Monday, May 23, 2011

3rd Annual Carolina FiberFest

I went to the FiberFest on Sunday morning with my mother-in-law. Our men-folk were also at the NC State Fairgrounds, but they wandered about the rest of the "Got to be NC Festival" of which the FiberFest was a part. This year's Carolina FiberFest was quite a bit bigger than last year's, and just as fun. I didn't take any classes, but I did have a great time wandering through the demos and vendor booths. So much alpaca (and angoras and buffalo and cotton and wool), so little time!

Since my workshop is now nearly complete (blog post and photos coming soon), I took the precaution of going through all of my yarn before going to the FiberFest. I had to organize it anyhow, so I thought checking to see what I owned before going to buy more was essential. MM was very happy with me for at least trying to put the brakes on. I only bought one ball of lace weight yarn, Schoppel Wolle Zauberball (lace ball), in shades of blue. I couldn't resist it, but found out that the free pattern it came with really won't work with the yarn. Oh well, I'll find another.

My mother-in-law, however, found more that she couldn't resist. She bought some lovely pure Angora yarn from the Cozy Rabbit Farm that she'll use to knit a headband/ear warmers with. She travels a lot and needs something she can take along. She also found that she needs to have a lace shawl for her travels, but when she said she didn't think she's up to knitting lace, I volunteered to help her out. I'm so generous! lol She found the pattern and yard she wanted at The Unique Sheep.
The ladies there were very helpful, and helped her to find just the right colorway for her. She had to order the yarn I'll use to knit the shawl because they were out of the colorway she liked in the fiber that doesn't irritate her skin. Since she sensitive to wool, she tested a merino superwash/Tencel mix and it turns out she's fine with this fiber. Unfortunately, they were out of the colorway she liked best (Carribbean) in this fiber, so we'll have to wait a couple of weeks for it to come in.

I also finished up a sweater this weekend for my friend's daughter who turned 4 over the weekend. I will get it back and take some photos to post here. Yes, I should have remembered to take photos before wrapping.