From Fleece to Fabric

Today I attended an Open House at a new venture on the mainland near our cottage... WAVE FIBRE MILL. .. an exciting project by Wave Weir, a local woman who rescued vintage mill machinery and set up a mill in a warehouse on the premises of the local airport (!)  near Parry Sound to process fleece from small local (and not-so-local!) farms. The enterprise involves not only the creation of wool yarns for knitting and other crafts, but also the weaving of it into fabric which is then made into designer clothing...which is sold in their small retail shop on the premises!   Her goals go far beyond the production of fibre to building a community of support for local farmers and artists as well as offering training and employment in an area of the province that really needs it! 
This is a woman who is making a difference!

We took a tour of the mill, oohed and aahed over the clothing in the shop, and then watched spinning demos and and browsed the stalls show-casing related wool and fibre crafts..and of course bought some hand-dyed yarn!  Fun, wow. 

It was also a wonderful "off-island" day for me ...spent with my brother and Linda and Shirley..two of his friends from town. The main event was the Open House, but also included a lunch of Caribbean style take-out back in town, then coffee with my daughter and SIL on the town wharf near their marina. Then it was errands in town and a boat trip under ominous storm clouds rushing back to the cottage ..in hopes of beating the rain! Which we did...just...

It was a very long, but fun day.

Too pooped to post, I collapsed on the sofa in front of the TV watching PRIME and did not arise from it until midnight...hence today's back-blipping!