Monday, May 26, 2008

Springside Farms Shearing Festival



We got in a fiber event after all for my birthday! Earlier plans to attend the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool were thwarted, but I saw a small listing for an event much closer to home and one that seemed to cater to kids. Although not as much fiber as at the more mainstream events, we totally enjoyed our day at Springside Farms.

For the children, there were slingshots where you could loft apples across pastures or try to hit targets, a 150' zipline, a slide, hay jump, a hay ride, petting zoo, and reasonably priced snacks. They also enjoyed the chainsaw carver and small children had pools full of corn kernels to play in. The larger fleece festivals could learn from this event: if you keep children occupied and happy, moms and dads have more time to look and shop. Although on the outside edge of the targeted audience, my 11 year old son, his 15 year old sister and her boyfriend seemed to enjoy themselves for the morning.



So did we. I talked to a fellow about llamas, a nice lady about Icelandic sheep, and bought 1# of black heavenly alpaca roving as well as a 100 gram skein of alpaca sock yarn. Hand dyed in blue and brown. There were handspinners there and the animals were a pleasure to see. A very pleasant birthday for me!



As a bonus of the riding time, I finished As Simple As Snow and my first pretty petals sock.



And here's the added stash. Gotta go spin!


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