Handcrafted

Yesterday morning, the purple blossoms of redbuds along the highway glowed in the sunshine. Daffodils lined the road. I soaked in all the colors, excited to be taking the short drive over to the Greencastle Wool Show. (Jeff’s Ed. note: Rather, she is excited to not be planting Christmas trees). I’d be staffing the Indiana Sheep Association booth and wool sale.

I’d also brought two Shropshire fleeces for Sylvanmore customer and friend John. A spinner and weaver, John had purchased Oswin’s 1st place fleece from the 2023 Greencastle Wool Show. He used the fleece in spinning demonstrations and liked working with it so much he laid claim to the ewe’s 2025 fleece months ago, as well as any other Shropshire fleeces we had available.

Late morning, John arrived at the booth, saying, “I have a gift for you!” He set his bag on the ISA table, and pulled out a stack of bookmarks. He handed one to me, a green and white handwoven pattern. “From our girl!”

“From Oswin?”

“Yes!”

“And green’s my favorite color! Perfect!” I beamed as I carefully tucked it away, then brought out two sacks of Shropshire wool.

John pulled a lock of wool from Oswin’s fleece. With both hands, he held the lock to his ear and pulled it on both ends quickly, listening to its sound like he might listen to a stringed instrument. After smelling the wool, he dropped it back into the sack and repeated the process with the second fleece. “I’ll take both of these.”

Later, I wandered through the crowds admiring the plethora of yarn, vibrant colors reflecting the blossoms of the spring day. Spinning wheels and knitting supplies nestled between the rows of fiber.

This sign resided at a booth full of crafts and yarn:

I thought of John testing the wool in each aspect, listening to its story, as a knitter would test out yarn. When I ran into John later, he said he had dropped off the fleeces at the booth for the wool processor. The wool will travel to Wisconsin for its transformation into roving. Then, it’ll return to John for spinning into yarn.

As we parted ways, John reached into his bag and said to the owner of the booth we had been talking in, “I have a gift for you.” From the corner of my eye, I saw him pulling out another bookmark.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What talent do you enjoy sharing with others?

Share your answer and this newsletter with someone who enjoys making crafts.

If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

Subscribe to receive this newsletter each week by clicking the button below.

This Week on the Farm

Here’s another fun sign from the Greencastle Wool Show:

Planting trees, moving the Shropshires into the tree patch to continue our research project on weed control in Christmas trees, and moving sheep to new paddocks are all on the list for this week!

Farm Shop

A couple of options for 4-H lambs or starting your own sheep flock are some crossbred ewes. Reply to this email or contact us through Facebook or Instagram to let us know if you’d like to take a look at our available sheep.