Judging the Garment and Home Accessories Competition at the Taos Wool Festival was hard work, but it was also fun and very satisfying. My fellow judges Donna from Colorado, and Deb from New Mexico, were experts in dyeing and weaving, which made for a great judging team.
Luckily we didn’t have to drive all the way home from Taos in one day, so Eva and I had time to shop at the Wool Festival. It was a sloshy mess, but the true fiber lovers were there and they were spending.
We made the round of the Festival booths, many of which had buckets and interesting layouts so that the merchandise could stay dry. We came back to Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool Co. (Henderson, TX), so I could buy this hand-dyed yarn. Reminds me of pansies or crocuses. I don’t have a firm plan for it yet. The company, which is owned by Ken and Grayce Aggen, doesn’t have a web site, but I would be glad to send you their email address.
Ellen Sibelius’s booth was filled with fantastic knitted creatures of her own design. We bought the Monarch Butterfly pattern and a pattern for a dragon. She had many more, including dinosaurs. Ellen doesn’t have a web site, but if you’re interested in her patterns, I can send you her email address.
Last year I bought a color sample card from Weaving Southwest, whose gallery and yarn shop are on the main street of Taos. All year long, I plotted and planned the colors I would buy to make a wall hanging. Weaving Southwest was our last shopping stop, and it was a dry and warm haven. Here’s what I bought.
Then we packed up and drove through the rain and fog in the mountains and the rain on the plains. I enjoyed seeing my favorite sights in the Texas Panhandle Plains: grain elevators, mills, gins, and trains. Oh, and it was all in the rain.
