Fiber Festivals are fun!

well duh, fiber festivals are fun! they're also very easy places to drop lots of money! However, I got some great deals, so what was I supposed to do? This was the annual Upper Valley Fiber Festival in Troy, which is considerably smaller than the Woolgathering, but still fun. There were quite a few local wool and alpaca farms represented, which is always the biggest reason, for me, to go to these festivals! Although when I look at my haul, I got surprisingly little local stuff.

I picked up some bamboo circulars, which were nothing special - kind of stiff cords, but they were only $1.75! My knitpicks interchangeables don't come with 16" cords so I got a few common 16" sizes.

Then I got some black (natural color) fingering weight alpaca from Mount Ampato Alpacas - I think it'll make a great shawl (everything looks like a shawl to me now!) {hmmm something happened to my picture here - sorry!} I also splurged on a couple skeins of worsted weight natural colored alpaca and tencel from Cupola Alpaca Farm, and more specifically, from their alpaca "Libby" - I love knowing the animal's name!

I know this sounds stupid, but I really envision a big Shetland Triangle that I can use as a snuggly scarf with my coat in the winter.

Now I'll get to the real steal, and the booth that nearly killed the three of us!

This couple (I don't even remember seeing the name of the folks -Emily, Kamille, did you get a business card?) had scads of wool - all dk weight - in 100 yard skeins for $1.75 and then in 3lb bags for $12! That 3 lb bag was 2700 yards!! To make matters worse (well, worse in that they were so irrestible, but better because they were so very useable) the colors in each bag went together wonderfully - I got one bag with assorted greens just because it screamed out to be a striped cardigan! or two!

Then I got another bag just because I was getting a little hazy and I needed another.

Then I got some extra skeins because, I dont' know, I was getting really hazy and

I just wanted 'em! and they were $1.75.

It's not super soft stuff, but it'll probably get better with a washing and honestly I think it'll be fantastic for colorwork because you kind of want your yarn to be sticky for that. It's going to be months and months of fun for only $35! seriously? I walked out of there with 6000+ yards of yarn, and only paid $35! Oh, we also all got some felted soap - it's handmade soap with differnt colors of fiber wrapped around it - as you use the soap the fiber felts to the outside of it and it helps to make the soap last longer. Not something I'd usually buy, but we stood there and sniffedthe soaps so long I felt like we had to buy some!

The 4-H club brought out llamas just as we were leaving so we waited around to see them. we tried to pet them too, but they weren't having it.

I wore my Ishbel and got lots of compliments, but when people asked me about it, none of them seemed to recognize either "Ishbel" or "wollmeise" - words that I think everyone knows. To me, that's like not knowing what "kitchen" and "rainbow" mean. Emily took this picture to make it look like the llama and I were hanging out! I have a stupid look on my face, but apparently that's my "I like hangin' out with llamas" face. unfortunately.

OH, I almost forgot another exciting thing - I won a door prize!! this is my second door prize from UVFF! It's a gift certificate for a free handmade paper class from Paper Alice! I watched her do a demo and I think I could really get into it! Anybody want to come with me? It's $5 off if I bring a friend (that'd make the class $20)