Michigan Fiber Festival (2009): What I Got

Now that I've told you all about the Fiber Fest, are you wondering what I actually got? You might be surprised...

I've been hankering for some mohair to make this very sweet little item

from Glamour Knits by Erica Knight which I snagged at Big Lots for $5. (I thought that was a killer steal til I found out that this particular pattern is available for free. But the book is inspiring to look through and has other patterns I like so I won't cry over it.) Back to the mohair, it was nothing urgent, but I was just keeping my eyes open...

And what I found was this beautiful bundle of gorgeousness:

dyed by Betty Todd out of White Cloud, MI. I love the colour even though it's not one I wear a lot. Of course, I don't wear a lot of fuzzy either so this will be "out of the box" for me. I think it is, however, perfect for the pattern and I'm looking forward to making it.

I especially love the ruffled fake placket. Can't wait!

The other thing I got a the fair wasn't from a vendor. Remember I mentioned that Amy bought a spinning wheel? Well, it came with all sorts of accessories, some of which duplicated what she already had. Like a ball winder. She mentioned it to me, knowing I kind of wanted one, and we struck a deal.

I set it up the next day and put it to work on some yarn I had laying around from a sweater ravelling session.
My ad hoc set up worked pretty well and let me work while sitting on the couch. Can't beat that! It's meant to be used in tandem with a swift, and my tinker toy swift worked great.

In case you're wondering what the big deal is (after all, I can wind balls by hand, can't I?), the ball winder turns skeins of yarn into nice neat center pull yarn cakes. (I call them cakes; that might be a misappropriated quilting term for a certain cut of fabric. I'm not sure)

I say, "Ta da!"

Center pull balls are a lot nicer to work with while you're knitting because the ball sits still and doesn't try to roll around the whole room. (Or all around my knitting bag, tangling itself with everything.) And they just feel more professional.

The only issue I noticed with this ball winder is that it doesn't have room for very big yarn cakes.
I got about 100 g of this bulky yarn wound but then the guide started hitting the ball itself. You need the pin to put the yarn in the right place as the ball turns around on its tilted axis. I was able to cheat by holding my fingers very steady and guiding the yarn by hand. Troy says he can extend the pin out for me so we may pursue that.

And that takes me back to my 1000 yards of mohair. I haven't decided if that would be a bigger cake than 100 g of bulky or smaller. I may just ask Amy if I can do it at the store, just in case. (Winding it off of the hank may be an adventure in itself because mohair loves to stick to itself. Could be a lot of "fun" doing that!)

Michigan Fiber Festival (2009): Animals

While some of us prefer to buy our wool off the animal, some prefer to go right to the source. There were a number of local alpaca, sheep, and goat farmers with animals to show, register, and even sell. The person I bummed a ride off of was looking for something but didn't end up finding anything quite to her liking.

Viewing the animals was a lot like going to the fair, but with only animals that were good for fiber.

First thing we happened on was a herding dog demonstration by Tim Curts of Crowded Byre Farm. He was working with a dog that was good at most of the skills but didn't work too hard to be perfect. He kept Tim on his toes.

They had a very sweet border collie he was giving away because it just couldn't learn sheep herding. Amy had a hard time letting it go. (She couldn't take a second dog...and don't look at me! I'm not getting one.)

There were a slew of angora rabbits (mostly white) from a breeder in St Louis. (Not quite local, but it's a bit easier to pack and cart a bunch of rabbits than the larger animals!) They were big, and then looked twice as big because of the fluff factor. This one was having its fur combed out. (I guess you could also think of it as "harvesting" the fur.)

Most were going for about $100; large males were $125.

There were about half a dozen pens with alpaca. Unfortunately they were all shorn so I didn't get to admire their locks.

They all appeared pretty friendly (if a little shy). There were several in this beautiful caramel colour. And their "mop top" hairdos are completely endearing. (These were going for $400 each, if you're curious.)

There were a lot of varieties of goats. I made no effort to keep them straight. This one was quite an individual. Not afraid of the camera and in fact appeared to be preening and posing.
You can tell she's thinking, "That's right...I look goood."

We caught the tail end of a judged event. (Think Westminster Dog Show.) The four little goats being shown also thought they looked pretty good. The light one in this pic acted like a little princess, but the dark one took home the prize.

From there we could see the youngest festival participants: these two kids were born just the night before!
Momma was very proud and protective, but she let us take a few pictures.

Then we got some serious hair:
Poor curly locks could hardly see!

And then some curly horns:
Coming from a commercial farming background (as opposed to hobby farming) where we had one type of chicken (the most common layers), Angus cows for meat, the most common sheep variety, and friends had only Holsteins, etc., it's very interesting to go to a gathering like this and see just how many varieties are available. But of course, what type you get is determined by what you need. (My parents, for instance, had no need for a long-haired goat.)

I still had no yearning to get one for myself. (Thank goodness.) It was a little more exciting to think that my ride might take one home in the back of her truck. But she was in no rush and saw no bargains or must-haves.

And now, before I sign off, let me remind you of the final National Geographic page where they show one great picture that for some reason just didn't quite make it into one of the stories included in the magazine. It didn't fit with the article, but they can't not print it. With that in mind, I give you my bulgy-eyed sheep:
He moved a little and blurred my picture, but I still can't resist showing him off. (And no, he's not scared, he's just bulgy-eyed!)

Hope you've enjoyed the post; not a lot of info, but I hope the pictures let you experience some of the animal fun I had. Well, I guess I have one tip that I learned from a sheep owner: think "cat," not "dog" while petting a sheep. That is to say, pet down the side of the neck, or behind the back of the head; not on the nose.

Now you know for the next time you meet a sheep and want to say hi correctly.

Michigan Fiber Festival (2009): What You'll See

Earlier this week I was invited (or I may have invited myself--but let's not quibble about it) to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan. I jumped at the chance and had a fabulous time today. It was my first time to any kind of fiber festival and went without too many expectations.

There were a lot of vendors, and animals, and demonstrations. Here's some of what I saw today:

You could buy fleeces in a very raw state, washed but not treated in any other way. Basic sheep wool was around $10/lb while alpaca was closer to $30-$35/lb. You could get any colour you want as long as it was a white, brown, or grey/black.

I saw my first drum carder being demonstrated. I can really see how this would beat using a couple paddles. (Cue "significant" music...Christina's getting tempted...) Or if you didn't want to card your own you could buy roving:
Most vendors had it rolled up into nice balls. These ones happen to have been dyed, but many were still in their natural state. A lot of it ran about $2/oz. (That was alpaca, I think.)

There were spinning wheel vendors who would gladly let you try it out:
In fact, the person I went up with found a used wheel in the very model she was looking for and snatched it up right quick!

Or if smaller tools are more to your liking, you could get any number of beautiful spindles:And of course, if you want to skip all of that (like me), you could also buy yarn, yarn and more yarn:
There was a lot of really nice stuff! I limited myself to one item, but more on that in a future post...

There was also a vendor with traditional rug hooking:
I am really drawn to this and will probably get into it when we actually have floors (or walls) that I'm willing to dress up with rugs. These are done with strips of wool fabric. (There was another vendor showing locker hooking with roving. Also nice, but the pattern is a lot less distinct.)

I found a vendor of leather straps and other accessories for purse making. I just fell in love with this bag:
It was huge, like really huge. But beautiful. And then she showed me the inside and it was lined with red suede of the softest kind. Really really beautiful and I coveted it. I didn't, however, even ask the price. It was really huge. What would you use it for? When I mentioned the [rather overwhelming] size, the lady mentioned they carried their cash machine in it on another trip. Ok, but, um, I don't usually carry a cash machine with me...

But it really was beautiful. A work of art. (Once again, if I had walls worth dressing up...)

And the final thing I have to show you are buttons:
The picture will show you how pretty they are. Colourful and large sized for big bulky knits. What the picture doesn't tell you is that they are all made from unused optical lenses! Being an optician, myself, I was very intrigued. The designer, Maggie Joy (out of Chicago, but she doesn't have a website), also makes lovely earrings and shawl pins, but I resisted. It was all a little out of my budget right now. But gorgeous, without a doubt.

And that about wraps up what I saw for vendors, products and the like. Soon I will post all the animals that were there.

Prepare yourself for much cuteness!