PA ENDLESS MOUNTAINS FIBER FESTIVAL!

The Endless Mountains (PA) Fiber Festival Sept 6 & 7 is a week away! We can't wait!!

Here are some of the beautifully restored antique spinning wheels we will have there.

The lighter colored one is a signed Shaker wheel (signed SR AL) made in Alfred, ME. It looks exactly like the one in Pennington & Taylor's book, Spinning Wheels and Accessories.

The darker one with the complete distaff is a huge favorite of Fred's. We don't know its origin, but there is so little wear on the original bearings and treadle that is it basically like the day it was made. This wheel is a delight to treadle.

The more compact wheel at the bottom with back braces is clearly a Berks County, PA wheel. It has remnants of orange stripes painted on some of the turnings.

We'll also have some of the double hole rigid heddle tape looms Fred makes at the show. Signe Mitchell's Weavezine has an article about these looms in the new fall issue.

Fred also makes double hole box tape looms which can be seen in our January and February 08 blog archives.

GOSCHENHOPPEN FOLK FESTIVAL!

The Goschenhoppen Folk Festival was simply amazing! Most shindigs of this type we’ve been to have demonstrations on a schedule. You go over to this part of the area and they will be doing something then an hour later in another location something else.

At the Goshenhoppen Festival things are happening all the time everywhere. How often do you see folks making wooden water pipe and a pump made from an enormous beam for a well? Or a horse powered treadmill? There was a wood turner working on a treadle lathe, two or three iron smiths, a tin smith, wonderful period knitted lace, embroidery, spinners and a tape loom weaver with part of her collection of tape looms there, plus tons more things going on.

The tape loom weaver told me that there were PA German tape looms with multiple holes, presumably for pattern weaving, similar to mine. There were at least three different teams of beautiful horses as well as the handsome grey pulling the ice wagon.

The festival is on the grounds next to the wonderfully preserved Henry Antes house built in 1736.

There was a whole section on period Mennonite food preparation that we didn't get to along with traditional dishes at the food stands. We can’t wait for next year to go again!