Great Show

Rolled into Hemlock around 5 PM after an uneventful trip. Weather was perfect. I got a good parking spot next to my building where I had easy access to the trailer and kept it there the whole weekend. Started to unload and set up - which always takes longer than taking down. The Village Yarn Shop from Rochester, just across from me, had sons and husbands running around with electric drills and staple guns, bringing in trunks, benchs and tables. I confess I felt a pang of envy, as I was a one-woman-show, but I got over it. Just took me into the night to get it done. I found my friend, Lisa Merian of Spinner's Hill, judging the fleece show in the exhibition building. It was late and she still had not started setting up. Lisa is an inspiration to me. She raises her own fiber, shears, processes and sells it herself. We had a nice chat while I helped her empty her van. She told me about two Franciscan nuns who are homesteading down the road from her in Bainbridge. They built a barn for their animals but have no house to live in. Winter is coming and the hay they grew for their horses got rained on before they got it inside. Lisa said she told them about me and my first winter in the RV. She reminded me about waking up on the cot with my hair frozen to the wall. In some ways it seems like yesterday, but sometimes it seems like it never happened - just a bad dream. The going really got rough when they took away my port-o-potty in December! Sometimes when I clean my toilet I remember how simple it was to jump out of the trailer and go on the ground, like the doggies. Maybe I should offer those Sisters my trailer! I will call Lisa! Anyway....I digress. I left Lisa and went to pick up my fiber from the Fingerlakes booth, but found it uncarded. It was shredding in his machine and he left it alone. Good thing I had sent some out to Frankenmuth. Very disappointed - I though I might have a processor I could drive fiber to instead of shipping. I left the six giant bags in his booth as I didn't want to take it until I spoke to him. Went back to my truck and got my ski underwear and night time necessities, got washed up and crawled into the backseat of the cab. I sipped on my Harvey's Bristol Creme from Mia and Andrew, and ruminated on the day. I fit so snug and perfectly across the seat of the F150, and was toasty warm. The moon was bright and shined in my window enough to make me think it was daybreak...woke up with a start at 4 AM. Couldn't get back to sleep so I walked the fairgrounds under the stars and waited for someone to come and unlock my building so I could work on the booth some more. So much work to take an empty space and turn it into a shop for the weekend. It takes me forever to get it all right, but when it's done I can sit down and wait for the patrons. And they came....I sold five Bundaflicka totes, lots of soap, three notecards (to the same guy from last year who loves rooster pictures) and lots of roving. Everything I brought was justified in some way. The Village Yarn Shop ladies even bought yarn - a huge compliment - and some roving. Carol from Crayon Box bought wool roving, and was thrilled to find another ball of yellow mohair from two years ago. It was gratifying to see that my old fiber is worth storing from year to year for people who want/need more. Sales were steady all day. There were gorgeous fibers and talented craftspeople galore, but I held my own. Blog readers came to visit and we embraced like old friends. So many compliments like "I've lusted after your bags for years..." That's one that will get me back on the sewing machine.