Sunday, April 27, 2008

Cashmere and Camel and Lama Oh My! (Color: A Fiber Festival 2008)













For those of you who are not into spinning and fiber, you might just want to pass on this blog posting. The only thing that saved me from utter madness was the fact that I ran out of cash and resisted the urge to break out the credit/debit card. For those of you who are interested, view on :-)
Let's just say that Colour: A Fiber Festival was a lot of fun for me and my sister. Yes indeed! The last three pictures of fiber are my sisters purchases . The orange and orange green roving's were from Girl On The Rocks and I think they are Flame, South African Finn (the orange) and California Poppy also in a Finn (orange/green). The three roving's together are all superwash Merino from Tactile Fiber Arts and the brown/grey roving is polworth from A Verb For Keeping Warm.
At the top of the blog you have a selection of "exotic" fibers that I got to sample/taste which we kept in order with this handy plastic card holder they gave us. You can make notes, keep a sample of the fiber and a sample of the spun yarn. Very neat! Color had classes, some spinning, some knitting and some fiber "tastings" where you could try rare breeds, exotics, etc. Whatever you were interested in. I took the course from Kristine Vejar who was really great. She provided different fibers and we all spun them trying to get yarn to highlight the best characteristics of the fiber. The exotics consisted of cashmere, baby camel and silk tussah, baby alpaca and silk, baby lama and baby alpaca. I did not bring a wheel, I just borrowed a spindle from my sister. Though I have spun all but the cashmere, I did not know that you could get more fluff by spinning from the fold with a larger drafting area to catch the air, that spinning it looser would help maintain the fluff factor and that either long draw or supported long draw would work the best. My singles really came out nicer so I will try to remember this when I go to spin all the stuff I got. It's a small festival that has big potential. there were about 4 vendors. Tactile, Girl, Verb and Pigeonroofstudios. Let me just say, that Pigeonroofstudios sold out of fiber in the first 45 minutes. I was lucky to get anything at all. That said, I did not go begging for fiber!

Now for my haul. The Brown roving is baby alpaca from A Verb for Keeping Warm. The colorful green/pink/yellow stuff is merino from Girl On The Rocks. The two small bundles of roving are two colorways of baby camel and tussah silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm. The "snail" of braided fiber is baby alpaca/merino from pigeonroofstudios. The red/orange roving is Gradient Dyed ie from lighter to darker and is superwash merino from Girl On The Rocks. Below that is BFL that is indigo dyed and then BFL that is Madder Dyed, both from A Verb for Keeping Warm.
Whew!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sighing...And I could envision some gorgeous yarn being spun by you and into something lacey with these beautiful fibers. I think you've got me thinking of catching A Verb... at the Bizarre Bazaar next month! Thanks for the show! Terry

fleegle said...

Well, there is certainly enough there to spin me some classy lace yarn :)

Laritza said...

Lovely colors and high quality fiber content. I can't wait to see all this spun into lovely lace yarn.

z's momma said...

I love your haul. Oh, thank goodness I don't know how to spin otherwise I'd have some explaining to do...as is I almost bought some (even though I don't spin). But such loveliness (did I mention I don't spin?).

Gorgeous choices, can't wait to see what you make.

LittleBerry said...

your post is a riot of colour, just whats needed for a MOnday Morning, certainly looks like you had a good time, from your haul I like the Chocolate baby Alpaca & then the green, pink mix from Girl on the rocks but I have to say I like the 3 Superwash Merino your sister bought from Tactile Fibre Arts :o)))

missalicefaye said...

oh, lovely!!!! There's supposed to be a shop selling A Verb For Keeping Warm wares at Maryland Sheep and Wool--definitely on my must see list!

BadCatDesigns said...

I have serious fiber envy. I can't make it to Maryland this years, so I will have to wait until the NYS S&W to even begin to follow you...

Opal said...

That is some gorgeous fibers! I could not stop scrolling back and forth just admiring them. Yum!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Terry,

The fiber from "A Verb" really is very nice. I like the mixed fibers the best though I have to say I"m still very partial to Lisa Souza's colorways. Good Luck snagging some of this beautiful fiber!

Lacefreak said...

Dear fleegle,

I must say that the fibers I can choose from now are much better than when I learned to spin over 20 years ago. I love the blended batts and they do result is some pretty nice lace weight yarn!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Laritiza,

I do love interesting fibers to spin. After all. How much merino do you really want to spin? It makes for fun lace knitting as well and I don't have to be worried that I will see anyone else walking around in it LOL.

Lacefreak said...

Dear z's momma,

I have a friend who has balls of yarn in a bowl at his house. He doesn't knit, he just likes to see the yarn :-) I know spinning is not all that popular yet but it is very relaxing if you need any type of excuse to take up a new activity!

Lacefreak said...

Dear z's momma,

I have a friend who has balls of yarn in a bowl at his house. He doesn't knit, he just likes to see the yarn :-) I know spinning is not all that popular yet but it is very relaxing if you need any type of excuse to take up a new activity!

Lacefreak said...

Dear littleberry,

I know what you mean about getting a fiber rush on a Monday :-) I love the stuff my sister got at Tactile as well. I just did not have enough money on me to buy everything I wanted. I will have to live vicariously while she spins up that beautiful fiber :-)

Lacefreak said...

Dear missalicefaye,

I think you list for "Sheep and Wool" must be getting very long indeed! The Colors festival was a very small one and I still managed to make a large number of purchses. God forbid I went to a festival as big as the one you are lucky enough to get to. Good Hunting and make sure you post drool worthy pictures!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Badcatdesigns,

I was looking at this stasht to see if any of it would be good for Hecate. Sadly, I don't think so. But I did find some beautiful fiber at Enchanted Knool Farm to spin for your beautiful pattern. I actually think I will have to spin this up next in spite of this huge fiber haul because I really want to knit Hecate! I hope you get some good fiber soon. You deserve it!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Opal,

I know you love the fiber as much as I do so I'm happy to give you eye candy! You put me onto the Enchanged Knoll Farm so even after all this fiber, I went on their site and got some really beautiful fiber. I will share once I get the chance!

Anonymous said...

Just read Tilt-A-Whirl, Lisa's blog. Her newly built studio is open for visitors! I believe it's about an hour and a half to where she is - day trips for Bay Area spinners! (you lit a light bulb in my mind mentioning her!) Terry