Sunday, May 13, 2007

Fibrefest Fun

I’ll get to my blogiversary prizes in a sec but first I want to talk about my experiences at Fibrefest yesterday. Although it was quiet, too quiet really, I had a good time meeting and greeting all my friends and acquaintances and checking out all the booths. Bought a few items:


That’s a new Houndesign with a lauro preto spindle and the whorl in bocote wood. Golden brown bocote (Cordia elaeagnoides) from Mexico has a definite dark stripe pattern while lauro preto (Nectandra mollis) is a South American wood characterized by its very dark chocolate/brown coloring with a pronounced darker figuring. It’s smaller than my last year’s spindle with the padauk whorl but it’s noticeably heavier. I also got a couple of books from Homespun Haven (Armstrong, BC). But my big score was a gorgeous two-row blending hackle from Andrew Forsyth that includes a tine cover and decorative purpleheart wood end caps. He even threw in the handmade clamps free. He usually charges extra for these or folks just use commercially available clamps. There was an article in the last Spin-Off on using a hackle and it made me want one badly. While I was trying to write a cheque for him, Andrew and T-Man got into a great wood/tool discussion since they both belong to the Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild. I was happy that his wife Susan was busily teaching a class when I came by the booth so he was filling in. Now of course I’m excited to try my new hackle out but have two busy days ahead of me at the weaving workshop so it’ll have to wait until Wednesday. The last item you see is a little fat quarter of piggy-pink wool flannel for rug hooking that was gifted to me by my neighbour in the next booth named Susan, who does lovely sashiko embroidery and blanket-stitches flannel into cushion covers and the like. She doesn’t like this colour much and I don’t either but of course I can always dye it.

I also spent time in Birkeland Bros booth yapping and teaching spinning to anyone who was interested in trying. There was at least 5 people that made their first yarn there and a young girl who could already spin some who brought a bag of her angora bunny’s fur to spin up into a small ball. After the fest was over we packed up everything in the booth which of course took up more space to take home than it did bringing it. Luckily we had the van for the overflow! There was some discussion about the fact that vendor folks didn’t do as well as last year especially on the Saturday. It was lovely and sunny out and also the day before Mother’s Day so that could have had something to do with it. I also think it isn’t well enough publicized. Unfortunately the same weekend is already booked for next year so there’s no debate to be had.

OK, now we can talk about the Blogiversary Prizes. I want to mention that all of this stuff came out of my stash — except the chocolate. That was bought specially. Susan got:


Bethany Barry’s book on bead crochet (a duplicate, natch)
two Gaywool all-in-one dyes in spring colours of lavender and primrose, plus instructions
a skein and a partial of handpainted cotton chenille from Ewe To You
a small packet of T-Man’s lampworked beads
a beaded tassel that I made way back when I first got back into beadwork
a pair of lace bobbins with a history, spangled by me
a packet of unbleached soy silk (natural butter colour, dyes great with the acid dyes)
a packet of dyepainted (by me) Perendale roving
an organic Dagoba lavender chocolate bar (sounds odd but it’s totally yummy)

And Gail got:


Diane Fitzgerald & Helen Banes’ book on woven fibre jewelry (also a dupe)
a complete kit for a beaded knitted pendant bag (including my booklet, knitting needles, wire needle, thread, seed and embellishment beads)
a large ball of sock yarn
a handmade notebook (not by me)
a beaded bookmark (yes, by me)
a packet of unbleached soy silk (natural butter colour)
a packet of dyed wool from Aurelia Wool & Weaving
an organic Dagoba roseberry (raspberry & rosehips) chocolate bar

These are all packaged in a recycled cardboard box (gotta do my bit for the environment, eh?) and wrapped in my handmade paste paper that can also be reused in several ways. Do I know how to gift ’em or what? I know they really enjoyed their prizes and hope everybody will enter again next year when I guess I’ll have to have 3 prizes?

Oh yeah…Happy Mother’s Day to me and all you other mothers out there! My kids are away so I wasn’t expecting to hear from them (though I did get an email from the honeymooners) and I’ve already called my one remaining mother and T still has to call his. The rest of the day is for me. We went for a walk and bought a few t-shirts and some new magazines. Then we went to Earl's Restaurant for a decadent late lunch. I had a grilled chicken breast on a salad of spinach with strawberries and blackberries and toasted almonds. Yum. That’s my idea of a great Mother’s Day. Peace, quiet and I get to buy my own presents! Tomorrow and the next day will be super-busy ones so don’t expect another post until Wednesday. I almost didn't get this up today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi there Damselfly!
Just got back from Vancouver (late last night) It was sssooooo good to meet you and have our chat on this and that. I enjoyed my first Fibrefest and the workshop I took on fine spinning was terrific! I have lots of homework to do.

My blogiversary gift was amazing and I couldn't believe all the goodies inside! Thank you!
The chocolate is now a pleasant memory and my hubby and I shared a last piece at the ferry terminal yesterday while we waited for our ride home.

Being away for a week means...yup, laundry...no weaving for me today.

Hugs, Susan