Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival

Wow! This is the first time I've gone to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival. It's supposed to be a fall festival...in October...crisp autumn air, the crunch of leaves underfoot, and patrons wearing their newly finished wool pull-overs and ponchos. BUT...instead, we had 91 degree heat with unbelievable humidity. It makes it a bit difficult to "snuggle wool" when it's so hot, but we persevered. The festival was great....in spite of the uncooperative weather.

I went with my friend Lynn and ran into tons of my fiber buddies...and several familiar vendors. The biggest vendor surprise was Dianne with "Creatively Dyed Yarn". I'd met last year at the Sewing and Quilt Show - she had been selling Koigu yarn. She's no longer selling the Koigu - instead, she's selling her own hand-dyed yarns and roving ! She does a beautiful job. It was very difficult to restrain myself. I picked up 3 1/2 lbs. of some gorgeous Corriedale roving.....yum! (For those of you going to Stitches East, she'll be there too - please stop by her booth and say "Hi" and check out her fabulous yarns and roving.)

At Misty Mountain Farm, I found some luscious Merino - very fine - in the 70's for fineness....so you KNOW it feels like butter! I missed seeing Linda though - she was busy teaching a class. Hopefully I'll catch up with her in Rhinebeck at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. I also purchased a few items at Stony Mountain Fibers - primarily a couple of books on natural dyes and dyeing. Of course, numerous other vendors tempted me with patterns and yarn, so I picked up quite a collection of "goodies".

Now for an absolutely unbelievable deal - I purchased a 4 harness table loom for $30.00! Can you believe it? It was priced at $35.00 (still an absolutely fabulous and unbelievable deal), but when they wrote up the ticket, they wrote it for $30.00! I pointed out that the loom was actually $35.00, but they decided to go ahead and give it to me for $30.00! I was beyond ecstatic by that point - what a FABULOUS BUY! I purchased this from Limerick Fibers (located in Gordonsville, VA).










The loom itself is about 18" wide by 21 1/2 inches long (I measured from "gear to gear" because they stuck out a bit from the frame). I think it's an absolutely wonderful little loom. I have no idea of the make or model - perhaps it's hand-crafted by a fellow fiber enthusiast??? Luckily, I have many weaving friends....just in case I need some help!


Of course, I can't go to a fiber festival without taking pictures of the really cute fiber animals!




The final shots - a cute angora goat (don't you love the face???) and the "dust bowl" feet I had at the end of the day - I don't think my feet have ever been dirtier - LOL!!!