The California Wool & Fiber Fest in Boonville was a lot of fun. Nancy Finn of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks (no website) is the main organizer and does a great job. It is still a relatively small show because they have only been putting it on for the past 4 to 5 years and I think all of the vendors felt that their sales could have been a bit better. I felt like a lot of the people coming into the building were looking at us like another exhibition hall rather than as vendors. The great thing is that a lot of people were very curious about spinning and asked a lot of questions. I am working with Jeane of Elemental Affects to try and get classes going for next year. Should be fun if we can pull it off!
The above picture (click to see it bigger) is just 2/3 of the fleeces there for judging. Connie (my business partner) and I would wander back and forth from our booth to listen to the fleece judging comments. That was one of the great things about the way this event was set up. Everything was right there. On Saturday and Sunday they had shearing demonstrations in the hall and an angora bunny shearing demonstration as well and it was very fun to be able to hear it all going on.
As you might imagine I wasn't able to escape the lure of greasy fleeces. I bought a small white cormo fleece, and am splitting a larger charcoal gray merino fleece with Connie. I also bought two half pound bags of two different white merino fleeces. Connie has the gray fleece and is bringing my half to me on Saturday so I figured I would take pictures then of all the greasy locks of wool that followed me home. We have a guild class on skirting, evaluating, and washing wool that Connie and I are facilitating this Saturday so I might get some fleece washing done as well. I can't wait to start playing with them!
I also bought a 4oz ball of oatmeal colored merino roving from Jean Near and spun it up as I was talking to people about spinning. If you click on the pictures you will notice that my spinning is not that consistent. I think this is partially because I was talking to people a lot while I was spinning and not really focusing on what I was doing. The other reason is that I found the roving to be a little neppy and still had some vm in it which made it harder to get a consistent single. Plus I was spinning over the fold and I think if you spun with a forward draw you might be able to control the quality of the single a bit more. Excuses, excuses. I bought 4oz of her "black" merino roving as well and I am going to try and spin a more consistent single out of it. Regardless of how fuzzy the yarn looks it is still incredibly soft. I have sensitive skin and this has a zero prickle factor. Jean has beautiful merino fleeces that are covered and come in many colors. They are a bit pricey but very high quality fleeces for the handspinner.
The other major accomplishment was that I took this sweater up to Boonville with me and managed to get one sleeve finished and started the other sleeve. This is a sweater that I started at least a year ago I think and put it in time out when I picked up way too many stitches for the sleeve and discovered it after having knit quite a bit of the sleeve. I think I was just so excited that I wasn't interested in a reality check. The design is my own. It has short row bust shaping and the sleeves are knit top down using short rows to create sleeve caps. It was knit in the round from the bottom up and has small vents at the hem and at the cuffs. The yarn in my handspun from a polwarth fleece. Of course I don't have enough yarn to finish the second sleeve so I have been flicking open more locks so I can spin up some more yarn. I am really excited to finish this sweater right in time to start wearing it. That so rarely happens.
Boonville has a knitting festival? What?! Granted I haven't lived near that neck of the woods for 30 years but, wow, who knew? I always loved Boonville's charm, even at 6 years old! It looks like it was a lot of fun!
Posted by: Ande | September 24, 2006 at 09:01 AM
I'm back. Come check me out online...
Posted by: erica | October 11, 2006 at 12:12 PM