Black Sheep Gathering 2013

Fiber Festival season is upon us, and though I need more stash like I need a hole in my head, I went nevertheless. One must support local business and local agriculture, no? And so long as I put less into the stash than I spin and knit up, it does slowly go down, right?

Besides, why miss out on all the fun?

I went down to the Lane County Fairgrounds to visit Black Sheep Gathering on Friday afternoon with friends, just to take in the marketplace. We didn't have a lot of time for sitting and spinning, alas, but there were spinning circles indoors and out. The fine weather made it a lovely time to be outdoors and spinning:

Indoors lies the marketplace! The Black Sheep info booth is by the front entrance, and beyond that, dozens and dozens of vendors!

Not only fiber and yarn, but also equipment, like this beautiful walking wheel, and sweet smelling soaps from Fog Wash soaps.

And of course a dazzling array of fiber:

Everything is better with friends, right? Lydia and Stephania (of Three Fates Yarn) carpooled with me and we had a good time looking around.

Out in the barns, there was plenty of fiber on the hoof. Here a pair of Blue-Faced Leicesters wait to be shown.

Jacob sheep were in the ring for judging.

And these Shetlands awaited their turn to be shown and judged.

A couple of the Angora goats decided it was nap time.

I was pretty modest in my purchases. So much lovely stuff that I could have brought home, but the stash is still larger than I'm comfortable with, so for myself I bought only 4 oz of an an angora rabbit blend (blended with Gotland wool, alpaca, and silk), and a gradient-dyed braid of Polwarth and silk from Huckleberry Knits. I'm going to try to spin the whole thing as one long gradient, chain-plied, for a shawlette, something I haven't done before so it will be an interesting new challenge. The six-ounce bag of Romney roving is for a prize for one of my Tour de Fleece teams -- got a good bargain on it!