Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair

Going to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair was a late birthday present from my husband.  It's at Crystal Lake, which is about three hours north of us.  We drove up to the hotel Thursday night and attended all three days.

The weather was awesome; low 60s to mid 70s all weekend.  The fair itself was half outside in tents and half inside at a local community college.  Not a bad idea in case it rains.  The very first place I visited was Creatively Dyed.  How can you not?

I wanted to show Dianne the sock I have been working on in her Calypso dyed yarn.  This is in the promise colorway.  She really liked it.  I got eight stitches per inch on size 1 needles.

After raiding her booth (I think I bought about nine skeins total), she was nice enough to have her photo taken with Loopy and I.

Inspired by Dianne's gift for dyeing, Jake decided to dye a skein of his own at Ewe Dye It Yarn.  We saw a fantastic prairie sunset while driving to Crystal Lake and he wanted to emulate that in the yarn.

This was lots of fun.  I'm positive that Jake would get into dyeing if he wasn't so wrapped up in his music.  Here is the end result; I'll probably make a lightweight hat for him.  He isn't too crazy about socks.  He's afraid he'll ruin them.

We called it Prairie Sunset.

We also had a yummy lunch while listening to live music...

...and visited some alpacas that were from a local farm.

I also tried knitting on size 50 needles.

When all was said and done, this is the yarn I brought home with me.

That's just yarn.  Oddly enough, Jake and I fell in love with a quilt kit and bought it.  I don't have a sewing machine or know how to use it if I did.  We've already signed up for lessons and are shopping around.  I also got some handmade jewelry and a little project bag.  Jake took home some roving for felting.  He wants to make a felted Nugget.

I had a fantastic time at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Fair.  It's smaller than Maryland Sheep & Wool, but I didn't get nervous trying to navigate though the crowds and all the vendors had time to talk with us.  We had a relaxing weekend and drove home with renewed creative inspirations.

All of the photos of the fair can be found here.

Comments

[Dianne]

You look like you had a lot of fun. Thanks for stopping by, I loved talking to you and your husband great to go back in time. I've added your blog to the must read blogs that I read so I'll be keeping up with you.

[Home Staging Toronto]

Hey the knitwear is adorable....just hope you are not using the lama and his hair to make your next sweater :P

[Ergo Baby Carrier]

I really think that sock is pretty cool....just needs a little bit of silver and grey linings for the final polishing