Recap: Long Island Fleece and Fiber Fair 2016
This past Saturday my friends and I attended the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Fair (LIFFF) which is sponsored by the Hallockville Museum. We took a bus out to Riverhead and were pleasantly surprised by sunny weather.
Size is the difference between this event and the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (Rhinebeck). Most people I know go to Rhinebeck to buy yarn and fleece. Every so often they take a quick detour through the animal barns. At LIFFF you see and learn the history behind the fiber crafts and your shopping can be done in less than an hour.
We did a quick round of shopping and went to visit the animals. I used Periscope to live stream the sheep, llamas, places, and cows. If you have the app I believe to can see it since Periscope recent started to save the streams (username: soozenyc).
We just missed Tabbethia from Long Island Livestock Company shear a llama but we did have the chance to talk about natural dyeing with museum volunteer, Colette. She encouraged us to save our avocado skins and pits if were want to dye some pink yarn.
In our goody bag there was a coupon for a free wine tasting at the Martha Clara Winery which was on the other side of a busy road. We managed to cross safely and grabbed some lunch before having some wine. We enjoyed our "knit n wine" so much that we each purchased a specialized flight of wine sampling ("Aromatic", "Estate", "Library").
The day got cooler and cloudier as late afternoon approached. Driving back into Manhattan on a Saturday evening was a traffic nightmare but the delay helped us narrow our restaurant choices for dinner (yay internet!).
We ended our day at Momosan by enjoying delicious bowls of ramen noodles. We passed on the sake selection since we already had wine with our lunch. But will are definitely going back to try the sake!
Smith Street Fun Day & a New Product
It's a dreary summer Saturday so I've been catching up on errands and chores. I'm also getting ready to vend at the Smith Street Fun Day Fair tomorrow (June 26, 12-6pm)! Jennifer, the owner of La Casita Yarn Shop has graciously invited Marsha and I to set up our wares in booth in front of the store. And what are our wares? Marsha makes stitch markers and dabbles in jewelry. She has an Etsy shop named midnightscribbles. Her items appeal to the geek minded but they are fun for everyone.
I'm bringing yarn, kits, patterns and some appliquéd notebooks. I'm also selling projects bags, the drawstring type. The bags will be a new product for Chiagu. I really enjoy selecting and matching the fabrics, and then sewing the bags. The bags are lined and they run about 11" x 13" flat. I hope you like them. They'll be up on the website once I figure out how to add a category called "Bags".
