what a day! a busload of knitters and a whirlwind fiber frenzy of a monday! after dropping our freshly awakened not-a-morning-person little girl to my mother to enjoy for the day (minus 5 hrs. preschool) i picked up my friend Judy and we drove to cashmere cottage yarn to meet up at the yarn shop and be loaded into a chartered bus with over 40 others. our driver, Chet (he spelled it for us: "C" "H"...) was a character, and i felt slightly sorry for the state of his eardrums as we headed out, perhaps half of the busload talking at once in excitement before the other half answered with equal volume and excitement.
the first stop was a couple miles down the highway at Anjou Bakery for coffee and scones, and enough chatting time that i felt i had made a couple of new friends. again, the volume being considerably elevated with the excited voices of a large throng of knitters on the loose...then, we climbed aboard once again and went the few short miles to FiberTrends in east wenatchee, a warehouse that sells wholesale to yarn shops far and wide. what a place! aisles and aisles of yarn, yarn, yarn, kits and patterns, interspersed with displays of lovely items made out of all the available wares. Baskets of sale items were strategically placed, and we managed to keep several employees and the owners very, very busy. When we had all finally tallied our choices and departed to the bus to stow away our stash additions and new projects, it was onward toward ellensburg, this time with Bev Galeskas, the owner of FiberTrends, also joining the busload.
the next stop (an hour away, i'd guess) was Cooke Creek Sheep Company, a sheep farm in the flat farmland of ellensburg. this being late spring, of course the lambing had already taken place, and there were 75 lambs as well as the ewes (the rams were once again relegated to their separate field until next winter's liaisons).
Tess, the lovely australian shepherd gave us a show of her talents, and it was amazing how the lambs weren't afraid of her at all.
there was also a gigantic great pyrenees (dog, i can't remember his name,) that had been separated from his sheep for our visit, but generally lives with them full time in order to guard them from coyotes.
he kept a watchful eye on us all during the visit. we had to wear foot protection over our shoes, this being plastic bags tied on to keep the "sheep poo" out of the bus! here is Judy wearing the fashion statement booties!
i also enjoyed being there on the farm, and being in the sunshine!
shearing having taken place prior to lambing season, we were shown the product of the shearing, how a fleece is "skirted" before being made available to those who wish to wash, dye and process their own wool before spinning. some of the wool is sent to a fiber mill here in washington, and the roving and yarn they produce was also available. now that i've had offers of spinning lessons and spinning wheel loans from two different sources, of course i bought some roving and dye as well as yarn. *sigh* what else could i really do?
onward into the city of ellensburg, home of central washington university. what a beautiful town. it has a reputation for being excessively windy, but to tell the truth, it seemed less windy than our fair city of wenatchee. (global climate change?) now the busload was split into two groups, first lunch seating and second lunch seating. being of the second seating group, Judy and i and our newly made friends headed right for Dancing Ewe Yarns & Tea and were handed goody bags (tea, yarn, patterns) and set loose to shop. by this time i felt thoroughly confused, having squandered my shopping sense on fibertrends warehouse and the sheep farm. many things called to me, interested me, and made me oooh and aaah, but lack of food (thankfully i'd eaten some nuts in addition to the scone for breakfast or who knows what i'd have been like) and overwhelming excitement had left me with little decision-making capability. just before it was time to go to lunch, i found and chose some very interesting corn-fiber blend sock yarn...on sale no less, 50% off. besides, a girl can never have too much sock yarn in stash.
lunch at Dakota's was lovely, if a bit confusing as they called our names (there were 4 Karen's in the busload & some confusion on names in general at lunch!) to determine who should receive which lunch. they did great, and the food was delicious. one of those times you wish you had room for dessert because it all looked sooooo good!
the ride back was taken over blewett pass, which i generally enjoy. the only bad part of the trip, for me, was that by this point in the day, the bus ride was beginning to get to me, and i felt "poorly", whether from the fumes of the bus, which i didn't notice per se, or the motion (alas, i forgot to bring my sea-bands). nothing seemed to help and i spent the trip being questionable company for Judy and trying to look ahead, regretting the cup of coffee i'd had after lunch.
before returning to the yarn shop, we were scheduled at Icicle Ridge Winery. oh, what a beautiful place! the views were fantastic, and the log lodge the tasting rooms are housed in is truly a work of art. i was wishing the vineyard had leafed out a little, but no such luck yet. the wine was incredible, and i felt lucky to have had my stomach settle enough to enjoy a glass, even if i didn't feel up to the tasting process to sample the various offerings!
after stopping at Cashmere Cottage Yarn to pay for our FiberTrends purchases (they are wholesale only...i wondered how that would work!) back into our individual vehicles and homeward bound. wow! long day,& yes, long account of it... anyone up for the 3rd annual fiber tour next year?
in the meantime, we continue to work on our place, "we" mostly meaning alan, in his multi-talented and eye-for-detail exacting way, landscaping, putting in sprinkler systems, fixing doors and the other repairs that never seem to end. (the shelf and rod in our closet collapsed just before 7am the other morning, thankfully we were already awake, or it would have been a very rude awakening!) this is one of the things i of course don't have a picture of...imagine that!
