Fiber Fest Numero Uno

On Friday, the 11th of March, mom and I traveled to Jay County, Portland Indiana for the Fiber Fest and Spin In. Not a particularly scenic drive (it IS Indiana), it was excellent because of time spent with my momma. Once we arrived, we parked haphazardly as that seemed to be the way to park and entered the 4H barn. After paying our $1 admission, we beelined to the restroom. Turns out we just missed the dog herding demonstration, so we went to look at the petting area. The baby goats were adorable! But the bird guy just freaked us both out and we didn't stay long. I don't do birds.

 Mom was worried the sheepies were cold. It WAS cold out there but I think evolution has probably helped them adapt.

Inside, it was amazing the amount of spinning going on. Little fiber flecks were everywhere. Someone brought some bunnies. I love bunnies and have never seen an angora close up. This little guy was quite hoppy and active. Which is why the photo is pretty blurry.

Amazingly, we found our knitting teacher there. How sad that she is literally down the road from us and we had to travel an hour+ to see her! Susan owns The Trading Post for Fiber Arts and she was actively spinning some pretty purple roving. All of her roving made me drool even though I don't spin. It was all just gorgeous. I found some Mardi Gras sock yarn but resisted buying it since I still haven't started knitting socks yet. It seems wrong to buy sock yarn right now, at least until I start my first sock. I did buy a drop spindle and some roving from Susan. I figure I need to see if I like it before I go whole hog with a spinning wheel.

I also ended up purchasing some wool yarn that looks like it hides a surprise. The outside of the skein is quite festive but if you peer inside, it explodes into an acid trip of color. Susan found this yarn on a trip to Copenhagen. I have no idea what to knit with this but it's now here when I figure it out.

I also found a booth called Paper and Yarn. The girl heading up the booth was super sweet and helpful and I ended up purchasing sock yarn (I KNOW I KNOW!!!). The yarn is gorgeous and I couldn't not get it, right?? Ice cream!!!

Mom and I wandered around and watched demonstrations of a bowl maker. He made bowls out of trees. Very interesting. There were also weavers and basket weavers and such. Something of a sensory overload but I left pretty excited by all the possibilities.

Knitting isn't just making scarves and hats. There is so much more that you can do in the fiber arts if you choose to.

Next fiber fest is in Greencastle, In in April. Another road trip!