On the Bounty of Food and Fiber

Canadians are about to celebrate their annual Thanksgiving holiday with a long weekend in most provinces. Some intriguing facts surrounding Jour de l'Action de grâce:




Okanagan Grapes - 2007

 

     -  While it is a federal statutory holiday, not all provinces actually   celebrate (those that don’t are in the Canadian Maritimes);

     -  The first Thanksgiving celebration dates back to the 16^th century, but it wasn’t officially recognized as a federal holiday in Canada until 1957;

     -   Canadians actually celebrate the bounty of the harvest, whereas Americans focus on Pilgrim folklore;

     -    Like Americans, Canadians generally like to feast on pumpkin, potatoes and turkey.

Since Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday of the year, and I am already hankering for the third Thursday in November, it’s nice to celebrate vicariously through others. I have had preliminary pumpkin and sweet potato discussions (can anyone say pumpkin cheesecake?); I am plotting how I will brine this year’s turkey, and I have new ideas for fresh cranberry sauce

ingredients. I never miss the kitschy Macy’s Day Parade, and I have discovered a new viewing tradition – the National Dog Show. Because of last year’s show, I am officially in love with the medium-sized schipperke. I was audibly rooting for it to take best in show while I was fixing dressing last year. No offense, George Bailey.

 

 I have an additional reason to celebrate the bounty of the season – the fiber bounty, that is. When I returned from OFFF, I was expecting one laceweight cake from one of my favorite indie dyers -

EKF lacweight cake (center)

Enchanted Knoll Farm. That came a few days later; what was waiting for me in my mailbox were five skeins (!) of Hairball Yarn fingering weight yarn and very cute cat stitch markers. Hairball Yarn had sponsored a yarn giveaway on Ravelry during this year’s Tour de France. I was a lucky recipient, and expected to receive one, maybe two, skeins of yarn. Five was amazingly generous, and as you can see from the photo, also scrumptiously dyed. Dreams of projects are currently dancing in my head -

move over, fresh cranberries.


Hurrah for fiber!

Fiber from OFFF



Joyeux de Jour de l'Action de grace!