A Fiber Filled Weekend!

This past weekend was filled with fiber fun!  Saturday, my friend Catherine came over to my place to dye yarn.  We spent the day using Wilton's food coloring and Kool Aid on natural colored yarns and overydyeing.  It was her first time doing crock pot dyeing, and we both tried squirt bottles for the first time.  I highly recommend squirt bottles for hand painting!  So much fun!

We came up with some lovely color combinations and had a blast while doing it.  

Catherine's yarns. 

The pic above shows Catherine's yarns.  The one on the left was a pale pink, that she overdyed in the crockpot using Watermelon Kool Aid.  She was very pleased with the result.  The one on the right was a natural wool/nylon mix that she dyed with Buttercup Wilton's and Teal Wilton's.  

The above are my yarns.  The one on the right is an overdye of some scrap rainbow colored yarn I was gifted.  I overdyed by hand using purple Wilton's.  The one on the left is a wool/nylon mix that I hand painted with Wilton's teal and green.

Top view of Catherine's Yarns

Below, is Catherine's yarn.  She overdyed this in the crockpot using Wilton's.  It was originally a pale green and yellow.  Love how it turned out!

On Sunday, Catherine, Eileen, and I road tripped up to Wooster, OH, about 2 1/2 hours from here.  I drove while Catherine knitted in the passenger seat, and Eileen knitted and spun on her spindle in the back.  It was a beautiful, cool, sunny May day for a fiber festival (we had heard tales that last year it was in the 90's).  We were able to show off some knitwear thanks to the cooler weather...I wore my Color Affection Shawl, Eileen wore a cardigan she knitted, and Catherine wore her knew shawlette she just finished up.  

The Great Lakes Fiber Festival was probably on scale to the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs.  It was held at the Wooster fairgrounds, in the buildings, while there were a few booths outside.  There were rows and rows of fiber and yarn vendors in each building.  Going on a Sunday was perfect because it wasn't over crowded, and some of the vendors were offering sales.  

I was very impressed with the amount of fiber at this festival!  Some already dyed, some natural, some from heritage wool breeds, some from around the world...my  hands were so soft by the end of the day from petting all the fiber and fleeces!  

I really enjoyed chatting with farmers and vendors there.  Learned a lot from them.

Though I hadn't really planned on this, I ended up buying hand carders and not one, but TWO fleeces to card and spin; one BFL and one Lincoln.  I'm getting deep into this fiber business, and I want to learn everything I can.  Plus, I couldn't pass up on the BFL which was marked from $50 down to $10 and the Lincoln fleece from $50 down to $15!  So I have some work to do!

We had such a great time at the festival.  My friends were excited about Fiber Optics being there, and other yarn companies they adore.  I was enthralled with all the fiber, didn't buy a single skein of yarn this time!  Even saw some alpacas, loads of sheep, and an Angora bunny.  I would definitely go to this fiber event in the future if I'm still in Ohio.