SAFF Report

We had a great time at SAFF last weekend. It was a bit of a downer for me because of having to leave earlier than I wanted to for the business trip, but oh well. I don't see how I could possibly miss SAFF!

It was nice to see Shea and her family. Judy and Kim were also there, and I'm so sorry to have missed them. We'll just have to plan better for next year, girls!

There were more vendors at SAFF this year than in the past few years we've been. That's good and bad! I think the downer to this is that the spinners' circle was non-existant. Spinners had to resort to sitting on the hard concrete steps or taking over the few folding chairs available resulting in having to fight off some irritable instructors who insisted on taking away those chairs. I'm going to send the organizers my feedback on that one. It's great to have more vendors, but please leave a little space on the arena floor for the spinners!!

We used some constraint in our SAFF purchases this year. I hope that means we are getting wiser and more discerning! Of course, we had to stop by Little Barn and visit with Lewis...who now has a fair chunk of change from us! He actually receives funding from us on a fairly regular basis. You just can't beat the quality of his products, the price, and the customer service. His show specials are always excellent, too.

We enjoyed some time visiting with Karen Haggard, the breeder from whom we got Phoebe and Patrick, our bunny babies. Karen likes hearing how our babies are doing. It can be dangerous to spend too much time with Karen, however, because she has trained her angoras to look pleadingly at all passersby which leads to many of the buns finding new homes. We didn't come home with a new baby this year, but there was a certain little calico buck who tried hard to make me bring him home. If Karen had turned her back for a moment, he may have dived into my backpack and headed for SC! (just kidding! I'd have paid for him.) He was such a little doll!! The seal color babies were also very pretty and sweet. If you are in the market for a rabbit, Karen is the one to see. (E-mail me for contact info.) She takes very good care of her animals and loves them.

We took the opportunity to test drive some new wheels at SAFF. That was fun! Take a look at the Winsome Timbers page and scroll down to Patience. Isn't she beautiful? She spins like a dream, too. Her price is a king's ransome, so I doubt she'll join our family any time soon! Some of my ancestors were Polish, so the Kromski wheels were a natural enticement for me. The Polonaise is wonderful to look at, and she spins like a dream! I'm rather partial to the walnut finish.

I fell in love with a Corriedale fleece at SAFF, but the high price tag meant it had to stay there. It was $70 which was just a bit (OK, a lot) out of my price range. I'm itching to spin something in the grease, and those locks were just calling out to me.

We met a celebrity at SAFF--Otto Strauch and his wife Joanne. What wonderful people they are! We enjoyed a nice, long visit with them. We recently bought the "Finest" model drum carder which is one of their products. If you are in the market for a drum carder, you can't go wrong with one of these. The Strauches also make a jumbo ball winder which is fabulous.

I bought a ball of Opal Brazil at SAFF just to have something to play with--my wheel stayed home since I had to leave early from the festival. This is my first time knitting with Opal. It's nice yarn, but really not any better than other sock yarns I've used. I have finished the first sock of my pair and hope to get the second done this weekend. I'll post pictures later this weekend.