This Saturday was not only the first day of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts scavenger hunt in preparation for the arrival of the Yarn Harlot on Tuesday. It was also the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild's annual Fiber Faire. It was held at the Maplewood Grange Hall north of the historic town of Aurora and promised to have on hand all sorts of spinning fiber, yarns, tools, books, and other goodies for those who love fiber.
Warnings had been posted the day before that there was the possibility of snow, and there was some snow down in Salem early in the morning, but I saw none up in the banana belt where I live. It was unseasonably cold so the Sirdal was put to use. Gray skies blanketed the horizon with showers coming down in spots. None of the Knitbloggers could come so it was me and NPR the drive down from Portland.
When I arrived at the grange, I was pleased to see that they were busy and that fiberholics like me weren't undeterred by the weather. That's what plastic bags are for, aren't they? Upon entering I found myself wandering the tables looking at rovings, batts, yarns, and small tools. A few had spinning wheels for sale. At the back on the stage were boxes of skirted raw fleeces. This gave one the opportunity to see the fiber right off the animal and compare the different fibers.
To my delight I found that the maker of Sister Spinster handspindles was a vendor. I had read on one of the spinning shops that Lynne Marie Hoyt was no longer making spindles but that's not entirely true. She will be opening an Etsy shop soon instead of selling her spindles wholesale. She will also be at the fiber shows, including OFFF, so if you are interested in spindles I highly recommend looking for hers. I walked away with a purpleheart plying spindle I just could not pass up.
Boxes of raw fleece
Leicester Longwool
Border Leicester
Another Border Leicester. I was fascinated how this was curlier than the other
A Coopworth/Border Leicester cross. Curls, curls, curls!
A maple/black walnut niddynoddy for sample skeins and a maple nostepinne, both made by Carl Herndon.
Dyed Blue Faced Leicester in the colorway Rohan from Dicentra Designs. It was hard to choose as they had many many nummy colors, including some in great big balls.
Twelve ounces of picked and washed Columbia moorit.
3 comments:
What!?
No pics of your haul?
I think I would have gotten the moorit Columbia. Good thing I wasn't there.
how many of those fleeces did you bring home?
That's still my one big thing - no fleeces come to live at my house.
That spindle is gorgeous - I hope to see her spindles at OFFF
That spindle is shockingly gorgeous. It even makes me want to buy one, and you know how I feel about spindles! (Other readers - Duffy & I met at Black Sheep in a vendor tent, both trying to learn to spindle. I bought a wheel that day. *grin*)
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