I invited Chelsea, who loves to crochet, and Jeff to join Miss J. and I at the Fall Fiber Festival. We saw hundreds if not thousands of skeins of beautifully hand-dyed fibers and many of the animals from which these products come. Fiber enthusiasts displayed their wares for sale and others came to purchase these custom fibers for use in craft projects.
It was a beautiful fall day and this festival took place in open barns and vendor tents. The colors and textures were spectacular!
The fibers were wool (from sheep),
cashmere(from goats!!!!), alpaca, llama, angora ( rabbits) and
even a camel!
We watched a sheep judging contest. The judge explained to us why the first buck ram was the nicest.
The fiber was available for purchase in all states of readiness for use. Some bags of sheep's wool, unwashed and just taken off the animal were there as well as this undyed fiber.
This gal had kettles heated with propane and was using natural dyes like a large bag of berries and another one of onion skins to dye yarn.
I watched this lady spin and discuss the symbiotic relationship she had with her angora rabbit in that the rabbit needs its fur removed regularly and she needs it to make yarn. A week later my friend pointed out to me that she is actually holding the rabbit on her lap and pulling the fur out of it as she spins! See the rabbit's legs! I thought it was only a pile of fiber. at the time.
We made a day of it by having hot coffee and cheeseburgers sold there in between exhibits and ate them on picnic tables.
It was amazing to see what a cottage industry this all is. many of the vendors obtained their fiber from their own animals on their farms and processed it themselves.
Chelsea chose a sage green skein to purchase as she makes a lot of gifts.
This little baby outfit in natural colors was for sale.
Handmade buttons for projects like sweaters were gorgeous to look at but crazy expensive at 38 dollars for each card of 5 buttons!
After seeing and touching all of this yarn in brilliant colors, I had the knitting bug bad! I came home, found a skein of department store yarn in Barbie pink and knitted a scarf in three days!
The fiber festival introduced me to the interesting world of natural fiber which is a hobby for some and livelihood for other folks. It was great fun to see it all with our group on a lovely fall afternoon.
