Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair

This past weekend I was able to attend the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair in Salt Lake City. I went with a friend who what scheduled to teach a class on wool combing. It took us about 6 hours to drive down. When we arrived a storm was beginning to brew. This is a picture of the mountain on the edge of town. This was the start of the storm. It did get much worse. As a matter of fact while we were in out Hotel room for the evening some of the vendors were trying to hold down their tents. A few were not successful. Many had to run out in the morning and buy new tents. One vendor was so upset she just went home. There is no telling what the weather will do.

This was my first visit to Salt Lake. I have to say I really didn't seem much because I was more interested in the fiber and the fair then the city. On Saturday my friend Lynn set up and taught her class. I decided not to take any classes for two reasons. Lynn will be teaching the same class in January here in Boise so I decided to wait until then, the other reason was I wanted to spend my money on fiber. Which I of course did. I do have to say the Wasatch Woolpack Handspinners guild were so much fun to meet and get to know. Also the ladies that planned this event were so welcoming to me a total outsider it made the whole event that much more fun.

One of the fun things of the fair where two guys dressed in Scottish attire and spinning. They were so fun to watch. They brought a great walking wheel which they showed how it worked and then they brought two of the smallest wheels I have every seen. Just a little note The older gentleman spun and then knit his socks.

Because I didn't take any classes I was able to shop and then spin all day. What can be more fun then that? One thing to mention, it was really windy all day. So there were bits of fiber flying through the air but it still was pleasant to sit out side and spin. So you are asking "So what did you buy?" Well the first thing I did was make a list of things that I have been looking for the first on the list was roving to make a pair of enterlac socks. The pattern that I'm planning on using is from the Spin off book called Socks a spin off special. The pattern calls for 100 yards of 6 different colors well I found 8 colors. So my socks will be a bit more colorful. Oh well.

The next thing on the list was some thrums from http://www.spinderellas.com/ . I have bought a couple of thrums before and just love them so of course I just had to add to my collection. The one that looks like its yellow is really chartruse with glitz. This is one that I saw last spring and thought about it all summer so I was really pleased to be able to get one.

I also wanted to add some exotic fibers to my collection. I'm thinking on starting a Spin-A-Long in January. Where each month I plan to spin a specialty fiber. The reason is to get better at spinning different fibers. So on this trip I added some alpaca, llama, pagora, and angora.

When I got to a fiber show and sale my plan is to first walk around and take a look at everything that is there, then go back and buy what really strikes me. Well I went to my second booth which happened to be Woolly Wonka fibers. The first thing I saw I just had to buy on the spot. I bought all she had in the dark blue colorway. Its alpaca, silk and glitz. I also bought a few ounces of grey pagora/wool.

While I was in Salt Lake I did have a bit of an adventure. I was able to meet and get to know the owners of http://www.greensleevesspindles.com/ at 3 AM. You see we were staying at the same Hotel and at 3 AM the fire alarms when off. So we got know each other as we waited for the fire department to give us the all clean. I'm not sure what happened but there was no fire and no yarn or fiber was lost. But they were so fun to talk with while we waited. I have to say not a word was said about my mohawk hair style. I did take time to dress but not comb my hair. Anyway on Sunday I stopped by and pick up some fiber.

I really don't like to spin on spindles so I bought fiber instead. But who knows I just might pick one up next time I see them after all there were a couple of gals out side waiting for the fire department spin on a spindle. After all you never know when you have to wait out side in the middle of the night for the fire department to let you back in to your hotel.