Another behind the scenes posting. Writing by Joan , photos and italicized comments from Gale.
Here we are in September, and though it’s hard to tell the seasons where I am in Santa Barbara, I know fall is creeping up.
Of course, my thoughts turned to Autumn House Farm, near Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, where the leaves really do change color. 
It was just beginning to get a bit chilly when I was there researching Shear Spirit. Here's Shepherds Rest, the '"extra" farmhouse at Autumn
House, seen from across the road and up on the hill where the main farmhouse & barns are. I had it all to myself. It killed me to lounge
on the porch swing by the moonlight all alone, listening to a
bullfrog sing in the pond nearby. Sigh. You can rent it with a group for a fiber retreat-. Wish I lived closer! Along with the cozy atmosphere in Harriet Knox’s spinnery, the farm’s inviting shop, display room, and gathering space, I also found a genial group of spinners and weavers, who make up the cooperative that produces Autumn House’s signature hand-spun and colored yarns. 
Harriet Knox (center), her daughter Vicky (R) and Hanna Peck discuss yarns for a colorwork vest pattern in the spinnery/shop.
On that rainy fall day, two gas stoves were heating the cozy wood-paneled spinnery. Several spinning wheels stood near benches and chairs, and colorful skeins of yarn poked out from shelves along the walls. It was a warm place for Eileen Fontana, and her sister, Lorraine Heasley, to sit, spin, and talk.
“The women in the cooperative work in return for materials,” Harriet said. “It’s a yarn coop, and they can sell their own work.” It’s clear, though, that there is also a social component that’s reminiscent of the quilting bees and sewing circles that sustained women’s crafts over the centuries.
Lorraine showed off the sweater she’s wearing. It was her first “complete” project. From carding the wool to spinning and knitting, she did it all herself.
Meanwhile, Eileen was reminiscing about the Italian grandmother who taught her to knit when she was about 12. She brought out a “stash sweater,” she was making, using wool she had accumulated when she just “can’t resist the yarn. At some point you say, ‘Now what am I going to do with it?’” Aside from knitting and teaching others to knit, Eileen also felts. And she started to spin a decade ago after she visited a wool festival. 
If you're thinking it looks like they enjoy each others' company, you're right. Knitting, needle felting, laughing, & a great view of the main barn from the guest house side porch.
Several other women contribute other fiber arts skills. Delores Douglass and Sheri Franz are adept at designing sweaters and patterns. Harriet tells a story about a trip Sheri made to Wales. “Sheri was riding a country bus and looking at people’s clothes when she saw a lady knitting a sock.” She asked the woman for a closer look. “The woman let her hold the sock, and she charted it out” there and then. The result was Autumn House’s popular Welsh country sock pattern, which is included in Shear Spirit.
As the women chatted, Harriet’s daughter, Vicky, came to unpack some cartons of yarn, and a few minutes later, weaver Kate Dinsmore arrived with a few of her hand-loomed garments. The results of the women’s united efforts – the yarns, rovings, sweaters, and socks – were visible all around. But the spirit of collaboration was also in the air.
Said Harriet, “We encourage creativity, imagination, and no fear.”
More photos of the cast and crew after the jump.
For a fiber fair newbie like me, that's a lot of woolgathering. But thanks to the fall weather both in New Mexico and New York, I actually got to wear my 
