Spin a Yarn

I had the pleasure of accompanying my daughter's Advanced Language Arts class to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee on Friday.  This was my second year getting to attend the festival.  My son's class went last year.  Last year I was sitting listening to the stories when I looked over and saw needles and yarn in another attendee's hands.  Oh the sorrow I felt for not bringing my own.  If only there had been a LYS in historic Jonesborough.  It is a cute little historic town with antique shops, ice cream shops, diners, boutiques and so much more.  

I was prepared this year.  I brought a simple project to work on.  I brought along some Italiano by Fibranatura which is a yummy merino wool.  Since my trip to Rhinebeck is getting closer, knew I really wanted some fingerless mitts to keep my hands warm up there. I chose to knit Veronika Jobe's Lambing Mitts.  They are a great basic pattern that has a convertible garter stitch band that can be folded up or down for more or less coverage of the fingers.  What a great way to spend the day! The weather was perfect and this was an excellent project for the festival.

There are so many talented storytellers at this festival.  My favorite for the past two years is Donald Davis.  He is from Asheville, NC and told the best stories from his childhood. Another great storyteller this year was Clare Muireann Murphy an extremely funny Irish lady. Lastly, the ever-favorite with the students and everyone else was Bill Lepp.  He is an extremely southern storyteller whose tales of Buffalo tipping had us in stitches. For a sampling of the National Storytelling Festival check out their streaming website at https://livestream.com/storytelling/events/6378452.  For more information about the festival their official website is http://www.storytellingcenter.net/