Spring Fiber Jubilee

This past weekend, I went to my first fiber festival of the year with my cousin's wife aka my new fiber co-addict. She's a felter and learning how to spin, so we were both giddy about the chance to get out and breathe wool fumes. It was fun going shopping for fiber this time. I went to one last year when I was only a knitter but there's so much more to see when fiber is on my radar.

My first purchase of the day was 4oz of llama roving. I had a hard time picking a color, but this creamy roving is softer than alpaca. It's softer than almost anything else I've ever touched. Seriously, it's amazing. Silky, fine, shiny.. it's wonderful and I keep petting it instead of spinning. (click pictures to view larger)



We browsed some more booths, one of which had gorgeous baskets. I also squeezed some mohair, but resisted since I already have several bags of 100% kid mohair in the stash. We saw Angora goats being shorn. One of the outbuildings had raw corriedale fleeces and lovely roving. I bought 4 oz each of two colors because I'm on a natural fiber kick lately. It's nice to alternate gorgeous batts and natural roving and locks since it keeps me on my toes. All of these different fibers and preps keep my fingers from getting in the habit of any one technique.

They're seen posing here with the llama roving.



And what was that burst of bright orange in the photo? I found a booth selling lovely dyed and combed wool by the pound plus these gorgeous hand-dyed Cotswold locks. After the orange batts, I am madly in love with this shade of clear yellow-orange. I have no idea what I'll do with these, but the color was practically screaming to come home with me. It's just a little 2 oz baggie, so maybe I'll mix them in with something else as an accent.



In the middle of all of this, I saw a familiar face. It took me a moment and realized it was someone I knew from her blog, Feather and Fan. We've emailed back and forth a few times, but never managed to meet until we just happened to be at the same fiber festival. We'll also be spinning together at the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in a couple of weeks. It's such a small world!

Speaking of alternating fibers, I finished the rustic, plant-dyed, lanolin-rich Shetland locks and moved on to one of the sparkling merino/alpaca "Fairy Dust" batts. I am spinning thicker singles and loving the soft colors and copious twinkles. There is clear pink and blue angelina all over everything in my apartment. I seem to leave a trail of it wherever I go. It may have something to do with wearing a fleece pullover while I spin, but it's still cold here and I can't help it. I don't mind. It makes my place look extra fancy.