with her husband and baby too. It was a sunshine, fiber, and friend filled day.

On Sunday evening I had a sore throat. By Monday morning I had trouble taking deep breaths. My husband wanted me to get checked out on Tuesday, but I waited until Wednesday to see my own doctor. My heart is fine. It was a bug in the lungs that is going around. It makes it hard to breath in a deep breath. Also, upon moving too much or too fast, I was short winded. I'm fine now, but, it took a few days resting. The only other thing is I'm having a good amount of pain in the right hand from the cortisone wearing off. I'm trying not to call the doctor yet. The exercises and night brace do help in the morning. Unfortunately, this does cut down on my spin, knit, and crochet time.

Then last weekend was Swamp Yankee Days. Thanks to a few tropical storms, and a nor'easter, it was decided that next year would be a better choice. My plan was to go on Sunday. I heard the puddles were the size of small lakes or ponds on Monday. I can only imagine how it looked and felt on the weekend. I had already decided to skip the Saturday because it was the monthly Sit and Spin at Sue's.

Judy, Cindy, Iris, Paula, Marva and myself spent some enjoyable time together with Sue. I managed to finish the fiber I was working on at Coggeshall Farm and start my first try at Ramboullet. This fiber wants to almost spin by itself. I'm managing sort of a modified long draw at times. Here's hoping I can finish it this week and ply the aforementioned fiber. I'm leaning toward a 2 ply with that since there are so many colors, Navajo ply will not preserve the color repeats and may muddy it too much.

I did manage to mail out 2 knitted and 1 crocheted Traveling Scarves. I have another ready to go, maybe today if I get to the Post Office.