Fibre Fest!

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of checking out the Australian Knitting Guilds 30th Birthday Fibre Fest!! I went with my uncle, who taught me to spin, as well as his friend, who he also taught taught to spin, but who also felts. I wasn't sure what it would be like, or even if there would be much for us spinners to look at and buy, but I was pleasantly surprised. The 30 or so stalls were arranged in a few rooms, corridors and verandahs of the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Singleton, and there was so much to see! Plenty of yarns and knitting needles, but also felting supplies, raw fleeces, carded and dyed wool, silk caps, spinning wheels, carders and looms as well as many beautiful finished products for sale such as afghans, baby booties, scarves, berets, bookmarks, brooches and handbags.

The knitting guild had put together a lovely display of novelty knitted food items, including a birthday cake, and many assorted fruits and vegetables, which I thought were just darling.

We all easily spent our money on lots of goodies, and went home full of ideas and inspiration for our next projects, and even had an invitation from one of the vendors, to come visit her and make use of her drum carders if we wished.

Here's an overview of my purchases for the day:

Fabric. Yes, at a knitting event, I found fabric. Did you doubt that I would? These pieces all look roughly 2m each and were $3 a piece or 5 pieces for $12. Some of them are even Michael Miller prints, so they were a total score!

Hand dyed merino in assorted colours, from Gail at Pleasant View Fibres. I'm planning on making rolags from these and trying a variegated spun yarn.

Silk Caps, the leftover ends of the cocoons, made into these cap things and had dyed. Probably one of the most affordable ways to buy silk to spin.

Recycled Sari Silk. Even cheaper way to buy silk, but will probably need to be blended with something else for strength. $9.50 for 100g (and its very light, so 100g goes a long way)

Some hand dyed merino bits and hand dyed Silk from Susanne's House of Wool

All in all I am super happy with my purchases, and have already began stretching out my silk to prepare it for spinning, as well has combining colours into rolags to spin variegated coloured yarns. I am also planning what to make out of those lovely fabrics, I think the Michael Miller ones will have to be dresses for sure!

Anyone else go to Fibre Fest?

Dixie