Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival part 1

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival took place a few weeks ago. It was *amazing*. There were so many amazing things, from fibers to yarn to patterns, sheep, and spinning wheels. I'm going to post about the weekend in a couple different sections (and yes, I went for the whole day both days). 

First I'll talk about the fibers. Since I've gotten into spinning, I was more excited about all the roving that was available than the already made yarn. There were so many absolutely gorgeous bits of hand-dyed roving, in all sorts of colors and blends. 

Two 4oz braids of hand dyed corriedale roving, from a lovely lady who also sells on Etsy

Polwarth top in lovely shades of blue and purple with other colors thrown in.

A grab bag of mystery fibers in all sorts of colors - I think that bright yellow is silk!

I forget what fiber this is - either Shetland or Corriedale, I think. It's a lovely mottled shade of mossy green. I got somewhere around 8oz of this, I think - enough for a matching hat/mitten set I hope.

Sort of a dark mulberry merino roving.

The three multicolored rovings are merino, and the solid orange and green are a Colonial top. I can't wait to spin these and make hats out of the yarn. Or possibly fingerless gloves. Or mittens. Or.... 

I also purchased a total of two pounds of natural colored wool (different shades) just so that I'd have some bulk to spin. I do really like a lot of the natural colors - especially Shetland sheep, since they come in so many different colors.

In addition to the lovely soft merinos and exciting colors of hand dyed roving, there were some exotic fibers. Things like wild silk, and angora rabbits, and fancy merino blends. I expected all those. But there was also surprisingly soft nylons, cottons, and - wait for it - fibers made from milk. Yes, milk. Apparently they use the proteins somehow to make fiber. 

Also, bamboo. It comes in white (normal) and a charcoal grey (carbonized). I'm not sure what exactly the carbonizing process is, but it makes a really pretty color, and the fiber is super soft and sort of squeaky. So of course I had to buy a few ounces of this carbonized bamboo stuff, just to try it out. I haven't spun with it yet. Depending on how soon I get a spinning wheel, this fiber might be waiting for that.

Coming up next: I will be going through all the flyers and business cards I collected to give a post with some good links, and I'll write about the raw fleece that I bought.