Did I have a fantastic experience this weekend! There is an event here called the Michigan Fiber Arts Festival. The few days before it, there are all kinds of knitting, spinning, dyeing, soap making, etc. classes. I didn't do any of those this year. I just wanted to experience the fiber festival and will probably try some classes next year.
What an amazing experience!
If you are a knitter, crocheter, spinner, weaver....you are going to LOVE this! SisLH, I sure wish you had been there with me. Some of these photos I took just for you!
Sweet Pea just FREAKED when she saw all the roving and yarns! She just kept running up to the displays, touching the wools, oohing and ahhing over the colors. It was fantastic!
It was threatening to rain, so we started at the outside vendors and then scooted inside to the barns when it started rain. We first looked at the pygora and angora goats (pygoras are a cross between pygmy and angora goats, I believe). The were quite fun.
Papa Pea is seriously considering fencing in our yard and getting sheep so we don't have to mow so much. I'm just trying to convince him we need some fun sheep or goats. I think it would be fun for Sweet Pea to get into 4H and these would make great projects for her. He wants sheep for meat, however. He tells me I can sheer them before we butcher them, though. Sigh. I think it would be more fun to just have ones that get shorn and not butchered!
Loved all the different colors.
Of course, Sweet Pea had a blast visiting with them.
Next we went to see the Icelandic sheep. What beautiful coats they have.
There were shearing demonstrations, herding dog demonstrations, rabbit grooming demonstrations.... (SisLH, I have tons more photos of the sheep and goats if you want to see them. I took them for you. And I got some business cards!)
Someone left her boots sitting around. It was a nice photo, I thought. Shelly, this one's for you!
If I could REALLY get what I want, I'd get some alpaca. This baby alpaca is so cute! I have longed for alpaca for a while, but they are just too expensive. Papa Pea doesn't want to have to feed animals and worry about water all winter. That's why he likes the idea of having sheep that...well....go away before winter hits.
After the animals, we went through some of the other covered barns to see more vendors. Again, Sweet Pea just kept diving into the fibers. One vendor said, "You've got a budding fiber artist on your hands, there!" I said, "I sure hope so!"
Oh, and some of the basket vendors had some spectacular stuff. Love these baskets!
And these were neat. They held needles, too.
I thought these were pretty clever sewing baskets, too! All of these baskets were made by Susan Preuss, from Waukesha, WI. Her website is www.basketartistrybysusan.com, if you are interested in them!
This was interesting...I think this was an Amish knitting loom. This gal was knitting on it as she minded her shop.
I was enthralled with the spinning. Papa Pea was really taken with this particular spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Traveller Spinnning Wheel. We checked out some dealers for these wheels. Papa Pea spent almost 30 minutes talking to a guy about one. He'd like to build one from scratch. He was pretty entranced with spinning, too. I'm trying to encourage that. I'd love it if he'd spin wool for me to knit with. Then, I don't have to pick up a new hobby!
This is Marsha Fletcher. She does needle felted wool sculpture. Isn't this amazing? You can visit her website at www.wool-in-legends.com.
Papa Pea was also really intrigued by this. He spent a lot of time with this woman, asking her how she constructed this rabbit and how she added the wool to it. Again, he probably spent about 30 min here!
We gave Sweet Pea $5 to spend. She bought these cute knitted finger puppets. She spent a LONG time picking them out while her dad was looking at the felted rabbit.
More wool. I just loved all the colors!
Check out this neat curly wool scarf!
This display of drop spindles was particularly artistic, I thought.
They had children's crafts, too. Sweet Pea had fun with that.
And I can't leave without showing you this amazing camel they had! Sweet Pea loved that, too.
I was really good. I only spent $7.50. I bought some wool waste to use as embellishments on my silk project. I'll show it to you some other time.
I had to go back for a second day, because I couldn't get to all the vendors before Papa Pea got worn out.
I want to share with you my two favorite vendors. I didn't take photos of them, because I was too busy looking, and they were so crowded with people.
One was Briar Rose Fibers. Wow....They have some pretty awesome knitting patterns. If you enjoy knitting, you might want to visit their site and check out their patterns. I am going to make the Rosebud Hooded Vest and the Summer Wave Tank. I got the wool to make those. (I wasn't quite as well behaved the second day, but I still did pretty well.) Chris, the gal who owns Briar Rose Fibers, hand paints her wools to dye them. They are really special.
My other favorite was Bijou Basin Ranch. His yarns were all made out of yak fibers. My favorite was a yak and bamboo blend. So soft and amazing. But, it was $27 per 50g hank! Too rich for my blood. But I would love to work with those fibers sometime. Also, he had really unique and special knitting and crochet patterns as well. So, check out their website, too. I bought the pattern for the Wrap Front Shortie Shrug. It's a crochet pattern, and I don't crochet. So, I'm asking SisLH if she'll crochet it for me. I could't afford to make it out of the yak yarn (it would have cost $189 to do so!). I found a nice wool substitute at my local knitting shop for about $50. I'm going to send SisLH the pattern and wool and hope she'll make it for me for Christmas! :-)
What a great couple of days. This festival is totally worth traveling for, in my opinion. So, if you're ever down this way, check it out.
Here's the website for the Michigan Fiber Arts Festival. You can like them on Facebook, too, to keep up-to-date with what's going on with classes and stuff.
Hope you enjoyed this tour. I had a great time. It was exhausting and fun!
Until next time,
Mama Pea
I can't believe you didn't spend any more $$! (And I totally thought those were Shelly's boots!)
Posted by: Doris | August 23, 2011 at 02:53 PM
Wow. Thanks for sharing all the photos and all about the festival. Looks like a blast! I'm saving my roadtrip time though for the Allegan Antiques Fair this Sunday. I go every year and LOVE it.
And those baskets: I WANT. :)
Posted by: april | August 23, 2011 at 03:40 PM
Oh my goodness! I so wanted to go to this this year and totally forgot about it! I am so bummed !
But thank you for sharing your photos with us. It was like being there :)
Posted by: Sue | August 23, 2011 at 03:56 PM
Looks like fun! Monte Vista has been trying to have a "fiber arts" festival for a couple of years. We went the first year and this year. Both times it was more of a craft fair than a fiber arts festival. Only a couple of fiber vendors and the rest are woodworking, baskets, glass artists and such. All nice, but I expect a "fiber arts" festival to be more fiber arts than other stuff and it's been the other way around both times we've gone. Looks like Michigan does it right though!!
Posted by: Lynn | August 23, 2011 at 07:13 PM
1. Sweet Pea's hat is adorable!
2. How gorgeous are you looking these days?
Posted by: Jackie | August 23, 2011 at 09:08 PM
1.I love the Angoras and almost had one -would still be interested.
2.Alpacas here are not that expensive.
3.I agree with Jackie-love SwtP's hat and your natural hair (Papa told me he does too)
4.I want that basket with the dividing sections!
5.Can you make some bl/wh fabric as is behind the cowgirl boots?
Posted by: sisLH | August 23, 2011 at 10:46 PM
Wow! What an awesome weekend! So great that Papa Pea is fascinated with the spinning! I would be just like SweetPea and touching all the fibers!
Posted by: Maggie Szafranski | August 24, 2011 at 09:07 AM
Love the pics! Sweet Pea's hat is the cutest! I adore the big bunny ... just amazing work.
Posted by: Donna | August 24, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Ditto what Jackie wrote. And, I've spent some time researching alpaca farming/ranching and talking with alpaca owners. I thought they were incredibly low maintenance. And you can transport them in a mini-van!
Posted by: Terri | August 24, 2011 at 11:37 PM
Sweet Pea's hat is adorable! Did you make it? and if so, is there a pattern?
Posted by: Caroline Clouse | August 30, 2011 at 02:25 PM