Winter Woolfest + Spinsters + Spin-off!

I’m so excited to have a new fiber festival right around the corner (well, in country terms; it’s still an hour away :)). Jennifer Schermerhorn (Settlers Farm yarn & fiber shop, Whirled Yarn, and Yarn School) is organizing a fiber festival this January: Winter Woolfest. The date (Saturday, January 10) was chosen in honor of Roc Day (aka Rock Day aka Distaff Day; January 7), the traditional day the women returned to spinning and weaving after 12th Night. But with Jennifer’s style & charm, that will probably be the most traditional thing about it.

Jennifer is such an inspiring fiber enthusiast. She keeps a spinner’s flock of sheep, goats & bunnies, teaches fiber classes in the community, including a lot of kids’ classes, and runs an amazing yarn store in Wamego. And she’s got three young kids, three dogs, and who knows how many cats & chickens. I just think it’s amazing the way she really promotes fiber in the community & especially to kids (she says the boys are always the most enthusiastic spinners!). Kansas can be amazing and inspiring, but it can also be really conservative and closed-off and fuddy-duddyish, so it’s a thrill when people get really excited and actually do things!

Okay, before I get all misty-eyed, some details…. There will be free demonstrations, yarn & fiber vendors, mini-classes & activities for the kiddies. It’s also a great opportunity to get local fiber! And if you want to bring along non-fiber friends & family, Wamego’s also home of the famous Oz Museum.

I’m going to have a vendor’s booth there, complete with a fiber grab bags & a DIY carding station, and I hope to give some fiber demos. If you want to rent a booth (prices TBA, but they’ll be very reasonable) or give a demo, contact Jennifer (from the Winter Woolfest link)!

Yesterday, we had a holiday  Spinsters Club at Jennifer’s store, and I was very naughty! I went, shall we say, a little over my gift certificate… Here’s what I got:

Frog Tree 2-ply merino in 2 colors, Opal Sock, Fannie’s Fingering Weight in Pecan Pie, Jojoland Rhythm self-striping marled, 3 bags of angelina, Toto’s Toes Sock, and Jojoland Cashmere, and some US7 16″ so I don’t have to use my Denise neeldles with the stitch holder cord to knit the sleeves on my Cobblestone. I hardly ever treat myself to hand-dyed yarn (after all, the price is the labor, and I have all those dyes… I always talk myself out of it but rarely actually go dye myself my own yarn) and I never buy luxury yarn, so two skeins of hand-dyed and a skein of cashmere were really nutty. But the cashmere was only $27 for 2 ounces, and the colors were stunning. I almost got a blood red, but I always get blood red (see–right in the same picture!) and this periwinkle looks lovely with the dark browns I constantly wear. Anyway, shopping! Woo hoo! About 40% went on my gift certificate. I should probably do some earnest destashing to cover the rest. But will I?

We also did a white elephant fiber swap. I LOVE what I got and I can’t believe I didn’t get robbed. Maybe I had a pathetic, pleading look on my face–I could kind of feel it rising up whenever anyone looked my way. I fully respect the santity of the white elephant and would never begrudge thievery, so I wouldn’t have begrudged the theft. And I would have totally stolen this from someone else, so it’s so exciting that it made it home with me! It’s dyed alpaca top and dyed-to-match kid mohair locks! And the greens are bluey enough that they will not make me look cadaverous. Hooray! Here’s my prize (it’s greener in real life):

Here’s what I brought to the swap:

4oz layered superwash merino/alpaca + sparkle batt. Jennifer opened it, but Cathy stole it. I think I’m going to make more for Art Club.

Hey, look! 2 previous Art Club Cuckoobatts, plus yarn made from it from a couple of batt club members, are in this month’s Spin-off! There were also batts and thoughts from Steph Gorin of Loop, Linda Diak of Grafton Fibers, Natasha Fialkov of Luxe Fibre, Jae Skuse of Wooly Treasures, and Scartabello of Terra Bella Spun, so they’re in charming company!

The bottom section shows Sea Hag cuckoobatt + yarns spun from it.

And here’s my favorite Art Club cuckoobatt of all time!