Last weekend, I briefly reported on the Mountain and Valley Wool Festival. This week I want to reflect on the joy of spending time with Wool People.
The setting was a windswept, almost treeless, high desert County Fair Grounds in the southern part of Santa Fe, New Mexico. For the last 38 years, the city of Taos was the host for the event. I had always hoped to attend, but it never worked out. The new host-city, Santa Fe, was familiar to me and offered more choices for housing and dining out.
Starting in 2012, Bill and I traveled frequently to Santa Fe to visit our daughter (followed by our bonus child) at St John’s College. In those years, we established a few friendships and favorite spots. I especially love the Farmer’s Market at the Railyard Area of Santa Fe. Here, I met the ranchers and weavers from Tierra Wools. They offered meat as well as wool and wool products in their booth. This encounter reminded me of the long history sheep have in the Southwest.
In Santa Fe, I have met a few weavers and enjoyed exploring the galleries and yarn shops. I connected with the folks at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center in 2020. It was through these connections that I learned the Annual Wool Festival was moving from Taos to Santa Fe. I was giddy with excitement to shop in person for raw wool for the first time in a long time.
People who embrace spinning wool and/or raising sheep are an odd bunch. They are generally friendly, but nerdy about breeds, microns, crimp, lock length, grist and all the details of the process. I loved being deep into conversations that did not require explanations.
I also appreciate the educational vibe of the wool festival. I was surprised to learn that most of the people who came for my spinning and weaving demos were fiber curious and/or new learners! There was live music and hourly demos: sheep shearing, dyeing, spinning, weaving, sheep husbandry and more. All kinds of fun contests as well.
As for shopping, the MAVWF included several dozen booths with yarn, felt, tools, raw wool, alpaca, mohair, socks, scarves, garments, kits (more on those next week), roving, dyed roving, dyes and more. Listening to conversations among ranchers, dyers and other wool producers- I learned so much!
I failed to take any decent photos, sadly.
I confess to standing in the booth of Sheepfeather’s Farm with my arms, up to the elbow, in the bags of freshly sheared wool. Robin & Mark Phillips breed sheep specifically for hand-spinners. She told me that she experiments with breeds, within her flock, to see what kinds of wool each lamb produces. Her lambs go into the fields with light coats over their wool so there in no Vegetable Matter (aka VM).
I settle on half a fleece from an ewe named Lila. She is a cross between a Blue Faced Leicester, Wensleydale, and California Variegated Mutant. Her locks are beautiful, shining white. The wool is so heavy she must have really kicked up her heels after shearing!
I also pawed my way through bags of wool in other booths, worse than a kid in the candy shop! Besides the wool, there was a lot of mohair and alpaca to enjoy. Our car was already pretty full so I stuck with Lila’s fleece.
Back at the BnB, I sat down to experiment with Lila’s lovely locks. I did not have carders or combs with me, so I teased each locks with my fingers and started spinning. I kept spinning in the car all the way home. Now to decide what to do with this pretty stuff.
What an awesome trip and a joy! I’m happy for you, June!
What a great trip for you!! The fleece you chose is gorgeous. Do you ever go to the Estes Park Wool Market? I have a suspicion we know many of the same people