Saturday, September 4, 2010

Michigan Fiber Festival

This little guy Really wanted to come home with me!  It's a good thing I took my car and not the truck!  The Pygora Goat was featured at the Michigan Fiber Festival this year and boy are they cute.  But alas, I believe I will stick with my little Shetlands and Laverne and Shirley (my 2 Merino ewes).
This was my first year to go to the MFF and probably my last.  Not because it wasn't loads of fun with Lots and Lots of vendors but it was just too far to travel....even for fiber!  My goal was to buy a new spinning wheel.  I have a spinning wheel but I got that bug...you know the one...I need a new wheel...a better wheel...a wheel with more bells and whistles....a wheel that will make me a better spinner....that wheel.  So....lots of dealers to choose from at the MFF.  A Jensen dealer was there.  I can hear you saying, "Uh-Oh".  That is exactly right...uh-oh.  They were BEAUTIFUL..they were all stained and gorgeous and I spun on one...big mistake.  I did not budget for a Jensen.  I'm thinking, "I cannot spend that much money on a wheel...just walk away...just walk away"  I bought it.  I bought the Tina Traveler.  I walked it to my car.  I spent 30 minutes making sure I put it in the car in such a way that it would be safe.  I get back to my hotel and I'm getting it out because my friend and I are going to SPIN that evening on my new wheel.  I set it on the ground and I see a huge scratch on that beautiful walnut wheel!  How in the world did that happen?..I haven't had this wheel 2 hours and I've ruined it!!  I want to cry.  I start looking in my stupid car trying to figure out the culprit that caused the damage.  Nothing...there is nothing.  To make a long story short..the scratch was already on the wheel when I bought it and the dealer was wonderful and took it back with no problems whatsoever.  They thought it was a split in a knot hole and it may have been, but all I saw was a scratch, so I returned it. Unfortunately, they did not have more.
This is a Canadian Production wheel that I ended up buying from a friend of mine.  It is probably from around 1880-1900 but it spins like a dream and I think it looks like a piece of art!  When I got home, I had this waiting on me..
12 bags of Shetland roving and 2 bags of Merino.  It's like Christmas!!  I have to give a shout out to Frankenmuth Woolen Mill in Michigan.  They do an absolutely fantastic job of getting the fleeces clean and the roving is wonderful.  I am going to try to sell some of the roving in the yarn shop I frequent and I came up with this as a packaging idea.

I took a picture of the sheep whose fleece was on display (this was a combined fleece of Laverne and Shirley) and added my farm name and one of my favorite verses..."for He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under His care."  Psalm 95:7.  We'll see how it goes.