Gift #809: Fiber Fest

Today was one of the most anticipated days of the year – this weekend is our Fiber Fest.  This is a marvelous event where local spinners and dyers come to sell their yarn.  There are also raw fleeces, batts, and roving for those who enjoy spinning or felting.  Three large buildings and several outdoor stands are filled with all the yarny goodness and accoutrements you could imagine!  Pure bliss for all those who love to knit, crochet, spin, or otherwise keep their hands busy with fiber.

There are favorite booths to visit, new vendors to become acquainted with, friends to chat with, and (this year, for a first) a corgi puppy to play with (courtesy of a kind fellow knitter who brought her pet).  The corgi was delightful – one of my favorite breeds – and left a lasting impression.  But so did the yarn, and I digress.

Fiber fest is a feast for the senses.  Even after all the years I’ve attended, it’s still overwhelming to see all the beautiful yarn and the knitted samples.  It takes a lot of self-restraint to not spiral into a yarn frenzy and want to knit everything you see.  I especially love looking at the samples and recording the patterns and what yarn was used, filing it away for future project ideas.  The smells are unique too –  the lanolin from the fleeces, vinegar and dies, animals, and scented soaps all collide in your nostrils.  When I was brand new to the festival (and knitting in general) I found the smells to be overpowering, but now it’s most comforting and welcoming.  On days when I’m stressed, I try to imagine this kaleidoscope smell of everything yarny to relax.   Obviously, it’s pure delight to pet and squish all the skeins of yarn; testing which is the softest, which has best drape, which is lofty and warm.  And all around you is the sound of knitters chatting about their passion, the spinning wheels whirring, shuttles flying across looms.  Here are some pictures from the fiber fest.

One of my favorite vendors – Yarn Daze dyes yarn so expertly it looks like it glows.

 Beautiful shawls on display outside Fiber Optic booth

 Yarn goodness – this is like a candy shop for fiber enthusiasts.

This was a new vendor and her hand-dyed yarns were my favorite find this year.  Both my mom and I bought several skeins from LunaBud Designs.  Lots of color, expertly applied, made each skein vibrant, but not oversaturated.  Each of her skeins looked like they told a story, as if an entire world was wrapped up in the twist of fiber.  I’ll show you closeups of the yarn I bought in a later post so you can better appreciate her artistry.  But for now I need to get back to my knitting!

Blessings to you,

Sarah