Weekend Fiber Fun

I managed to get to the Metcalfe market Saturday to participate in the spinning demo, thanks to a ride from Karen. Really couldn't have asked for a better time. A sunny day, not too hot. A range of vendors selling everything from soap to vegetables to tea cozies to coffee in the booths outside and inside the hall.

Karen's husband got distracted before we got to our location, and purchased us home-baked pastries from one vendor, which made a lovely snack. We found our corner, on a bit of a platform next to a bit of a cafe, so there was coffee to go with the pastries. Merilyn and Elisabeth, two of the Guild members who have booths at the market, had set up an accompanying display of fiber, with an adorable wheel, just my age.


And Merilyn left us a batch of homemade salsa and pita chips for snacking.

 Three more spinners arrived in short order, and the morning went faster than our wheels, between chatting, talking to people, and taking turns to slip off and peruse the vendors. I made one sole purchase, a jar of Merilyn's ground cherry chutney, which I had sampled last year.

Home to the parents' Saturday night, and Sunday was wash day. I got probably a couple sheep's worth of fleece washed and spread to dry. Kiki was obliging enough to help keep it from blowing away.

Black and grey fleece is from a neighbor, Anouk. Not sure what breed it is, but I had three fleeces from her, two grey and a black, not very fine, but decent wool. Wanting to do a couple dyebaths, I washed some white I picked out of a Jacob fleece as well. The yellow in the pic is from coreopsis I had in the freezer. I seem to lose the orange when I use the frozen flowers, but it does give a lovely gold. It was more intense on the yarn I dyed at the same time.

The other two skeins are from Japanese indigo, and buckthorn berries. Gorgeous together, no? I was so happy the japanese indigo worked this time (got the instructions, in writing, from DebP, who ordered the seeds originally, and followed it as close as I could), and I got a paler sky-blue with it on some fleece as well. The berries didn't come out as dark as I hoped, but Mom is already planning a project with the results...

Marketing in Montreal

Every year, the last weekend in August, Pointe-A-Calliere museum in Montreal helps put on a farmer's market, with local artisans, demonstrators, and re-enactors, all dressed up, with the aim of giving an 18th C. flavor to the whole thing. We try to make it down every year or two, so this past Saturday was our fix this year.

We wandered the booths, watched a shearer doing her thing with manual shears, and a cutlery maker/silversmith in wooden shoes expounding to an audience gathered around his portable stove.

Ladies and gentlemen chatted, and the soldiers gave a parade and military demonstration.

Several groups of buskers and musicians played music, and common people gossiped, shopped, or tended their market stalls.

Activities for the children included more active pastimes, but also an embroidery school, and several of the participants seemed very absorbed in their work.

And we feasted on lamb sausage, artisan cheese, truffles for dessert, and passed up fresh cider, instead trying a herb drink which proved surprisingly tasty, and more thirst-quenching than the cider would have been in the heat.

Of course a few purchases got made also. I came home with hand-woven linen washcloths, and a loaf of bread, and my mother had bread also, along with honey, and a liqueur made from a berry that's a gooseberry/blackcurrant cross.

We had planned to do some fabric shopping up St. Hubert street, but only made it to one shop before they closed. Fortunately, that one had some lovely linen, marked down by about 40%, as the store is going out of business. A few meters of drapey tan linen, and their remaining stock of fine white handkerchief-weight joined the day's purchases. All in all, it was a good day's work, I think.