“What?” you say, “you have never been to a fiber festival? How is that possible?” Well, you might not say it, but the woman in the elevator did. I must say that she said it after cheering that it was my first visit. Yes, I have been working with yarn for around 40 years, but I only took up spinning just before the pandemic, and during the pandemic all the festivals were shut down. I have been searching out fibers to spin locally and online. Walking into a convention center with a huge room full of fiber was mind blowing.

Probably 90% of the fibers at the festival were already spun and dyed, ready for the eager knitters that lined the aisles. But there were pockets of un-spun fiber in various preparations. I found bamboo, hemp, nettle, and yak (!) spinning fibers, all of which I have not yet attempted to spin. There were a few raw fleeces as well: mohair and Rambouillet. I caved on some white mohair (it was the first time the seller was offering raw fleece and it looked like she did a nice job skirting and labeling). Rambouillet is now on my wish list; I couldn’t quite face a whole fleece right now, but the processed yarn and blankets were divine.

I did find myself some wool combs, which appeared to be the last pair in the room. I also found an intriguing Turkish spindle 3D printed from flexible filament (more on those another day). The booths did cater mostly to the knitter, but there was representation for weavers, crocheters, felters, spinners, and there were even some nålbinding needles! After about an hour and a half, my brain shut down. It appears that I will have to work up my festival stamina!