The Festival is in Dickson, Tennessee on May 28, 29 and 30. Friday will be 1-6, Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 10-4. Dickosn is located just an hour West of Nashville, just 5 miles off of I-40 exit 172. There are several new hotels/motels at that exit from the major chains; Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western, etc., along with chain restaurants like O’Charlie’s.

Downtown  Dickosn has a revitalized Main Street, with lots of little specialty shops, antique shops, a coffee shop and a very nice sandwich shop, The Silver Spoon, that I highly recommend (the chicken salad is fabulous).

We hope to see you at the Festival.

Beth

The Spinning Contests will be on Thursday September 17, 2009 at 7:30 held in the Vaughn Building at the State Fair complex in Nashville.

The Sheep to Shawl Competition will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Each team is made up of 4 members. They bring a warped loom and a washed (and dyed if they want)  fleece with no further preparation. They then have a limited time (4 or 5 hours) to prepare the wool, spin the yarn and weave a shawl that measures at least 72 inches. The team will be judged on:

30% Appearance of the Team while working

40% Technical Workmanship

30% Artistry

The Fleece Show will be Tuesday and Wednesday, September 15 & 16 ending with the Fleece Auction on Thursday September 17, at 8:00 pm after the spinning competitions. Fleece entries must be mailed in by Aug 10, to avoid late fees, or online registration will be accepted until September 1, 2009.

For more information, please consult the catalog or Call Kim. Below is the link to the catalog.

tennesseestatefair.org/pdfs/catalogs/LivestockCatalog.pdf

Kim Caulfield is the contact person (931)293-4466.

Let’s have a big turn out with lots of participation!

Well, we have another festival under our belt, and by all accounts, it was a big success. We had a lot of now vendors and some really interesting workshops. The sheep shearer was a big hit, as was our bottle lamb-Patches (aka BopBop). The vendors were happy and most have already said that they plan to return next year.

The plans for 2010 have already started. I should be able to put a survey link up soon, so you can tell us what you think. The dates are May 28 & 29, 2010, Memorial Day weekend. We are thinking about extending the festival to Sunday.

Here are some photos. If you have some of the festival that you would like to share, please email them to me at tnfiberfestival@yahoo.com .

Joanne’s new book, Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin and Dye More than 20 Projects Inspired by America’s Festivals  will be released in March 2009.  Check her Blog at http://joanneseiff.com/

We would like to invite all of you to the Tennessee Fiber Festival at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Contact Laura Artates for more information.

Then Nashville Area Spinners met on Saturday Feb. 9. We had a good turnout and enjoyed just “hanging out”. The group is growing, but still informal. Join us next time on March 8, 2008 in Nashville at the 2nd Presbyterian Church on Belmont Blvd.