The Maine Fiber Frolic

Saturday Bear and I went to the Maine Fiber Frolic. Going in, I had specific things and vendors I was looking for. I needed a green sock yarn for a sock I am designing, I wanted to visit Enchanted Knoll Farms, Golding Fiber Tools, Wandering Moose Fiber Farm, and String Theory yarn. I was really hoping that the used equipment barn would have some used goodies, too. Everything else was bonus. I had a list. I was prepared.

Or so I thought.

When I got there, there were a dozen vendors out with *tons* of yarny and fibery goodness. I told myself that I needed to look at everything once, and then make a second circuit where I would buy. Only as Bear and I looked, we found a barn with more vendors. And another barn. And another aisle of vendors. and yet another barn. And Bear, God love him, didn't want me to look. He wanted me to buy. That's what we were there for, after all. So at his insistent enabling/encouraging, we came home from the fiber frolic with this:

From the top right:

• 4 oz. white jaggerspun combed wool blend
• 4 oz. gray undyed alpaca roving
• 4 oz. braid of combed BFL from Spunky Eclectic colorway "Nova Scotia"
• 4 oz. braid of merino/tencel from Spunky Eclectic colorway "Gunsmoke"
• 420 yds Nexus sock yarn (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon) from String Theory Yarn colorway "Kelp"
• 435 yards sock yarn (90% superwash merino, 10% nylon) from Enchanted Knoll Farm in orange and bugundy (I forgot the name, will edit this post tonight)
• 435 yards sock yarn (90% superwash merino, 10% nylon) from Enchanted Knoll Farm in navy blue and dark green (I forgot the name, will edit this post tonight)
• 2 2oz bags of mini batts; blend of red wool, brown llama, white angora
• 2 oz batt of black wool, recycled sari silk and angelina from Enchanted Knoll Farms, colorway "Black Magic Woman"

The last picture is the raw fleece my husband convinced me to buy. He wanted me to buy an Icelandic sheep fleece, but it was too short stapled and had what looked like guard hairs in it - it wasn't something I could spin. Instead he found me this gray shetland fleece for only $27. It's beautiful! I have no idea how I am going to process this whole thing, but I will find a way. It's gorgeous. It's from Eolian Farms, in case you were wondering.

So as you can see, I had an AWESOME time. The only disappointment that I had was the used equipment barn. There really was almost nothing there. It was a bummer. I'm on the lookout now for used cards/combs that I can get on the cheap. Hubs is building me a skirting/drying table for the fleece so I can wash it; I just need a way to comb it.

Oh yeah, and I need a wheel, too. Know anyone who is selling one cheap?