It's that time of year again......

It's that time of year again, county fair time. This morning we put up our spinning display - come Wednesday we will be sitting in front of it in a big circle spinning the days away. Always fun to visit with the public but by the time the fair is over I'm exhausted from being 'on' for days on end. 

It's County Fair Time

It's county fair time again - always easy to tell when it's fair season - it's hot and smoky. Luckily we demonstrate in an air conditioned building but we still have to walk from the parking lot to the building - yuck. The fair runs Wednesday thru Saturday and my spinning group will have a big group of spinners there each day to spin and talk to the public. It's always lots of fun.

Here's our display this year. Spinners sit in a circle in front of it. There haven't been many fleece entries in recent years but we do have 7 fleeces that one of our group will judge on Wednesday.

Friend and spinner Shirley is also a bobbin lace maker and brought her display of different types of bobbin lace and bobbins to share - I'm not sure where in the building they'll be, they are incredible.

I'm unpacking cones of yarn now, making headway at emptying boxes and bins but still have a ways to go. I worked on it today after making a couple batches of blackberry jam from blackberries we picked right over the back fence. While we were picking the other night the cows were on the other side munching on them...........so how come they weren't complaining about being stuck by thorns on their noses and lips.......we were sure complaining on our side of the fence as they stuck our hands and arms.

The Taylor Creek Fire and Klondike Fire, which are one now have grown to over 100,000 acres. The part that had been the Taylor Creek Fire is in pretty good shape with containment lines on the east side between it and homes. The Klondike Fire part is a real challenge, there are homes in danger as I type. This two fire complex is a long term fire fight so we've got to get used to smoke although we did have two clear days this past week when the wind shifted. Unfortunately thunderstorms are in the forecast this week and here they are generally dry which leads to lightning strikes which leads to fires like the 170 that were started on July 15th like these two near us.

I will admit that I was concerned when the US Forest Service took command of this fire because their fire fighting history in our region is not good - they tended to let fires go until they became monsters. Well, I guess being sued by the county to the west of us and county to the east of us has been instrumental in changes in how they fight fires.......and for the better. And they're doing a tremendous job of keeping the public informed of what's happened between several online videos each day and many community fire meetings. We are the guinea pigs, first in the nation, for this new pilot program with the online video briefings - and they are getting great response from the community. There is incredible technology being used in finding spot fires using big drones when it's too smoky for aircraft to fly, the drones can also drop little 'ping pong balls' filled with accelerant to start fires that will be used as containment lines. Fire fighting has changed.......for the better. Unfortunately it's still a very dangerous job for the fire fighters.......there's no getting around that. I send good thoughts their way each and every day to stay safe..........

The county fair........

Here's our display at the county fair - we sit in a circle in front of it spinning every day, all day long and have a great time visiting with the public. Everything on display is made of handspun or felted wool. I took this photo set up day so the fleeces were still closed up - now they're opened up, judged and ribbons adorning some of them.


So, I've been trying my best (ha!) to not think about fires but new ones pop up every single day. There were a couple new ones yesterday, thankfully put out quickly. Late this afternoon I walked out to my car after a day of demonstrating and looked to the right to see huge smoke plumes, then looked to the left and saw big smoke plumes. I figured the ones to the right were the Chetco Bar Fire exploding - it's been burning since mid July. I quickly checked online to see what was happening to the left. Fire right off the highway, where I was planning on heading, copters and planes flying and dumping, ground resources hard at work fighting the fire, homes nearby. Didn't take me but a second to change my plan to make a quick stop at that end of town to pick up something for dinner and just head home in the opposite direction.


At least 6 more weeks of fire season, not the official end, but maybe there will be some rain by then to lessen the chance of wildfires..........I may have an ulcer by October!

Sunrise and other tidbits

 Sunrise this morning was spectacular although our trees are growing too much and obstructing the view of Mt Sexton. You'd think there were a new fire in the area with those colors in the sky.

 Saturday we put up my spinning group's fair display, the fair opens tomorrow. None of the finished items or skeins are in the fair for judging, they're for display only. The fleeces will be judged tomorrow morning and ribbons awarded. For the next 4 days we'll all be sitting in a big circle in front of this display spinning, carding, knitting, felting, whatever. It's always a great time visiting with the public........and each other. It's hard to believe that we can sit there for 4 days and never run out of anything to talk about.  Unfortunately tomorrow looks to be the only day below 100, forecast to 'only' be 99 tomorrow - the following three days will be anywhere from 105-108. We're in an air conditioned building but we have to walk back and forth from our cars to get there which will be a killer come afternoon. I wonder how this heat will affect fair goers.

 When I met friend Linda at the fairgrounds today (to add the tablecloth I forgot to bring on Saturday) she brought me some of her home grown tomatoes. On the way home I stopped at the Ft Vannoy Farm Market to pick up other veggies. I made one of my favorite kinds of sandwiches, fresh tomatoes, banana peppers and fresh sweet onion. Ft Vannoy has the best corn around here - it's still not as sweet as corn back east but it's pretty danged good - at least it's not field corn to feed the pigs, as my father would call the rest of the corn here. We'll be having fresh corn tonight with a tomato basil salad (my homegrown basil) and northwest salmon.

It would have been perfect if the farm had the hot banana peppers but they only had sweet so I added hot pickles to my sandwich. Yep, I know this would kill some people's stomach's but not mine. My Dad used to make sandwiches like this - I come by it naturally.

County Fair Display

This year's county fair display is much different than year's past. I issued a challenge to our spinning group to get more of the group motivated to have something for our display rather than just a handful of us - 17 of our group participated which is incredible.

Back last fall Iput several roving color combinations for everyone to vote on their favorite to use as this year's fair theme. The colors that got the most votes were Hyacinth, Berry and Kiwi (Ashland Bay rovings). Rule #1 was that these three colors had to be used in a project - they could be blended, spun on their own or other colors or fibers could be added to them. They could be spun, felted, knit, crocheted, woven, whatever - the sky was the limit. Look at the incredible collection we came up with all starting with the same 3 colors - all different techniques. I think it was a huge success. Yesterday was our first day demonstrating spinning at the fair - the public seemed to really enjoy looking at our display and visiting with us.

The highlight of this year's fair are the sea lions - they have a show several times a day, other times you can have your picture taken with them.....for a fee. I watched a couple getting their picture taken with 3 sea lions hanging over their shoulders, big smiles on their faces hamming it up for the camera........the sea lions, not the couple. I'm trying not to think about whether or not the sea lion show is humane - hopefully they aren't constantly traveling and get to spend time in some big tanks as opposed to the ones at the fair.

County Fair 2014

This morning we set up our display at the county fair. We all sit in a big circle in front of it while demo'ing spinning but occasionally carding, felting, knitting, whatever. We used to get so many fleeces turned in for judging that we filled the table and two tiers in front of it.  No fleeces entered for judging by the time we left, friends Margie & Karen brought these just for show from their stashes.  I think a major problem is that last year they started charging a fee just to enter a fleece for judging. The display is getting a little worn looking with nothing much new other than Virginia's new hooked rug in the center.  So.....I have an idea for a theme for next year that our spinning group can work on during the winter - maybe we can get everyone to contribute something to show other than Linda, Virginia and me. More on that in a few months when I pull it all together. The fair runs Wednesday-Saturday - should be a fun time.

County Fair

Yesterday morning some of us went over to the fairgrounds to put up our display for this year's county fair. It looks pretty good other than the table cloth being a bit crooked, which I'll fix. All of us spinners sit in a circle in front of the display and spin - sometimes there is needlefelting going on, sometimes drum carding.  Usually we also have a 2 step wooden structure in front of the table to hold more fleeces for judging, so many fleeces that there are 3 levels of them and they're spilling out onto the floor. Last year they started charging to enter items in the fair, so in response entries are down. Linda (our very own personal wool superintendent) pleaded with 2 in our spinning group to bring these. Being there for judging very early one morning won't be very exciting this year but it's always a learning opportunity.........we whatever judge has been brought in from out of the area to judge 4-H sheep.

It's fair time again.....

It's that time of year again - county fair time, and as normal it's hot, over 100 with 105 now forecast for the remainder of the week.....thank goodness we're in one of the two air-conditioned buildings.  This is our display....I guess I should have moved the chairs but we were already setting up our spinning circle when I remembered to get out the camera. It's a sparse year for fleeces turned in for judging - just two of them, then Linda convinced Karen to bring two more which showed up later today. Usually the table is loaded with fleeces as well as 2 tiers in front of the table. Guess those new fees to enter items in the fair are having an impact....and not just in fleeces.....there looked to be half the entries in all the arts/crafts. There were over 10 of us there spinning for much of the day, two more coming later for early evening spinning. Lots of visitors, very fun day, I'm exhausted......

It fair time again.....

Here is our display at the fair - we have a spinning circle in front of it where we sit all day long, and a few spinners and felters come in the evening too. Nothing is hanging low to keep sticky fingers from touching. Not so sure those sticky fingers want to touch the stinky fleeces......which will be judged tomorrow morning.

And here's what I started spinning today, forgot to get a picture of it so took it when I got home, the wheel is seatbelted into the van until tomorrow. It's Panda - a blend of superwash merino/bamboo/nylon - what a dream to spin........and wear on my black pants today.....stuck to them like tussah silk does......
If you look at my post of July 27th you'll see what the roving looks like and the sample I spun of it, it's the 3rd roving down on the page of those dyed rovings.

Already tired of fair food.....had to eat a yummy lion burger (Lions Club)......friend Boom had to ask the high school gal at the counter if it was from free range lions - totally threw that young girl for a loop, don't think she knew what free range meant and she really wasn't sure if Boom was serious about it being from lions. Looked around at the rest of the fair food and nothing looks interesting to me and I can't eat a lion burger every single day......

New fun thing at the fair right in front of our building - animal races - turkeys, roosters, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs all running against each other - pretty funny but the gals running it talk too much.

And just in time for fair week - the heat has finally arrived.....and I just heard on the news about several fires being fought right now.....summer has finally arrived after a mild spring and summer....I hate fire season......

County fair display

Here's a picture of our display at the county fair, the theme is our garden party fibers. The fleeces in front will be judged tomorrow morning. It looks a little empty but imagine 10+ spinners sitting in front of this display.

The forest fire is still raging just a bit southwest of us with only 5% containment, steep terrain is hampering fire fighting. Right now it's the biggest fire in the country so resources are available, I hope more equipment and firefighters are on the way.  I'm on edge after living through the Biscuit Fire so my days are filled with stress. If it blows up like that fire did we could be right in it's path. And to top this off as I type there is thunder and lightening, and in this area of the country that comes without rain so more fires are sure to start, already one reported to the east.

I love living in the northwest but I have to admit the summers are not my favorite season. I love having no humidity like the MD/DC area I lived most of my life but with no humidity comes no rain for months and impending forest fires......and I could do without the 100 degree heat! Starting tomorrow temps are supposed to come down to the high 80's - that will be a welcome relief. After the Biscuit Fire I told Sam I wanted to live in a cement house with a metal roof in the middle of an irrigated pasture.........so, we did move and where do we live - in one of the highest fire danger areas up on top of a heavily forested hill with deep ravines on each side.

On a positive note - I had a very fun day spinning at the fair today, met lots of nice folks and got quite a bit of spinning done.......although it doesn't look like it on the bobbin since I'm spinning thin.

Fun package arrived today!

Remember when my friend Kathy made me a felted beaded bling tiara for winning best use of handspun at the nwrsa conference? Well, while at the conference I told the powers to be that a tiara would be much more fun than a plaque. Guess what arrived in the mail today? A sparkley needlefelted tiara. I did my best to get a picture of it complete with little dangley sparkley sheep. Is this fun or what! This does have to be passed on to next year's winner along with the rolled parchment paper proclamation that arrived with it...the good part of that is that I'll keep the one Kathy made for me rather than donate that one to the cause. Oh I should have mentioned that Diane of We Bee Felting made the tiara!

This is the beautiful hat box it arrived in - wow!

On the fiber front - I finally finished the scarf warp I started last month, got them washed last night, they still need the fringes twisted. These started out to be a two block twill using the variegated bamboo warp. I started to weave and wasn't happy with the results so I switched to plain weave which I rarely do other than when weaving chenille. I like the end result much better. I crossed each scarf with a different color bamboo; black, sage, purple. I've got a chenille scarf warp going on the loom next, I'm running low on scarves and must get weaving.....I've been goofing off lately.

And here's the fair display I've been working on. Jury is still out on how I attached the photos - I used a double stick carpet tape that's supposedly permanent. Well, already one of the pictures fell off. I'm hoping after they sit on the canvas a while they'll stay but I might have to come up with a backup plan in the meantime. All our skeins, handwovens, crocheted or knitted items in the display this year will be the result of one of the 4 colorways we've done in the garden party the past few years.