Aurora Fiber Fest

Wow, I have a lot of blogging to catch up on.  Life once again has been crazy but I feel things starting to shift to a more "normal" level.

My parents are back for the spring/summer (although by the weather you'd think it was still January).  So my mom and I headed to the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild Fiber Fest.  I have had a spinning wheel since last fall and just haven't made the time to sit and spin.  I feel like I know how considering my mom has been spinning for over 30 years and has tried numerous times to teach me.  Most recently again last fall when she gave me the wheel.  For some reason it has just never held my interest.  I love fiber, I love the feel, colors and textures of it all.  I love yarn and working it into a finished garment or item - so why not?

Well, the Fiber Fest was just what I needed, we headed to the little grange and luckily were early enough it wasn't too busy.  We looked, touched, and talked about each and every item there.  I selected a variety of fibers and colors that mom assured me would be "easy" to start with or "a dream to spin".

I am stuck on having to have a final project in mind when shopping for fiber.  Like "how much of this will I need for a pair of socks" or "how much for a sweater".  Well, what I realized yesterday is that it just doesn't matter.  Buy what you like and figure out the projects later (okay, that's going to get me into trouble I know already).  I stayed with my project focused purchasing for now . . . . .Here's my haul:

Starting at the top clockwise - the pale turquoize is a pound of Romney lamb that is so amazingly soft.  I imagine this will be a sweater (for myself of course).

The black is 4 ouces of fiber from an alpaca named Malise that lives in Oregon City - I love that I know the name of the animal - Well, Malise must be a puff ball because her fiber is like cashmere, so soft, light and a beautiful striking black.  I hope this will be a hat, again for myself.

Next is a wonderful blend of colors called "Iris", Romney wool.  Love the combination of purples, greens, grays.  Possibly socks or a shawl.

Next is from the same woman and is called Lupines, amazing blends of purples.  I just fell in love with this blend, it is wool and mohair which will be perfect for socks or a hat.  She sold out of this color blend which didn't surprise me at all.

The last batch of roving is from Dicentra Designs.  She comes up with the richest, vibrant, most fabulous color combinations.  When I think about dying my own wool, this is what imagine I want it to look like.  Ahhhh, someday.  Anyway, she has her rovings in various locations around Portland.  Molehill Farms, NW Woolen Works, etc. and I just peeked at her website and it seems you can also order them online.  This roving is one my mom said "spins like a dream".  I'm going to work on this soon because I'll probably want to get more of it at Black Sheep Gaterhing which is coming up soon.

Let's not forget the 4 ounces of white merino roving that I also bought - this I'm not sure why except that I'll spin it white and then dye it.  Inexpensive and a good way to learn I guess. 

So I came home from buying all this fiber and being immersed in the whole spinning, fiber thing, decided to pull out the wheel and get started.  Mom had given me some wool/mohair blend roving last fall with the wheel to practice with and so I spun, unwound, fixed the tension, spun, unwound, fixed the tension, spun, unwound, fixed the tension and after about an hour it all aligned and the wool started to flow from it's big puffiness into this stream of spun yarn.  I'm pretty happy so far, somewhat consistant, not at all the lumpiness and bumpiness that I expected.  I feel like an official spinner and now my goal is to get this wool mostly spun - at least put a dent into it, before Black Sheep Gathering - so that I can buy more!!

I didn't take any photos of the actual event yesterday but if you pop over to Duffy's blog she managed to snap a picture of me shopping at the Fiber Fest, and we don't even know each other!  I wish we did, I would have said hello.