Fiber Acquisition

It was the first fiber festival I've ever been to! I went with my very good friends, Mom and Arleta. See? A picture. Proof. I met Jae, who designed an awesome shawl. It was in the fashion show (there was a fashion show - fun!). It's an amazing design, I can't even imagine all the work that went into it. It's a huge, beautiful shawl that's just what I want next. She's still working on the pattern, though.



My shawl got worn around, and people were very kind about commenting on it. Arleta got more comments than I, however, as she was very clever, and made an "Arleta's Motley Wool" t-shirt. She's really pretty well-known in the fiber world. We had to keep wandering on to the next booth without her, she met so many people that knew her.

In one of the booths, a very nice lady showed us how to knit with roving. Spinning left out! Apparently it's not necessary, after all =) She was nervous about me taking a picture (apparently NOT a blogger), so I blocked out her nametag. The knitting with roving was really neat, though, and she was making a scarf. And once I thought about it, why not? I sucked all the knowledge I could from her, and then my mom bought the roving to actually do the technique, and make a hat. Because, honestly, if I bought something from every person I begged for knowledge, I wouldn't be making my house payment this month. (I cleverly waited to pay the house payment until after the festival, just in case)


I plagued all spinners I saw, and I learned a bunch. I can now spin as fine as a thread, without predrafting a long line of roving first. Very neat. I bought several spindles and many rovings with materials I hadn't worked with before (like, anything not just merino), like bamboo and silk and tencil (what is tencil?). I really wanted the roving with the bunny fur worked in, it was so soft. But, unfortunately, I'd already borrowed twenty bucks from my mom, and I thought I'd better stop. I've thought of that roving ever since.

I was very excited to find sheep shearing. I have seen it when I was younger, but it had been awhile. The sheep was very docile, but I was informed it was because this man was sitting on his head. I'm so easily impressed. This festival has nearly convinced me to buy hand carders. I feel like I'm being sucked down into a yarny black hole, and I might as well give up and buy an alpaca.



And here's the big ta-da! I met - *met* - Sharon from Aurora Alpacas*! She designed, as you can see from the picture, the Dragone shawl. I was so excited, it was like meeting a celebrity. (Yes, just like that, because she is one) I fussed on her, called her a genius, made her pose for a picture, and basically embarrassed Arleta, who claims I told her I loved her. *ahem* Moving on....



She was so nice! We chatted about her other designs (she has three in the works), and she showed me her Pegasus shawl (knitted on #2 needles - ouch), and I bought a very pretty pattern, Misty Morning, from her. Speaking of buying things, here is my fiber acquisition:

Merino and Bamboo, spins like a dream. May end up being laceweight for the Dragone shawl.
Merino and Tencel, I'm trying to figure out how to spin it so it's not variegated, but solid colors.
Alpaca and Bombyx silk, I am scared to spin. It feels so soft, it's like hair, silky, silky. I had to own it, but I'm not sure when I'll get the nerve to spin it.
And camel roving! From - well, wherever this particular camel lived. I'm impressed. I only bought an ounce, but it was only four bucks, and it'll be fun to try something really different. I'll have to spin it along with something else, which, again, I haven't done before. I'm sure I'll update with pictures, though!

For now, I'm spinning the Merino/Bamboo, and a neat Mohair, which is going to have to stay single-ply, as it will be SO chunky if I two-ply it. But enough pictures. That was my weekend! How was yours?