We attended back in 2004. I am sure of that. We were at the fair the weekend the NY Yankees beat the Red Sox in a blowout to take a commanding lead in the divisional series only to have the Red Sox come back to win that series. I prefer to remember it as the year of my first KNITTERPALOOZA.
It was marked with rows of vendors selling wool in all forms, from the raw product right off the sheep to knitted hats, scarves and sweaters. You could buy yarn as well as patterns and tools to complete anything from simple to complex projects. It was also a great place to people watch as the crowd was a mixture of extremes. There were young and old, hippie and upper crust cultured, female and male, straight and …in the round needle users (HA HA, you thought I was going to go there, didn’t you…) Yes, this was prime textile crafters heaven. I thought the 2004 Fair was big until we arrived for the 2010 funfest.
Yes, the rows of vendors were all around. The buildings were filled with product and demonstrations and raw materials and animals and their owners. It was a beautiful autumn day, a bit cold and windy but one that allowed many to show off their hand crafted hats and sweaters and scarves and bags and all the rest.
We met up with a friend, Laura, we had not seen for years. She gave up the corporate lifestyle of the Washington DC area to raise sheep and make yarn. We wandered around the fair, watched a boarder collie herding demonstration and sampled some fine fair food – overpriced as expected but still enjoyed in the cold air.
(A sample of the colorful yarns available)
(Beautiful autumn sky in upstate NY)
Only two comments left to make. The first was related to the exit from the fair. The parking situation was a mess, very confusing and we waited more that 45 minutes to advance like 50 feet down the main aisle of the lot. A woman, thought it was ok, to cut through the parking lot, zig zagging through the different lines of cars to get to the front of the line and she tried to enter by cutting in front of me. I did not allow her to do so, inching up so she could not get in. She rolled down her window and made a nasty comment. I rolled down my window and calmly told her she was wrong to do what she was trying to do…Nah, I rolled down my window and called her a very unladylike name. She shut up after that.
(A warning to the lazy sheep and lambs???)
The other comment – I remember commenting on this fact at the 2004 fair and again this year. The food areas are dotted with all the standard fair fare. You know dogs and sausage and burgers and pizza and ice cream and the like. But there also area food booths that sell things like lamb chile and lamb stew and lamb sausage and other similar eatables. It just leaves me to wondering if this is what happens to the sheep that are no longer able to produce the high quality wool any more. Our friend assured me that even old sheep make nice wool and this was not the case but I’m not so sure about this!
(You could be stew!)
I have attached a few photographs of the even, highlighting some of the sights there.I hope you enjoyed them!
(an obviously disinterested alpaca, there was no alpaca soup there!)
4 comments:
Perhaps when you move here we can explore some New Mexico wool festivals. I would love an excuse to go, and I'm sure that I would get enthusiastic enough to dust off my spinning wheel.
Great post.
Would you be willing to teach me the Manly art of spinning?
Really? I'd be glad to!
Alpaca meal or I'll be the goat!
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