Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival

Yes, it took me more than a week to get around to blogging it. You forgive me, because I have some cool stuff to share. This fiber event is worth the drive for the setting alone, never mind the drool potential at the vendor booths. Look:

such a beautiful place

My daughter had a conversation with this baby angora goat. You can see a video of it at youtube, or find it in my vodpod sidebar widget.

m-y-y-y last word, no m-i-n-e

but, I’ll just embed it here, so you don’t have to go looking for it. hee hee!

I got snagged by the Serendipitous Ewe Chance sock yarn* colors, and ended up buying Bird of Paradise, Waterlily, Pumpkin Pie, and Tulip

*All subtle striping, and guaranteed not to pool. Info for Chance Sock Yarn: A Superwash sock yarn, with a little nylon for support,80% Superwash Merino Wool/20% Nylon,Approx. 420 yards,6–7 sts per inch,US size 1–3 needles. Please go look at their pictures, because I haven’t taken any yet. It’s lovely stuff.

At Wild Hare Fibers booth, I looked at Spinolution spinning wheels. I like that they are made in the USA, and cleverly engineered. If you look at the gallery page, the customizations add aesthetic value I mean, make ’em look so much more purtier. This one belongs to Melissa, aka wildhare, and is a Mach 1 model. In the background is the Strauch Fiber Equipment booth. I have their dbl finest motorized drum carder, and personally believe it is the best on the market.

gorgeous custom deco job

This young lady is just learning how to treadle, and she is test spinning on a Bee travel wheel.

air spinning

teaser: we stopped by a roadside attraction after the festival, see it next post.

took place last Saturday in Big Island, Virginia, at the Sedalia Center, which used to be an elementary school, was bought by the county, and now hosts various events. Not a large festival, very cozy and friendly. Look at this setting! at the foot of a few gorgeous peaks in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

My friend Denise and I drove up on a last minute whim, and had a wonderful fibery day. I’m still upset that I didn’t win the drawing for the Kromski 16″ Harp loom, but look at this loot!

Furthest left there is honest to goodness combed Cormo top from Overlook Manor Farm, so wonderfully soft, most likely spins like butter, though that sounds very messy, doesn’t it? Spins like a dream? Better. Then a pattern for a swirly shawl, and jojoland melody yarn to knit it in. Then the Holiday 2007 issue of IK, which is sold out everywhere, what a find! A beautiful skein of potential socks in colorway “cherry blossom” from rock creek yarns. A tool for making braid, and a book to learn how, from Lacis, by way of I See Spots Farm. Last, no photograph could do it justice, because you really have to stroke your face with it to appreciate it fully, and the colors are complex and beautifully blended, but that roving is 50% Polwarth, 50% angora from Woolybuns by way of Greenberry House, in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. What a glorious Stash Enhancement eXpedition (that’s yarn SEX to you). I’m so proud of my self-restraint in coming home without a new spinning wheel or drum carder. When I go to SAFF in the fall, an intervention may be in order.

Today’s flowers for you include:

The first hydrangea mopheads of the year. This is an endless summer original, which bloomed pink it’s first year, and a beautiful light red-violet since, and:

white clematis henryi with flowers the size of dinner plates, and:

this lovely blue clematis on my front lamp post which might be variety rhapsody, but I never can remember. It has a profuse habit, and a long blooming season too.

I think I may have just topped my personal record for most links per post.