Sunday, April 20, 2008

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.

13 comments:

cpurl17 said...

Love the animal photos! How sweet!
I can't wait to see future fibers spun by you!

Lauren said...

I'm glad you were able to make it ot the fiber festival. I'd love to go to one sometime and see all the animals!

gilraen said...

What lovely pictures you did get :) I love theblues/turquoise too !! :)

Zonda said...

Waaaaa! I wanted to go so bad, sitting here was torture..well I did get the bills paid, some of my sewing organized and now have 2 new doors and awesome windows...but you got some great fibers there!

Bezzie said...

Sounds like a well done small festival. I just finished spinning some natural colored stuff--I realy like it! I love that chocolate brown alpaca you came home with.

Monika said...

I have never been to any fiber festival. I've never wanted to process my own fleece either. I do however like natural fiber, which I can dye, and spin, or spin, and dye myself. Which is what I'm doing right now. I like what you got from this festival. Even if your locks are only to be looked at for a while, they are so beautiful! A pity the camera died on you.

Lazuli said...

It looks like you found some gorgeous fibers! (And some really cute animals to snap photos of). I know absolutely nothing about fiber prep (my spinning class started after that part of the process) so I will look forward to seeing what you do with these locks!

Deb said...

I'm looking forward to hitting a few fiber festivals too. We have on coming up on Mother's Day weekend that I may drag Mr. and daughter to.

Jennie said...

Awww what cute animals. :) Sounds like a lot of fun.

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Sounds like fun! And looks like you got some great fiber too!

Anonymous said...

Would have gone to this festival, but didn't find out about it until after the fact. Oh well. I'll go next spring. Glad you found some roving you like. I especially like the blue green...gorgeous!
ANg

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

wow sounds like a good time. The lambs are sooo cute!

Anonymous said...

Look at all those great fibers; I'd say it was a successful day. Too bad your camera wasn't cooperating, but the shots you did get are so cute :-)