What I Did With My Saturday

Saturday the 24th I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby, Oregon with my buddy Rae and her friend Jodi.  I’ve never been to one of these and have always wanted to go, so I canceled a kitchen painting date with another friend (my kitchen- I don’t think Stephanie minded much) and said yes I’d go.

It was largely dominated by women- no surprise there- but there was a reasonable representation from the other half of humanity, which was a surprise. Most of the vendors were women, who owned their own businesses- yarn goods, specialty fibers like tencel and silk, raw wool sellers, lots of rovings sellers, special dyed and combined batts, dye, weaving suppliers…all kinds of things.

Then there were fiber animals.  French and English angora rabbits, goats, sheep, alpacas and llamas. The ram here to the right was a super mellow fellow, but Rae discouraged me from patting him anywhere on the top of his head as it encourages the animal to butt. Better to scratch under their chins.

Curiously, there was no sheep or herding dog competition, presumably because the fairgrounds are pretty small.

Upstairs in the sheep hall they had the various competitions’ entries.  Some of the entries were really stunning, but the entry that swooped everything and got best in show was this amazing felted hat.  A very Jules Verne-looking octopus at that. Isn’t it amazing? Then at the far end of the hall they had an enormous poster of all the different fiber animals with their pictures. I had no idea there were so many.  If you were interested in starting a fiber business and wanted to raise animals for that purpose you could literally do it anywhere, north and south poles excepted, of course.  Even if all you had was an apartment, you could still raise angora rabbits in your apartment.

So by now you’re wondering, well where are you going with this?  Did you buy some rabbits or a goat or something?  No,  but I did come home with a very pretty drop spindle and several bits and pieces of rovings, specialty fibers, and acid dye. None of which I needed, I know, but this is for a productive hobby.  It’ll keep me off the streets and out of the pool halls, and when I’m done I can use it for another productive hobby- knitting.   However, as you can see from my example here, I still have a lot to learn.

But I’m finally spinning! Yay! New skill!