Friday, October 01, 2010

Roving Reporter. She reports some! Fiber Saturday, last.

I was hoping to have this up earlier, but had some computer problems, corrected now...

I was at the door at 9 when OFFF opened, was looking for a few specific things, having scouted the night before. I have an electric “Duncan” carder, and needed a belt. I met THE gentleman named Duncan it was named after! And, he had the belt! Pooyah! I went to Fantasy Fibers, they are a company who has a spinning fiber called “Mystery Batt”. I normally would buy a LOT of the stuff, for two reasons, it’s absolutely fun to spin, and can get that lot for a fairly inexpensive price, and I love the colors.

Um.

The main color was Barbie © pink.

Yuck.
I don’t like pink (only excepting a blazing, dayglo, eye blinding magenta-y pink), so I didn’t get much of that. However, they also had Natural colored batts. I have a project that I am hoping to make Dad for Christmas, so I found that to be perfect. (In case he’s reading this, I won’t mention the project at this point…) I then walked around, found a green variegated puff, stared longingly at the fluff ball rabbits again, listened to mini goats being judged, listened to a teenage girl whine about the abused sheep… “It’s like if someone took off OUR hair and made coats! It’s EVIL!”

Am I a sinner because I donated 13 inches of my hair to Locks of Love? And I am supposed to let my llamas have coats that are 6-8 inches thick during a 95 degree day?? And can I put her in a cotton jacket and throw her in a snow bank in upper Minnesota??? Snarl! I think she kind of misses the point of a FIBER show… I decided that discretion was the better part of keeping my temper, and wandered on.

The day continued with looking at all the wonderful yarns, fiber batts, and just plain "stuff".  Went in, made myself some lunch, and decided to sit on my bed and read.  2 hours later, I woke, and decided if I wanted to do anything else, I had better get up!

I walked around looking at the llamas, and watched a bit of llama judging.  Most had been sheared, but for lack of a better term, they had "poodle cut".  BIIIIG fluffy legs, no hair on the belly, and the necks were sort of trimmed.  Didn't look bad, just different.  I would have loved to get some goats that were in the next barn.  I had to be careful, sheep and goats that are at the fiber fair, seem to be very human oriented, to the point if you lean your hand against the rails of the pen, you will more than likely have a finger doubling as a nursing teat...  And some aren't gentle about it, either. 

I finally decided to go spin because I was getting a bit tired of walking.  I went to the spinning group, and while I wasn't a big talker, I enjoyed listening to the various conversations, as well as smelling the wonderful scents of cooking nearby.  (Cabrito and lamb, I think, but what ever it was, my salivary glands got a work out whenever the breeze changed.)

Had a pretty good night, I think the trains only went by about 4 or 5 times, some years it seemed like it was hourly.  For some reason I am aware of them, but they don't really bother me. 

The next morning was a quick look around the fair at any last minute things I wanted to make a mental note to get online later (funds can only go so far...), and then break camp and go home.  (I must not have been the only one less than thrilled with the color choices of pinky pink.  There was probably a third of a bin left. Normally it goes in a morning!)

One cute thing, the fair has music in the spinning area, the musicians started on Saturday with "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and Sunday it was pouring.  They started then with "You Are My Sunshine". 

I laughed, and squished, all the way back to my trailer...

Coming soon, the stories of Shrewsbury and CERT training.

When? 

Um, well...  Hey, look, a fluff ball bunny!

4 comments:

Sharon said...

Believe I would have given that Barbie Pink a very wide berth! Yuk!
Shearing... animal cruelty? Some people just don't have a clue.................

messymimi said...

You make your own sunshine, especially at a fair, where something will go wrong, and it helps to keep your sense of humor handy. I'm glad you had fun, and don't those people realize that if you don't shear the sheep, it is bad for them? We have bred them to require sheering, and it is abuse not to. As long as they are treated humanely otherwise, what is the problem?

Cat said...

Sharon:

All I can do is agree...

Cat

Cat said...

messymimi:

Well, from what I heard the group playing, I think humor was a definite part of the repitore.
And yes, we people bred them for a purpose. I don't know what the end result of her diatribe was, but I keep thinking, fine, don't cut your hair. See how long YOU enjoy it. But I tend twoard being nasty spirited.

Cat