Great Lakes Fiber Fair

Every Memorial Day weekend, the Great Lakes Fiber Fair is held in Wooster, Ohio.  Several years ago I went for the first time.  I met up a friend who lives in Canada.  She and I hadn't seen each other in over 15 years.  I really enjoyed the show, but since I wasn't into spinning I didn't find much among the vendors to purchase.

Yesterday I went back and took a friend with me.  Since I am now spinning, I came home with bags of goodies.  The show seemed larger than it had been last time.  There were more vendors and a lot more people attending.  The only part that didn't seem to grow was with respect to lunch.  There were only three food vendors and only a handful of picnic tables.  Parking was also interesting because there seemed to be another event at the fairgrounds also.  But the weather was perfect and we enjoyed our adventure.

Here is what I came home with.

Fiber Optic was at the show.  I got a skein of lace weight in Milkweed.  Very pretty green color!

This is a skein of unknown fiber from an unknown vendor.  It seems to have a little silk in it.  The colors caught my eye and I bought on impulse.  My friend is an enabler! 

On our first pass through through the market, I noticed this blue roving.  Since it was the last of its kind on the rack, I bought it because it probably wouldn't be there when we came back through.  While waiting to pay, I noticed the green.  It had to come along also.  I can't decide if I want to spin these together or separately.  I'll have to think it over.

This roving didn't photograph as beautifully as it is in person.  The vendor had a sample of it spun up.  It was very lovely.

Just as we were ending our journey through the market, the lady at the last vendor booth told us that she was selling her entire inventory because she was getting out of the fiber business for family reasons.  She mostly had raw fiber, but there were a few bags of roving.  I took two.  The first was 20 ounces of Rambouillet.  There are 5 balls in the bag.  That was the price for the entire bag, not just one ball.

The second bag I purchased was 40 ounces of Mohair.  The price was unbelievable. The lady said that it has been sitting for a while and it a bit smashed.  I'll have to carefully tease it apart when I spin it.

I also rooted through a grab bag of roving odds and ends.  The blue-green roving below came home with me along with 10 of his twin brothers.  It feels very much like colonial alpaca that I spun a few months ago.  The white on the right is a bit of the Mohair. 

I decided to try spinning them together.  Since I don't have a carder to blend them, it is a bit fussy, but I am liking the results.  The Mohair is giving it a nice halo.

This should keep me busy for a while.  Now I have to figure out where to store all of these goodies.  Time to head out to Target for a few more plastic bins.

Flower Power

The project I've been involved with at work is wrapping up.  My life should become a bit less stressful soon.  The co-worker issues from a few weeks ago are slowly resolving.  A good sign for an enjoyable summer.

I received a very sweet surprise on the Friday before Mother's Day.  A gentleman that I work with, who lost his wife this past year, came around and gave every mother in the department a rose.  He said he would give his wife dozens of roses on Mother's Day.  He wanted to honor her memory by sharing the roses with the moms in the office.  It was such a sweet gesture.  I started crying and gave him a big hug.

This is the rose he gave me.  My family added a dozen more yellow roses on Mother's Day.  I don't have a picture of that bouquet but they were very lovely.

Saturday night was Trisha's prom.  She was absolutely beautiful!!  I'm glad she had a nice date for the dance.  There was quite a bit of drama leading up to the event, and it looked like she wouldn't have a date.  This young man surprised her with an invitation.  They have been friends for years and made the evening low key and no pressure for them both.

My oldest daughter, Kristin, spent a good portion of Mother's Day baking for me.  She made me blueberry scones for breakfast.  I don't have a picture of them because they didn't last long enough to pull the camera out.  As a family, we went out to an early dinner and then had dessert later in the evening.  Kristin made a Red Velvet cake with a layer of cheesecake in the center.  She said she had eaten this dessert at one of her sorority banquets and loved it.  It was yummy.  I especially loved the cheesecake center.

This weekend is decidedly less eventful.  I took off work early on Friday because the project completed on Thursday.  I got the screens replaced in all of the windows in the house.  I spent part of Saturday with a group of friends quilting, which is something I haven't done in years.  Today has been focused on knitting the blanket for my personal trainer and planting these hibiscus plants in pots on the front porch.  I love the color and hope they bloom all summer long.

Spring Has Sprung

One spool is filled.  Rough guess is that this is 5-6 ounces.  I am working on another spool and then I'll ply them together.  I haven't done much spinning lately because of other things going on in my life.

This knitting project is getting into crunch mode.  This picture is from a week ago, so it doesn't represent my true progress.  I have about one more complete repeat of the pattern more done than what is shown here.  The recipients' wedding is in less than a month.  Any spare time I have has to be dedicated to this project if I'm going to make it.

Spring has finally arrived.  The crab apple trees at the curb were beautiful this year.  Spring was about a month later arriving than last year.  Again, this picture is from last weekend.  All of the blossoms have fallen away.  It was beautiful while it lasted.

The lilac bush at the back corner of my house still has its blooms.  The fragrance has dissipated but the flowers still look nice.  Last weekend when they first opened up, I opened the windows by the bush and the house filled with their fragrance.

Time to jump off now.  Tonight is prom night for daughter #2.  She just came home from getting her hair done.  I have to get the house vacuumed before her date arrives in 3 hours.  Exciting times!