You know there is something seriously wrong when just the week before Easter it was 80 degrees, only to plunge to freezing with the added bonus of snow and sleet a week later. Some one is stark raving angry and I think it is time we find out what we did and fix it before it starts to rain frogs.
Against all logic a merry, little band of knitters who spin and one baby, set out for Fiberfest in Greencastle, IN April 14th. Two of our cohort had gone ahead, traveling light and fast as they didn't have all the baby stuff weighing down their wagon. When we reached the Putnam County Fairgrounds it was cold, pouring rain, and the total opposite of a good time. We got out and headed for a little stand to get hot, steak sandwiches for lunch. By the time we walked the 50 yards or so to the main pole barn our sandwiches were cold. It was not shaping up to be a good day.
Then we were met with the bright smiling faces of the scouting party. They told of spectacular fiber in all combinations, yarn luscious enough to make you break all the rules about fiber festivals, handcrafted tools, and delights too numerous to recount.
Before I learned to spin, a fiber festival was a great place to find small batch, one of a kind yarn. I glided past the fiber booths and didn't really appreciate or register what I was seeing.
Learning to spin changed all of that for me. I was in tactile heaven! Merino top - soft and buttery. Bobynx silk - like a cool cloud in spring. Rambouillet (hey, it's French so a lot of the letters are not pronounced. You don't even want to know how I spelled it before I decided it might be a good idea to look it up.) - soft like a whisper. Alpaca - like a thick cloud. The color array was something completely overwhelming. I lasted about an 45 minutes before I wanted to curl up in a fetal position and shake from the sensory overload.
Having just learned how to spin, I walked the line between wanting to try everything and waiting not to buy anything too luscious until Yellow Springs in the Fall after I have gained more experience on the wheel. It is probably a good thing logic won out over fiber addiction, as I would not have the time to spin half of what I wanted to buy, even if I spun from now until the day I died. The other reality was space to haul it back in. With two spinning wheels and all the baby accouterments, space in the van was limited. I did buy two pounds of top to spin - a pound of teal merino top and a beautiful pound of hand dyed Coopworth top in the Lady of the Lake colorway - blues and lavenders.
We did venture out in the rain and the cold to one of the other buildings. We saw some more fabulous fiber and yarn. We also saw bunnies. I must admit, the smell of fur bearing animals on a damp day is not the most pleasant aroma. This building also had stacks of judged and ribboned fleeces. Wet sheep. Ahhh - there's a nice smell. This more than confirmed my prejudice against owning my own bunnies, alpacas, sheep, or goats. I won't even talk about the whole poop ball (euphemistically called tags - I guess telling new spinners that if they want to prepare their own fleece they will be picking out poop balls doesn't really encourage the activity.) aspect to cleaning your own fleece.
After that, my partner in crime and I were too pooped and cold to go on. The rest of our cohort remained for a bit longer.
Tune in next time to read about the great cobbler scramble, spinning in a Super 8, the shower slip and slide, plus a whole lot more.
(Insert organ music here.)
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