It's Autumn! Time for Fiber Festivals and Balloon Festivals

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm summer, I mean fall day. The temperatures were in the low 80's so you can see why I would make that mistake. A perfect day to ride up to Greenwich, New York for the 2nd annual Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival.

It was held on the Washington County Fairgrounds and I could smell the wool fumes as soon as I exited the car. They called to me to come and touch and buy.

There were beautiful fibers to spin....

and blend....

and even cocoons to spin your own silk.

Of course there was yarn everywhere too.

I made sure I visited my friend Karin's booth ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/franknit ) to scoop up some of her lovely Periwinkle Sheep sock yarn to make a prayer shawl for a friend. There's my hubby behind her waiting to pay. He's a keeper!

I love to visit the animals who so graciously let us shear their coats. What a regal fellow this llama is. He stood so proudly.

And who can resist those darling angora bunnies?

My son will be disappointed that I didn't bring this little fellow home.

However, I am just allergic enough that I can't knit with angora. What a shame! Their fiber is so soft and warm.

But I'm not allergic to alpaca. Isn't he a cutie?!

This fat guy was too lazy to even look up at the camera. He's not really fat, it's all wool!

My favorite was this gentle giant.

He just laid there staring at me as if to say, "Who are you staring at?"

There were all kinds of demonstrations everywhere. Here a spinner works her magic.

And here's another with a slightly different technique. She is using a drop spindle instead of a spinning wheel.

There was also a hooker! Rug hooker, that is.

She did a beautiful job!

My great-grandmother was a weaver so I especially like to watch the magic that happens when the fabric appears.

Of course, you could purchase already made garments too.

And there were all kinds of tools. These hand blown glass handled crochet hooks were beautiful.

Since it was a fiber festival there was more than just knitting. There were a whole array of felted items for sale as well.

These bowls were especially colorful and cleverly designed.

And just in time for Halloween were these hand felted masks. I wouldn't want to meet any of these on a dark night!

At that same booth there was an opportunity to felt your own flowers using bubble wrap and warm soapy water.

After a goodly amount of time spent agitating the plastic sheet you get these beautiful flowers.

Now if you know where the fairgrounds are, you'll know that you are only a few hundred yards away from the best homemade ice cream in the area. And we never pass up the opportunity to stop in for a taste.... or three. LOL!

Ooops! You caught me red-handed! I couldn't decide between the pumpkin, Miller's Mudslide, or Hugh's Chocolate Overload so I had a little of each. Bad girl! Well, I'm not going to have dessert for at least until......Tuesday! That's when the Chicks will be celebrating our fifth anniversary.

After the fiber festival we drove over to Glens Falls for the annual Balloon Festival. Due to the bumper to bumper traffic, it took us about an hour and a half to drive two miles to the location where the festival takes place, passing homes along the way where families were all set up with their picnics to enjoy the balloons flying by. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the entrance we found out that due to unpredictable high winds the race had been cancelled. All those poor families who were waiting were going to be so disappointed. I did manage to see one balloon before it completely deflated.

So instead Ron and I took the long country back roads homeward and watched the subtle change of colors of the trees in the distance.

It was a lovely day and now I look forward to the cooling temperatures when I get to wear my warm woolies again.