This post is being updated from the photo just below this paragraph here in late August 2022. Over on the Caracolina.com blog, Caroline wrote up a short entry about her day while here on my blog I was writing about my visit to a favorite orchard. As I’ve explained in many a post, bandwidth limitations kept me from posting too many photos but that’s no longer our situation and the truth is that we most often view our own photos right here on the pages of this blog, not on my computer. So, here I am reworking some of the original texts, merging them here with Caroline’s to be italicized so you can easily identify who wrote what.

Caroline is in Amado at the Southwest Fiber Festival after having stayed the night in Tucson with a fellow fiber addict. As for me, I continued southeast to Willcox where at Brown’s Orchard I went apple picking to press more apple cider. I just felt I had to do something to help Caroline with all that FIBER, and everyone knows how there’s nothing like fresh-pressed apple cider to get things going, hint hint…you know…fiber humor?

After spending Friday night in Tucson I attended a spinning class and spent some time (and money, ha!) at the Southwest Fiber Festival in Amado. Like last year I was going to stay over the weekend with Elaine (former president of the AZ Federation of Weavers and Spinners Guilds) who also taught my class. John had originally considered going to the festival but didn’t feel like it and pushed on towards Willcox. He spent Saturday at Brown’s Orchard picking apples and making cider while Elaine and I got up early and drove down to Amado. In the class (which was about spinning mohair goat fiber) I spun some mohair roving, then tried a plying technique involving sliding locks of mohair into the plied twist as you go along. Kinda cool when it is done right – of course, it will take some practice. Afterward, Elaine and a couple of other women did the skein contest judging, and another gal and I did the fleece contest judging. At first, I was really nervous about it but I learned quite a bit and had a good time to boot. And… I also submitted a skein of handspun and walked away with a red ribbon! I might have gotten a blue ribbon if I had used proper ties to fix up the skein but I’m still very pleased since I didn’t expect to win anything. Yes, that’s my skein that won.

Now for the truth: Caroline’s fiber workshop is one of learning to spin with mohair as in making yarn, not dietary fiber.

And for the fiber addict reference, well as any spouse of a spinner, weaver, dyer, knitter, or other fiber arts junkie can tell you, once bitten by the fiber, there is no end in sight for how far these folks will take their obsession.

Totally forgetting about lunch (I think there was some food but all the vendor booths and critter pens had me completely distracted), I managed to spend a little bit over my allowance, but not too much. She snagged the first shearing of the cutest little mohair doe, only 5 months old and so soft! We picked up dinner on the way home and spent another fun evening chatting (and spinning).

My fun today is defined as having the opportunity to pick one hundred twenty pounds of apples, wash them, grind them, and press them to make nine sweet gallons of the yummiest apple cider one could ever hope to make of their own labor, minus growing the apples themselves.

Elaine and I left around 4.30 PM. Although I was so tired I went to sleep pretty early. These festival weekends are like sleepovers! 

My gratitude to June and Marvin for allowing me to come down once again and add yet more cider to my frozen hoard of the stuff up in Phoenix and heartfelt thanks for inviting me to spend the night in your home.