We have to admit – sitting at home is much more tolerable with the cool weather and rain we’ve had in California this year so far. If California has a stay-at-home order in place, it’s much easier with a crackling fire and a warm sweater. But we’re in mid-April, and those days are soon to be gone, so we’ll take this last moment to remember warm wools and thick sweaters.
We bring you a visit with Jeri Robinson-Lawrence. She and her daughter Irina run Flying Fibers, a brick-and-mortar yarn shop in Landisville, Pennsylvania, with an online portal for those of you who might want premium wool but don’t want to get on a plane right now. Jeri and her daughter specialize in British fibers and breed-specific blends, grown both here and in that island from which they originated. On top of that, she raises some pretty rare breeds of sheep, including Wensleydales, Leicesters, Shetlands and Teeswaters.
Jeri is an example of a person that has profoundly been impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown in more than one life area, so the going-into-her-store part is important. You can’t actually do it, because she is one of those who had to close the front door (though the online portal is still busily filling orders). If that wasn’t enough to deal with, they had to move their fiber classes online. The ability to import or export products (including wool and genetic material) has experienced some disruption for most people in America, and she’s no doubt one of them. Jeri is a teacher, so you can imagine the bobbing and weaving with the chaos in the educational system. And she’s the volunteer go-to girl running the sheep barns for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival held every October in Rhinebeck, NY. We’re sure that’s still up in the air, until further notice (and it’s not a little event, let me tell you).
So we are thrilled to bring attention to the basics of one of the most comforting stay at home things that we can possible imagine – the soft, warm (and sometimes cool), cozy, homey feel of wool -- at least until summer hits next week, that is.
After the podcast, we urge you to please visit Flying Fibers to find out more about this wonderful farmer, shop owner, craftswoman, teacher, and tireless volunteer. Thank you, Jeri and the Wensleydales, for a Grand Day Out at the NYS S&WF 2019.
Links
https://www.flyingfibers.com/
https://www.flyingfibers.com/covid19-qa
https://sheepandwool.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wensleydale_sheep
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefaced_Leicester
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wensleydale_cheese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_and_Gromit
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104361/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2