Oh What Fun It Is To Ride....

.....instead of drive... to the Fiber Festival of New England.  This year the GVHG chartered a bus and made the trek east to The Big E to take in this fun fiber festival.  Thirty-eight fiber crazed addicts conniosseurs left their warm and comfy beds in the wee hours Saturday to meet in the dark at 5 AM and board the magic bus.

Travelling at about Warp 3 we arrived shortly after the doors opened for the day.  This festival is unlike any I've been to, in that the entire event is under one roof.  Over two hundred vendors, a giant fleece sale, workshops, demos, some livestock exhibits, food.... all indoors.  Of course this has tremendous benefits - good lighting everywhere, no rain or mud or snow underfoot, no need for coats or boots or gloves,  vendors lined up neatly next to each other so you don't waste time and energy walking to reach far-flung barns or tents......but..... the down side is that you are indoors and if part of the fun of a fiber festival is enjoying the late fall color, fresh air, sunshine, etc you'd find it oddly disconcerting.  Still, the novelty of the place and seeing so many regional vendors that one doesn't normally see was certainly a huge positive.

The array of wares was amazing.  Fiber of all types, yarn, roving, jewelry, felting supplies, books, finished goods... the colors and textures were a bit overwhelming and you started to feel like you were inside a rotating kaleidoscope.

I'm embarassed to say that I had a bad case of camnesia (to steal a term from the Yarn Harlot) and only took one picture.   I can only explain by saying I was A. gobsmacked by the sheer volume of fiber and associated goodies and B. having too much fun to think of taking pictures.

 

This booth brought the outside inside with a clever yarn display.  That's an actual tree with enough root system attached to act as feet and stand firmly on its own.  It's been stripped of bark, polished, varnished and holes drilled for arms to hold many skeins of yarn.

 

We left as the doors were closing at 5 PM and despite frequent wind and rain we arrived safe and sound back at the mall parking lot before 11 PM.  (Thanks, Ken!  You're one of Coachways' best!) 

 

I saw a whole lot of goodies that tried hard to seduce me into purchasing them but I held pretty firm to the thought of the giant bin (or two) that are already full of yarn waiting for a purpose and only bought a few things.

 

A cute little snow cat for a friend.  Take that, mocking Christmas list!

 



 

 

A present for a baby and the obligatory souvenir tote bag with proceeds going to the Northeast Youth Sheep Show.

 



 

And I did find roving to match the Multnomah shawl!  Woot!  But despite my best efforts I could NOT get that darn pile of fiber to photograph anywhere near real life colors.  It kept showing up ridiculously red and I gave up.  Maybe the camera will love it more when it's been spun to yarn.

 

I also collected some business cards and literature of contacts I want to follow up with and/or send information to.  Such fun to talk the talk with other fiber people!

 



And now it's back to work at home.  Monday is the start of some "big doin's" on the farm!