North Country Fiber Fest

This last weekend I taught at the North Country Fiber Fest in Watertown, SD. What a wonderful event! The energy and enthusiasm of the whole weekend was something that is rarely experienced. I taught lace/Haruni shawl, Steek your Coffee Cozy and a Sea Foam Scarf, so I didn't get to take any classes but did walk around and observe some of them.

 

The variety of classes was exceptional. Everything from raising silkworms to basket weaving. Some things I had never heard of or seen before such as tapestry crochet, cardboard loom weaving, kanzashi blooms, Japanese Braiding. Lots of spinning and dying classes.

 

The center of this large building had a "Fiber Circle" where people were always spinning, mostly, but knitting, needlepointing, whatever. This is only about half of the group. the variety of spinning wheels was interesting, too.

This is a kick spindle, sort of a cross between a drop spindle and a wheel. She actually kicks the spindle to turn it.

Of course there is always show and tell and this beauty caught the attention of everyone. It was made by the woman on the left and took her 10 months. It was hard to get a picture that really shows off the beauty.

 I had heard of "fiber sandwich" but had no idea what it was. Well, here it is. People bring in a certain amount of fiber-any kind, any color. It then gets layered together.

 And distributed among the spinners. Sorry these are pictured in plastic bags, but they are the left overs which were auctioned off at the end.

 The spinners then spin the fiber into yarn.

The finished skeins are auctioned off at the end of the festival.

There were also vendors. What did I come home with? Only one quilted knitting bag.

The festival was very much spinning oriented. What did I order after I came home? One weaving loom. More about that when it comes.