8.19.2006

Fiber Festival

Today was the Michigan Fiber Festival, held in Allegan, MI on the fairgrounds. I've been looking forward to this all summer (Steve probably wasn't), but we piled the 6 of us into the van and made the hour trek.

We've never been to something like this, and didn't really know what to expect. I think we all had fun!

There were many, many sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and rabbits to entertain the kids. Our family's favorites were watching the sheep shearings the fuzzy angora rabbits. I also enjoyed the similarities between the topknot on the alpacas' heads to our son Isaiah's curly hair cut. The boys were most impressed with the antique tractors, and Steve, well, I think he was glad he didn't have to buy a spinning wheel!

I have never seen so many bags of wool in my life. Mountains of it. And I have never seen so many beautiful hand spun and hand dyed yarns. Gorgeous. I really appreciate all the work that goes into spinning such beautiful yarn, but I don't think I need another hobby. Not now, at least. There was plenty of handsome knitting on display, too. My eyes were drawn to the many fine lace shawls and fair isle socks.

So what did we take home? Believe it or not, nothing with animal fibers! Two deep coral-colored skeins of a silk/linen/cotton blend were my birthday present to myself. Super silky and soft with a luster like rubies. I think it'll become a stole or shawl. And the kids scored a favorite library book, "Sheep in a Jeep."

3 comments:

  1. Sara,
    That sounds wonderful! There is a fiber festival here in VA, too! I tried to get the family interested last year, but maybe next year, several of us can go.

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  2. Oh yeah, we'll be there. And there's an even BIGGER wool show in Maryland somewhere!

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  3. My first thought when I saw the title "Fiber Festival" was "Wow! A whole festival for people who need more fiber in their diet."

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