2014 Great Lakes Fiber Show, part 1

This year's show was extra fun, and boy did I come home with a great haul!  I missed last year because I was on vacation in the Cayman Islands, but this year I totally made up for it.

The plan for the first day was to browse through all four barns and see what all the vendors had to offer, then make purchases after lunch. After all, no one should shop on an empty stomach, right?  All was going according to plan until we entered the last barn.  All day, we saw people carrying these awesome market baskets, and the first vendor we saw in that last barn we went into was the one who had them.  

African Market Baskets from River's Edge Fiber Arts

By the time we got there, the baskets were mostly sold out, but I loved the pink one and bought it right away.  Her booth was the first one I went to on Sunday and there were only 2 baskets left and the purple one called my name.  This vendor will be one of the first ones I visit next year.  These fair trade African Market Baskets are hand woven in village co-ops in Ghana, West Africa and, according to the attached tag, the purchase of these bags helps provide healthcare and school supplies in support of the weavers, their families, and their villages."  Happy to help the cause, plus these baskets gave me a place to carry all of my stuff.  Keep reading.

We also meet a group of ladies from the Trading Post for Fibers.  They were a hoot and I bought a bunch of great fiber from them on Saturday and again on Sunday:  

• 100% Polwarth wool top roving from Frabjous Fibers in a colorway called Dunedin (shown here with an AWESOME drop spindle I picked up from 7 Yaks Design):

This is one bad-ass spindle!

• 2-Tone Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) from Abstract Fiber in the Fade to Black colorway, shown with another fantastic drop spindle that I got from 7 Yaks Design). This fiber will be spun into yarn that will become something warm for the Mr.  Maybe a winter hat.  Or something. 

The spider's web design looks pretty mesmerizing when it's spinning. Fun to watch. And SHHHH! I might have just bought /another/ spindle from her on Etsy ... 

• 2 pounds of Falkland fiber which is (I think) destined to become a 3-ply sock yarn and also a 2- or 3-ply sweater yarn:

• Look at this ridiculously beautiful fiber, also from Abstract Fiber.  It's 50% yak and 50% merino and is soooooo soft!

• This pile of pretty stuff is on my wheel right now, and is on its way to becoming my very first sock yarn.  It is 6 ounces of superwash merino from Gypsy Girl Creations in a colorway called Orchid Petals. I am planning for it to be a 3-ply but I'm not sure yet whether it will be a true 3-ply or whether it will be Navajo plied.  Either way, it will be pretty awesome. Might take forever to spin, though...

I just LOVE this color combination.

I am not sure what to blame for my rekindled love affair with drop spindles.  When I was visiting the Trading Post booth on Saturday, the owner was spinning on a spindle so I asked if I could use one to test out some fiber.  I kept saying how much I hated drop spindling but I just couldn't stop.  I pretty much abandoned drop spindles when I got my spinning wheel a few years ago, but this weekend totally got me hooked again.

I also got 4 ounces of Rambouillet but I don't remember the vendor's name.  Almost bought a few ounces of angora but decided against it.  Maybe next year. 

This year, I decided to focus on buying fibers that I have never spun before ... and more or less stuck to it.  but there are a few more things that I didn't mention in this post.  Those will have to wait until tomorrow, or later this week.  Bye for now!

~mz

Distracted

This past weekend I got to spend some quality knitting time with 2 of my friends in Columbus (OH). On Saturday we went to a little shop near Dayton called Fiberworks. I gotta say that I was not prepared for all the lovely stuff that was there.  The store has yarn -- lots of lovely yarn -- but also fiber. Lots of lovely, squishy, beautiful, soft fiber.  I was lucky to get my hands on 8 or so ounces of this:

50% red alpaca and 50% white Romney wool

... and about 4 ounces of this:

50% black alpaca and 50%white Romney wool

This stuff is SO lovely and soft.  I can't wait to get it on the wheel but it'll have to wait until I'm finished with this:

Lovely Malabrigo roving. Colorway: Baya Electrica

My friend Connee bought about a pound of lovely Corriedale roving on Saturday.  I told her that she should get all they had (about 2 pounds total) but she said 1 pound would be enough. But once she started spinning it later that night, she knew I was right! Luckily, the shop is open on Sundays, so we went back to get the rest of that Corriedale. And while that was happening I found this:

100% natural wool sliver*

There is only about 6 ounces of this stuff but I LOVE the way it looks and can't wait to spin that up too.  I think it'll make for a rustic-looking but not itchy yarn. I'm thinking it'd make a nice hat and for my husband. Although honestly, I'm not sure how he'd feel about fingerless mitts.  Hmm maybe I'll make those for me :-)

Well, kids, it's way past my bedtime.  If I don't go to sleep like NOW, tomorrow will be real ugly. Thank goodness for coffee, yo!

~mz


*Sliver is one of many different ways that fiber can be prepared for spinning.  Read more here -- Abby is a very knowledgeable and skilled spinner!