And now for another post from Mary, roadie and organizer:
What a great trip! It was our first year at FFF at Montpelier Station, Virginia. We came, we set up, we enjoyed the surroundings and then we met a whole bunch of new customers. [Mary forgot to mention that her grandparents lived on the Montpelier estate in their retirement years. As a little girl, she and her siblings used to visit them there, taking in the steeplechase races and helping her grandfather take care of the green house, where he grew all kinds of wild heirloom plants. Grapefruit-size lemons anyone?]
What a great trip! It was our first year at FFF at Montpelier Station, Virginia. We came, we set up, we enjoyed the surroundings and then we met a whole bunch of new customers. [Mary forgot to mention that her grandparents lived on the Montpelier estate in their retirement years. As a little girl, she and her siblings used to visit them there, taking in the steeplechase races and helping her grandfather take care of the green house, where he grew all kinds of wild heirloom plants. Grapefruit-size lemons anyone?]
Setting up on the grass
was a new experience for us. We had to compensate a
bit for the bumpy terrain but we made it
work. We ate lunch in Orange in a quaint townie
restaurant with a beautiful painted tin ceiling, and then went
looking for a local hardware store to get a roll of
plastic to deal with the condensation dripping from the tent
ceiling from the morning dew. Who knew? Of course, we left the Tractor Supply Store with alot more than we planned!
We also left a few things behind. Mainly, the cash box with all of our coins and our Square reader. Thank goodness for friends! The Delameters loaned us their back up Square for the weekend, and even offered to share their change. Luckily, we were able to get to a bank branch before closing time!
No teenage girlies on
this round but Nancye, dyer extraordinaire and queen of finances for starters, came
down to help set up and run the booth for the two days.
Our lovely customer and fabulous friend of Dragonfly Debbie McPhillips (mcsix on Ravelry) put us up and chauffered us around Charlottesville for the weekend. And helped us break down on Sunday. [Kate went to school in C'ville and considers it to be one of the best places on earth.] We also had dinner at Charlottesville's Shebeem restaurant where we ate way too much South African food but enjoyed every bite. As an added bonus, designer Laura Aylor joined us for the weekend. We were treated to an early viewing of her very cool Edge shawl that has just been released.
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| Laura's stunning All the Shades of Truth Shawl |
At the festival we were lucky to be located in a tent that was near the small stage where we could hear and see an assortment of entertainers, including Irish dancers and bagpipers.
The other awesome thing about this show is SHEEP DOGS! The sheep dog trials at this site are serious business. Adorable and very clever border collies are everywhere. The trials are fun to watch once you figure out what's going on too!
African Daisy was definitely the
most popular colorway from this show. There was not a single
skein left in any yarn base or roving. It's one of my personal
favorites, warm purples, blues, orange and yellow; what's not to like? Of course, we showcased our fall colorways and heavier weight yarns including Spooky, Turning Leaves, Fresh Olives, Vampyre, and Zombie Apocalypse.
All in all we had a
successful trip: met a lot of new friends and saw some old favorites.
We also absorbed as much of the country air and beautiful Blue Ridge landscape as we possible could before heading back
home.
Next up, we'll be at Rhinebeck October 19 and 20th with our good
friends Morgaine and Lann of Carolina Homespun. Please stop in to Buiilding 39, booth 15-17 and visit
with Kate and check out our goodies. We did dye more African daisy! Then it's off to Ashville, NC for SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair).
Yikes! I better go, someone has to pack this stuff up...
Quick, Tiger get the bags!!!