Sheep and Wool Festival, originally uploaded by kindred threads

Well let me tell you it’s a big scary fiber world out there. I’m glad to be home from the fair; to my family and relatively sane fiber friends. I made the mistake of standing between 2 women in a bidding war at the silent auction. Both were waiting till the last minute to get the last bid in and were having a pretty heated discussion. I hightailed it out of there before it got any uglier.
Saturday was just a crazed fiber feeding frenzy, you could just feel the energy and excitement all around you. The vendor across the way (Creatively Dyed) had the most infectious laughter and gave me some great insight into being a vendor at this festival and some of the bigger ones like Stitches. I think I will stay small potatoes and avoid these larger shows; especially after seeing a vendor back a semi-sized RV in to unload at this one. I like having items I have made with my own hands and not just something that I have pulled off a shelf. While setting up and seeing how professional and extremely well stocked, others displays were, I was thinking I might be better off at a much smaller festival. By the end of the weekend though, I did well enough and had a good enough time to sign up for next year. Hopefully I prepare for it more than a couple of weeks in advance.

I had the pleasure of teaching a couple of beginners how to spin on the new Ladybug spinning wheel. When I turned my back briefly on this newby she stated that she couldn’t get the fiber to go onto the bobbin. Turns out the fibers had gotten caught in her shawl and she was spinning herself into her yarn. Snort. We got a good laugh out of that. She wanted to remain nameless. Lets just say she was one of the very helpful and talented vendors next to us. Homestead Heirloom, LLC, next to us were just great and had an incredible both with leather handles perfect for felted bags or baskets. Phyllis and I hope to order from them in the future.

I also had a chance to walk around a bit and introduce myself to fellow etsian: kitty grrlz. It was great to put a face to the name that I read so often in the etsy Fast yahoo group. I hope that she did well. I liked that she specialized in her handspun. I think it would be better if I focused on one thing instead of having so much variety.

I want to thank my fellow studio members, Phyllis and Jan for helping me out and giving me some much needed breaks. And Nan I predict that you will be joining me as a vendor yourself in the near future. You guys made being there so much more fun.