A day in the orchard

Today turned out to be the perfect day for a drive up the hill to where I was born; Placerville, California. It's about an hour or so away from where I live now, but I just had to go and check out this festival called "Yarnival", that is in its second year. It is held on the grounds of the Boeger Winery, and is put on by Lexi, who along with her husband and the Boeger family, own the winery. She sets aside a portion of the orchard, opens up her spinning studio/workshop, and invites some of the finest spinners around to put on demonstrations and give lectures. Of course, it's nice that the tasting room is open too, and the area where you can sit and enjoy a glass of a nice wine, is beautiful! There is a lovely pond that a creek with a waterfall spills into, and is shaded by giant redwoods, pines, and some of the biggest fig trees I have ever seen! I will definitely be going back, and taking my husband with me the next time, so we can sample some of the wines!

The hillsides covered with all of the grape vines created such a pretty backdrop for the event. And now, I know you are dying to know what the event was like, right? There were a mix of about ten different vendors, so not a huge festival yet, but most all of whom were spinning...some on a wheel (one of them even made out of pvc pipe!), and a couple of them using drop spindles. It was a very laid back atmosphere, with almost a Bohemian type flavor to it. It almost made me wish there were a tattoo artist there, so I could get my next piece of body art (didn't know that, did you? Yeah, I'm wanting a small ball of yarn with needles going through it!) I saw all different styles of dress, anywhere from the hippies, including some with dreads, to the vintage 50's fashions...cotton dresses with aprons on top of them. There were some older folks demonstrating wheel spinning, one that I bought some pure silk from was teaching herself the drop spindle, to the in-betweens peddling their wares. Most of the fiber I saw was of the artsy variety, with feathers, little tiny silk roses, little felt frankensteins, and shiny threads spun into the wool. Some of these fibers were the softest I have ever, ever, felt. I'm wishing now I had purchased some of the artsy yarn. It inspired me to no end to come home and get some of my bobbins emptied so that I can start spinning some more fun stuff...the kind of stuff you can't buy in any yarn shop! It inspired me to go online and order a pretty drop spindle. I have a couple of them, and while they spin great, they aren't the prettiest things to look at, kind of plain.I think I'm ready to progress beyond the student spindle now.

Very big yarn hanging in studio!

                                                     

                                                  

                   The pond                 

                        

                                                       

My beautiful pure silk little bumps hand dyed in Italy!

I loved the drive up to my birth town, as I wound through the back roads. It was a gorgeous day, light traffic...just a calm, peaceful day, surrounded by the smell of sheep, goats, lavender (one vendor had nothing but lavender...heavenly!!), and beautiful fibers to see and touch! Everyone was so friendly and my only regret is that I didn't speak to more of the artists and learn about their techniques, and as I said up above, purchase some of their lovely yarns. I wish Yarnival and Lexi Boeger aka pluckyfluff (Ravelry id), much continued success for future festivals!