Autumn colors

My new stash for winter, courtesy the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival.

Looking for a good yarn?

Autumn is a great time to buy wooly yarn and fiber and start making holiday gifts. We are lucky enough to live fairly close to the town of Hemlock, where the Finger Lakes Fiber festival is held every year in September. Larry and I look forward to it practically all year long. It's very relaxing and our first trip was what started me thinking about spinning. This year I had a good budget to work with and was able to get a nice selection of fiber along with some felting supplies. Yes, felting, another fun thing to distract myself with!

Alpacas at the festival—friendly and cute!

Hand made mittens of alpaca fiber.

Shetland sheep are small (about the size of a sheltie) — but they produce some of the softest wools.

 

Sheep dogs being trained. They're young dogs and don't quite “get" that they are supposed to herd the sheep, not chase them. I can only imagine how much work it is to train a dog to herd sheep.

Colorful hand spun yarns for sale.

Big red ball (1 1/4 pounds) of wool roving from the festival that I am spinning. Going for a worsted type of yarn. Haven't decided whether I will ply it or not. Originally hoping to make a sweater, but not sure I'll get enough yardage for that.

More fall colors: in the garden

Though always a little melancholy, fall is also one of my favorite garden seasons. I love our native asters and goldenrod. Admittedly both can get rather aggressive in the garden, so I try and keep them under control. I have New England and New York aster cultivars and a number of wild hybrids that I selected from my brothers property. One has light purple flowers and curly petals. The bees and butterflies love them all.

Larry enjoying a nice late summer/early fall day in the front garden.

Ganzanias I grew from seed last winter.

Front garden with a mixture of asters plus zinnias and cosmos. Late September. More to come, blogger has stopped uploading. Must be some heavy traffic tonight!