May has been a crazy-busy month here at Strauch Fiber. We've gone to four great fiber festivals, and we've introduced a new product. (More about the new addition in another post.)
Maryland Sheep and Wool was a blast, or a blast furnace, depending on your point of view. Yup, it was hot, hot, hot! But as always, we had fun reconnecting with Strauch friends and fans from previous years and meeting lots of wonderful new people. Demos at Carolina Homespun, Earth Guild, Stony Mountain Fibers, Misty Mountain Farm, and The Mannings were well-received. It's great to get to spend a little time with those folks that bring our equipment to the fiber world at large.
Lawre and I were also thrilled to meet some rock stars of the fiber world. Here's a photo of Lawre with her spinning wheel idol Gordon Lendrum, maker of the fabulous Lendrum Spinning Wheels. Lawre loves her Lendrum wheel and was pretty darned excited to meet Gord. (That might be a bit of an understatement.)
We also had a chance to go out to dinner with Owen and Glynis Poad from Majacraft. They were at Maryland to launch their new wheel, the Aura. What lovely and fun people they are. Otto and Joanne will be spending some time with them in July when the Strauch World Tour heads to New Zealand and Australia for their big wool festivals.
Of course no Strauch adventure would be complete without going out for great food and drink. We had a couple of good dinners at the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company in Ellicott City. Robin is a great waitress - be sure to ask for her! But the real stand-out dining experience was at Pure Wine Cafe, also in Ellicott City. Really. Beautiful. Food. Go there, eat Tapas, and by all means get some White Peach Sangria. You won't be sorry.
I'd also like to give a shout-out to David and Susan at the Wayside Inn. This is our home-away-from-home when we go to MD. S&W. We love staying with David and Susan. Not only is the Inn fabulous and the breakfasts very yummy, but they are fun people and gracious hosts.
Lawre, Liz and Joanne having fun at Pure Wine Cafe. We're not normally this blurry. Must have been the sangria... Or maybe Otto was just laughing too hard when he took the picture. Yeah, that must be it!
See all the photos from Maryland S&W on our Flickr page, or watch the slideshow, below!
The truck is loaded and we're ready to head on up to Maryland for the big weekend! We've been busy making drum carders, ballwinders, swifts, handcards and accessories all spring, so we'll have a nice supply with us.
We're having a Md. S&W giveaway!
If you have any questions about our products or would like to see how our drum carders work come and see us. Our table will be set up in the Carolina Homespun booth in the Main Exhibition Hall and we'll be demonstrating there most of the time. You'll also find us periodically at the Earth Guild, Stony Mountain Fiber, and Mannings booths.
And be sure to stop by and check out the Special Edition Walnut Finest Drum Carder. It's a beauty!
On the weekend of March 19-21, Otto and Joanne kicked off our 2010 Wool Goes 'Round World (or should that be Whirled? or maybe Whorled?) Tour with a trip to Dahlonega, GA for the annual conference of the Southern States Llama Association.
Otto and Joanne always have a great time with these folks. We had a booth set up so all the participants could check out our products. (Our carders work really well with both llama and alpaca!) Joanne took a workshop on weaving on a triangle loom. She had a great time and came back with a nice little sample which she was proud to show off. And of course there were lots of lovely llamas there with their people.
This is a great organization full of friendly folks. If you're a llama or alpaca breeder living in the south we recommend that you check this group out.
Showing off our wares.
Triangle loom class
Joanne starts weaving!
A good time was had by all!
(That's Otto and Joanne on the right.)
