Yarn, Sheep, And Twisters

Miss Terry loves the fiber arts. Spinning, weaving, crocheting, and knitting. You name it and she does it. So she was really looking forward to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan this weekend.

Allegan is about 90 miles from Elkhart Campground, and we got there about 11 a.m. We were only a few steps inside the first building when somebody said, “Hello, Miss Terry.” It was blog reader Lynn Russell (no relation), who was also there checking out all the goodies. And there were a LOT of goodies!

Terry was like a kid in a candy store with so much on display. There was every kind and texture of yarn you could possibly imagine, in every color of the rainbow.

There were some very nice baskets available in a variety of sizes.

There was also all kinds of equipment, from spinning wheels and looms to about a million different sizes of knitting and crochet needles.

This is called a triangle loom.

This is a yarn swift and is used to wind yarn.

And these are simple hand spindles for spinning yarn.

Several people were spinning and demonstrating other fiber art skills.

And where does all of that yarn come from? Critters! Sheep, alpaca, even rabbits. This man was demonstrating shearing sheep. It doesn’t hurt the animals and reminded me of my first haircut in Army basic training.

And this is how us new recruits all looked after we saw the barber!

We have had rain on and off for several days and it was a gray cloudy day. All of a sudden the warning sirens went off and somebody came over the PA system saying that a tornado had been spotted in the area and told everybody to go to a set of bathrooms across from the exhibit hall we were in.

So here we are, crowded in with a couple hundred of our new best friends.

We were in there quite a while, everybody’s phones going off with severe weather alerts. It was hot and stuffy but everyone seemed to be handling things well. Eventually an all clear was issued and people started to leave, then they turned around and came right back inside because the police had received a report of a second tornado spotted. The news said a couple of twisters touched down in the area and did some damage, but fortunately there were no reports of injuries.

This is my little buddy Caleb. He is eight years old and was there with his mom. He was pretty scared of the tornado, so much so that his teeth were chattering. So I got down on my knees and spent some time visiting with him to take his mind off of things. I told him to hang onto me if he wanted to, because fat guys don’t blow away no matter how bad the wind gets. I guess it helped, because he was smiling by the time the all clear was finally issued and we parted company.

All in all, it was a fun day in spite of the tornado scare, and Terry was able to find some new toys and some beautiful yarn, which made the trip worthwhile.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of the paranormal romance Midnight Moonrising by my friend Kristie Haigwood. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

Check Out Nick’s E-Books In Our Online Store

Click Here For Back Issues Of The Gypsy Journal

Click Here To Subscribe To The Gypsy Journal