Last weekend some friends of mine came up to northeast Ohio for the Autumn Fiber Festival in Ashland, Ohio. It was one of those beautiful autumn days ... sunny, clear, and warm. Ashland is less than an hour's drive from my house so I jumped at the opportunity to meet up with my friends and see what I could see. I didn't plan to buy anything but, well, I kinda *had* to. You'll see why in a moment.
I was really good about walking around to most of the vendors before I bought anything. Then I had lunch with my friends and decided I might buy something but only after lunch. After all, you can't shop on an empty stomach. True story. My friends had to leave shortly after that but I hung around for a while after that, presumably to do my "little bit" of shopping then go home.
I recently read about Yarnbyrds, an RV that's been converted to a traveling yarn shop, or I guess more accurately, a yarn truck. Cool idea, right? It turns out that they were at the show and I was excited to see what they had. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the inside but if you click on that link to the newspaper article I read, you'll get a real good idea of what it's like. I ooohed and aaaahed over the lovely yarns like I always do, but I quickly went down the rabbit-hole of getting some stuff I "must have." In so doing, though, I made it a point to get yarns that I don't already have. Like:
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| The one on the right is sock yarn from Oink Pigments in the "Spring Fever" colorway. The one on the left is sock yarn from Ancient Arts' Meow Yarn Collection in the "Le Chat Noir" colorway. Proceeds from this yarn is donated to charities that help stray and abandoned cats. Cool, huh? |
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| Okay, so I probably don't need any more little project bags, but I couldn't resist this one. Perfect for toting around socks or a lace shawl ... |
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| As a corn-fed Ohio girl who was born, raised, and has a deep and abiding love for the Buckeye State, I HAD to have this ski hat kit, which includes the yarn and the pattern. And once the shop owner told me that this was the last kit she had in stock AND that she wouldn't restock it, I kinda felt obligated to take it off the market so no one else could have it, either.
So. I was planning to stop shopping right then and there. Buuuuuuuut..... then I wandered around at the vendor booths INSIDE the hall. On my first trip around, I spotted this cute little owl shawl pin. He was still there when I went back so I had to bring him home with me:
Look at his little eyes! <3
Here's where I really fell down, reader (my apologies ... I'm listening to Jane Eyre via the CraftLit podcast (you should, too!), and Jane sometimes speaks directly to her reader). I passed DreamWeaver Farm's booth where these lovely embroidered tote bags were for sale, and, well, I decided that I needed something to carry the aforementioned loot in. Look:
It's expandable, it has 3 pockets, AND it has this adorable flock of sheep on it!
It'll be perfect for taking to other fiber shows in the future. Because, let's face it, there WILL be other fiber shows.
On my way out of the building, I stopped at Gwen Erin's booth and picked up a pound of fiber -- a half pound of Shetland (on the right) and a half pound of Falkland (on the right).
I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not already have some of these fibers in my stash. I won't know for sure until I actually open those fiber bins when I get around to cataloging them on Ravelry. So far I've only made it through the sock yarns and a wee bit of the lace yarns.
But that's a post for a whole different day. |
-mz
