F is for Fiber Festival

I got a trip in to the 2nd Annual Averasboro Fiber Festival yesterday. It was a nice festival but it was very small. I'm going to estimate that there were 10 vendors there in total. They did have a few demonstrations. I watched a sheep shearing and a Border Collie demonstration. The Border Collie was herding the sheep and following both voice and whistle commands. The spinning guild I belong to was there demonstrating spinning and had a couple wheel set up for demonstration too. There was a nice little crowd there. I hope that the festival grows over the years.

Of course the real reason I went to the festival was the fiber.

Most of the vendors were local farmers and sheppards. They were selling everything thing from unprocessed fiber to yarn, honey, and goat's cheese. The bad thing is the camera I took quit working after about two pictures.

I was able to get the shot of the little lambs above and this bunny. His name is Rumplestiltskin and that fiber is angora from the bun man himself. The bunny was the last photo I was able to capture.

This fiber is unprocessed alpaca from Prissy. It's too bad my camera quit working because Prissy was there and was so cute. Although she did look a little naked with out her fleece. I got a little more than a pound of this fiber. When I bought it I figured I was going to learn a little bit a about fiber prep. Now I'm not sure I want to mess with it; I might try and find someone that will process it for me.

I also bought this roving. It is a mix of natural Border Leicester, alpaca, mohair, and silk. The colored bits are dyed Border Leicester. It is very soft and will spin up kind of heathery and tweedy. They had a yarn that was spun from a very similar mix (minus the alpaca) and it looked very nice. There is about a half of a pound in this ball.

There was very little hand dyed fiber there; and there were no indie dyers there selling hand painted rovings. Most of the fiber was still in the natural color of the particular animal in ever state from raw fleece to combed top. I did end up buying some hand dyed Border Leicester locks. I'm always a sucker for this blue green type of color and it just looked so pretty sitting in a basket. It will require some prep before spinning. Although the lady I bought it from did say that some do use it as is for art type yarns. But I love the color, so seeing it sit in a basket in my craft room won't be a problem. All in all I have to declare this Fiber Festival a success.