Same, but different.

We had a great time in Dahlonega, but a few things had changed. There used to be a public access to a river where you could play around and pan for gold. Well, that land has been bought, and a golf complex has been built, so now you cannot pan for the gold anymore. Then, we thought to visit a winery and vineyard we had discovered on our last trip. Apparently last time we went on a weekend, because it was closed the whole time we were up there. There was also a charming Folkway Center and art gallery the last time we were there (in fact, it was there I had my first "spinning in public" experience). They also had marvelous handspun for sale there. Well, you guessed it... it was also closed!! I did manage to get to The Spinning Shop, but also had a shock there, as the owner is selling her marvelous farm and farmhouse. She has decided to downsize and give up the hard work of being on a farm. She sold her Shetland sheep flock last month. Fortunately, she hopes to keep up the shop on some sort of basis. I did get to spend a couple of marvelous hours on her back porch, along with a couple of other spinners. No, I did not bring my wheel, but I sat and chatted and knitted and asked a bunch of questions and enjoyed tea and spice cake with the group. And yes, I bought fiber (like I really needed it!!) I got 1 pound of brown Bluefaced Leicester, 8 oz of a mostly blue merino/tussah blend and 4 oz. of tencel to blend with fiber to make sock yarn out of. Also, I purchased another niddy noddy and a book written by the shop owner about natural dyeing.

I took Barb's (schoolmamma) advice and visited the knitting shop there and came away with some Weaver's Wool for socks and some cotton Fixation, also for socks.

We were still able to eat at our favorite places, and found a couple of more interesting places to visit. Seems they have opened 2 antique malls right off the square, so we piddled around in there for quite awhile. I saw something described only by the seller as "antique yarn box," but it actually was some sort of spindle. The bottom portion was a box - sort of like some wooden tool boxes you see occasionally. The handle portions came up from each side, but then there were holes drilled in the handle pieces, and a shaft with a wheel on was one side and a spindle was on the other side. It sort of reminded me of a kick spindle. I would assume that one would work the wheel with one hand and draw out the fiber with the other. I could not decide whether to buy it. It would have needed some work to make it a "nice" antique, as the spindle was bent and somewhat rusted.

We left on Thursday morning to go to Fayetteville to visit my dad. Thursday night, I found out my cell phone was missing, so Friday we called and fortunately tracked it down, but unfortunately, it was left in a restaurant in Dahlonega, so we made the 1 1/2 to 2 hour trip back up there and then headed home. We got in last night around 8 pm, but went to the late movie at 10 pm. Yes, you can bet all of us slept late this morning.