Northwest Washington Fair

Yesterday Doug & I went to the fair in Lynden, Washington. Lynden has a strong Dutch heritage, and is a charming town with meticulously manicured yards and well-maintained homes, some more modest than others, but all kept with pride. The area is primarily agricultural. Lots of dairy farms.

The first stop was for poffertjes, traditional Dutch pillows of batter cooked on a special griddle, topped with powdered sugar & a whipped mixture of butter & custard, mildly lemon flavored. I can't go to the fair without having my annual plate of poffertjes.


We stopped by the Sheep-to-Shawl demonstration which was done by the Spindrifters group, our local branch of the Northwest Regional Spinners' Association. I didn't participate this year, but did get some good photos of the shawl in progress. Roland is shown here weaving, his first time, and very successful.


In the Needlework barn, I ran into a friend who was making lace. Here are Linda & Nancy, doing magic with their many bobbins of thread. Although she explains that it is very simple really, using only four of the bazillion bobbins at a time, the process is totally amazing to me. She is making a three-dimensional lace rose.


A spinner in the Wool Show was spinning alpaca fiber on a genuine built-by-Alden Amos spinning wheel. For those of you who don't know, he wrote The Bible of spinning, the BIG BOOK of HANDSPINNING. This wheel was custom-built by Mr. Amos with specifications to her body and spinning style. I have serious wheel envy.


The day was gorgeous, perfect, delightful.