Sheep to Shawl 2010

Guard the bank accounts and hide the credit cards! Time to dip into that cookie jar where you've been stashing the twenties all year. Fiber festival season is underway!

This weekend it was the Sheep to Shawl festival at Mission Mill in Salem, where the old Thomas Kay Woolen Mill has been converted into a museum and shops, and historic houses from the Willamette Mission have been gathered as a history museum.

It's a place to see cashmere on the hoof:

Aww, what a cutie pie. Think of that sweet face next time you're tempted by the cashmere. Who can resist?

There was sheep shearing going on, too. This Icelandic sheep got rather impatient near the end, especially after a couple of razor nicks:


But the freshly-shorn baa-lambs seemed quite refreshed:

There was live music on the green, below the old schoolhouse:

And Stephania of Three Fates Yarns had her wares out:

Alas, due to unexpected expenses we're running out of money before we run out of month, but if we hang tight until Thursday, we'll be fine. And then there may be some of that Three Fates hand-dyed merino top in my future.