Sheep and wool festival and more

So it has been a while since my last post. Since then I have officially graduated from college and now have a Bachelors in Psychology! I also started a new job, which has been taking up all of my spare time. I don’t get home until 4:40 in the afternoon on most days and since I am still trying to get use to my schedule and work load in my spare time I am tired as all hell. I have been there for 3 weeks now and after my first week I got sick and I’m just starting to feel better, so that didn’t help very much with my energy levels. Slowly I’m coming home with more energy, and hopefully will be able to get more accomplished.

The first weekend of my new job was Memorial Day weekend and I went away with a friend (Val) to the Massachusetts sheep and wool festival. We had a lot of fun even though I felt like crap. We drove out wet to the fair on Saturday checked into our hotel then spend the next few hours at the fairgrounds. We really enjoyed looking at the sheep and all the different exhibits. We even tried out a new hobby, Hooking, it as a lot of fun and I think, I'm just going to have to go out and buy some supplies.
They had some wonderful stalls with nice people and great products. There was one stall,however, that we came across where we found the vendor to be rather snobbish which was disappointing because I had heard great things about them and was told it was a must see. Val basically came along to keep me company and see the sheep, she does not spin and she knits rarely so she wasn’t into all the fiber and yarn, all she wanted to buy were little sheep items, and this particular vendor had an adorable button pin no bigger than a quarter, that she loved. She wanted to purchase a couple with the idea of replacing the pin with a little magnet for her fridge. After waiting like five minutes for the vendor to acknowledge her (she was pretty much standing in front of the lady who was talking to another vendor) she was told they weren't for sale but were free with purchase...now I was going to buy something, after all she had lovely fiber but the look she gave my friend when she said this was exceptionally rude and condescending. Therefore, we just left. Her prices were a bit pricey and I knew I could buy fiber elsewhere where it was cheaper and the service was friendlier. That rather put a damper on my friend’s day that’s for sure.

Her day eventually brightened up towards the end when we came across a stall, Holiday Yarns, (you can find a picture of heir stall on the owners (Jennifer) blog in this post) which really had some wonderful items! They had lovely colored sock yarns and amazing sock kits displayed (pictures do them no justice you have to see them in person for the full effect) and of course, they had fiber. It just so happened to be the only stall I saw BFL fiber sold in, which was exactly what I was looking for! After looking around for a little bit, I finally settled on buying 4 0unces of BFL dyed yellow. While I was paying my friend saw a bar of sheep milk soap which was cleverly crafted into the shape of a sheep (So cute!) that’s she loved! However by this point all she was buying was soap and already had about 6 bars in her bag, so she was hesitating and decided she wasn’t going to buy any (she was still in her bummed mood and pretty much done with shopping), seeing how much she liked it the woman running the stall (Jennifer) gave it to her for free! It wasn’t a small bar of soap either. Now that is real customer service and that act alone, even if I didn’t like her products, would have had me coming back for more. Actually, I did, I went back for a business card and then before leaving the fair I told my friend we needed to stop in one last time so I got some more fiber in the stall, some purple BFL by Gnomespun yarns. I have yet to test the fiber out but once I get my spinning wheel back I will! Once I get some more cash flow coming in I would love to buy one of their stunning sock kits and some sock yarn.

For those wondering I did get my spinning wheel, I got it right before I started my new job however I was having an issue with one of the peddles and had to send it back to get fixed. I would have it already only I wasn’t able to get it in the post until yesterday. Jan (the maker/owner of Heavenly Handspinning) will be reimbursing me for shipping and will be sending some extra goodies back with my wheel for my troubles!

I also finished my Chameleon. He came out really cute. I will have to make another one someday.