My Fiber Bin Runneth Over: Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival 2010

From the looks of this fiber bin, I am not kidding too.

As many of the spinners and knitters around the area know, last weekend was the annual Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby Oregon, and I just had to go. We even got lucky too because after a couple of weeks straight of rain and all around yuck, we got a reprieve from the fiber gods, and the sun came out on Saturday.

My Mother, who tagged along with us spotted these really awesome baskets right off, and had to buy one to store all the supplies needed for her quilting projects, I even liked hers so much I ended up buying one too because it was so pretty. Mom even commented on how so many people were walking about carrying these baskets for their purchauses. They did come in handy despite my beringing along a few reusable market bags.

In order to please my son, and give him some time with things that interseted him, we then went straight to the barn to see all the animals and to give him a chance to pet some of the beautiful creatures. However, if I were one of these critters, and I were surrounded by people who wanted my fleece, I would be a bit nervous too.

Of course though, I told my son that he had to ask the owner of the animal before he petted them. And he could not run up on them, as it made them nervous. My mother commented on how sweet and gentle eyed these Alpacas were, and she could not get over how soft their fleece was.

However, there was much more to do and see at the fiber festival, and I had some shopping to do, and my son's college fund to blow (sorry Nick).

The lawn area was full of vendors and I really did not know where to start, so I just picked the outermost booth and worked my way to the other side of the lawn. There was so much to see that I couldn't help but take my time and just peek in each stand.

Between the lawn and the buildings, we decided to give our eyes a rest from the sensory overload and see what was going on in the penned off area near the spinning circle. What we saw made us laught so hard (no the dog is not hunting the ducks), that we had to stop and watch a while. The working dogs had their work cut out for them competing for top honors, and because of the size of the pen, and the anxiety it causes the lambs to be seperated from their mothers, ducks were used to show off the dogs skills. This dog was really good at his job, and managed to herd all six ducks into their pen, despite some dissention and bad duck words from his "flock".

After our rest, we decided to go into the two buildings, and found more treasures than our arms could carry. We had such a good dat in all, and made pland for next years festival along with a trip to Sock Summit next August.

One last treasure I managed to snap up was this knitting/spinning bag from Slipped Stitch Studios, along with some of their hilarious buttons, however I did not have a hard time finding goodies from other vendors too. I found treasures from : Sunset Fibers, Dicentra Designs, Chameleon Colorworks, Crown Mountain Farms, WoolGatherings, and Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me now, spinning up all that fiber and making it into something amazing.