We sort of planned on the Festival, but decided today would be a better choice since it's open longer. I had three yarn/fabric places marked on my map to check out, so now was a good time. I grabbed my credit card that still has some space on it ... not much I grant you ... and took off out the gate of the RV park, only to be stopped in the first 100 feet. The road is totally closed due to a bad accident where a pickup truck hit a car head on. Please people ... drive defensively and don't text!! LOOK AT THE ROAD!! Three went to the hospital and I pray they are okay ... the road was closed due to a gas spill.
The way around was a long one, so I just pulled in at the "Fine Antiques" store across the street from our RV park. Boy howdy were they FINE!! They not only had some nice things, but they all had nice prices to match. In a back corner hiding in a $550 chest, I found these amazing old buttons. Many of them have makers marks on the back ... two from Paris. When's the last time you saw THAT??
The traffic cleared in about 30 minutes, so off I went to find One Lupine Fiber. I always question the neighborhood when I see "Soup Kitchen" and people on bicycles with full garbage bags. When my GPS said you have arrived, I was really hoping I hadn't!! I hid the GPS unit and ventured out into the street ... no one to be seen ... so I rushed across and in the door. Upstairs they have lots of upper end hand made craft items made in the USA only ... but downstairs in the basement was the JACKPOT!!
This isn't a large place, but it is a testament to a very nice lady (whose name I didn't get, darn it) that LOVES fleece, roving and yarn. Everything on the wall she hand dyes herself on the small kitchen stove in a roasting pan. The counter was covered with jars of dye!! To her right in a very small space were two washing machines for setting the dye. In back were piles and piles of carded fleece waiting for color. As she explained the entire process of how she makes these beautiful yarns and dyes the roving, I'm sure I was standing there with my mouth open in awe. She had one hank of roving in the roaster, as she pulled three huge pieces of gorgeous green yarn from the washers, always explaining her process. If I lived in Maine, I'd work here for free!!!
Everything in this room was grown on a sheep in Maine. She has her own suppliers of wool, who send it to a local factory for cleaning and carding ... some of which is spun into different weights ... all of which she hand dyes. As a wholesaler, much of her yarn is actually shipped to California stores. Spinning and felting are also her specialities. As I picked out a couple of skeins, I noticed the Knit Picks little machine that makes yarn into nice balls of yarn that are easier to knit from. Her's was less than half the price of the last place I visited. Score one for Nancy!!! The beautiful roving at the top will become a felt hat ... hopefully anyway!! I spent so much time here, I didn't get to the other two stores on my list!!
I'm also learning more about geocaching!! It's not a good idea to take off into the back woods of Maine by yourself unless the cache is VERY close!! Actually, I did think about that for a second or two, but I've been a mountain girl forever, so I wasn't worried. The farther I went however, the distance to the cache on my phone didn't change. When I decided I had walked too far, I gave up and came back, thinking it was my phone connection. When Barbara looked it up on HER phone, she said that was WAY too far out in the bushes for caching!! I had to agree it was a fair distance ... apparently my phone was right after all!! Lesson learned ... if it looks like you aren't going anywhere, it's too far away to go hiking alone in the woods!!!
Although we expected a crush of weekenders here at the park yesterday, there weren't enough to fill all the spaces back by us and those that came in were very quiet. Tonight might be a different story, but for now we are enjoying the beauty and quiet of Maine.
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