Monday, May 5, 2008

With A Little Help From My Friends

Toad Suck Daze 2008 is OVER!!! *does a dance* I had an absolute blast meeting and talking with folks as they walked by my booth. There were some rather tense moments...but overall the weekend was a success.

I could not have done the weekend with out the help of my friends. My sister and her boyfriend, Matt, Jeanetta, Debbie, and of course my awesome husband Todd. When I did have help, I was able to go out of the booth and spin yarn. I was so very pleased to see so many kids knowing what on earth I was doing! It was awesome to see their parents looking at me like I was an alien and saying "What on earth are you doing?" and to hear their kids say "She's spinning yarn!" Too cool!

Jeanetta of Splendid Designs on Etsy was a tremendous help. I would spin yarn and then as I was spinning it, she would explain how the wool would go from the sheep (natural wool) to processed roving, then painted, and then spun. This is the yarn we used to show what the roving looks like spun up. I just love this set, I may have to knit it up myself.

Our painted silk scarves looked lovely on the first day blowing in the breeze looped through the back wall lattice. Of course, my hubby had the coolest seat ever. The wind continuously blew him some fine locks of painted silk hair.
Speaking of wind! The start of Day Two was a nightmare! The wind had blown so very hard during the night a lot of folks lost their tents and had a mess. We had put up Wind Shield Walls. The wind blew so hard the wall blew in and we came into the entire inventory and cubes all in a pile on the ground. Thankfully, none of the yarn or roving was hurt.

Debbie, my wonderful step-mom, rushed out to save the day! Within minutes of my desperate call for help she was there assisting me in the clean up and soon enough we were back open for business.

The day was still pretty windy and there were some pretty tough moments. I was very thankful to have Matt holding up the wall by sitting in the chair for awhile.

Here are a few pics of the layout of the yarn.


And spinning fibers! Yay! I have a ton to spin still. This was just two of the cubes. We had six cubes set up of fiber alone.
The Conway Paper interviewed me too. Here is a link to the article if you would like to check it out. CLICK HERE Also, a very nice man from Conway made a video of me spinning and talking about what I was doing. Who knows, it may just show up on my website.

Today has been a bit strange. I feel like I need to go back to my booth and work. Strange, I know...I really love the convenience of selling my yarn and fiber online, but honestly, I love talking to people in person about the craft. It is just too cool to meet other yarn-a-holics and understand their need to touch every fiber and dream of all the things they could make. I enjoyed each and every moment of Toad Suck Daze. It makes me want to do it more often or open up a shop. There's a time and season for everything (God's time...God's time!)

There is still so much more to share about the fun that was had during the festival, but for now, I must get my house back under control...image what your house would look like if you left a man alone with three boys for three days. ♥

4 comments:

Julie Anne of Diamondmeenuh Creations said...

Love the post! Loved even more meeting you and Deb AND Janetta AND hubby (who looks lovely in silk, by the way--love the expression on his face) AND two of the boys! I had fun touching those yarns, too! Yeah, will have to use my gage guide and get a needle and some Twisted Purl yard and over come my post traumatic granny square syndrome :-)

If you'd like a copy of that chocolate post of mine, it's all yours, I can e-mail you a copy. I have no clue where I got it from and it's been up on my kitchen wall in a frame for YEARS! Have no problem sharing it with others. So fabulous meeting you on Saturday!
*hugs*
Julie Anne

idyll hands said...

Ditto the stressful moments due to weather. The wind, tornado warning and hail had my up ALL night on Thursday just stressing about what it was doing to our tent. Thankfully, just a bit damp and jewelry can take damp.

I hope you put some of your fibers up on Etsy for me to snatch up soon!

Denise Felton said...

Fastastic publicity! LOVE the newspaper article.

And I love this post, Cyndi. I'd been dying to know how it went. It sounds like you rocked the place! (Of course you did. You're a goddess.)

Unknown said...

it was a blast and i miss it too!