I'm Back!! Fibrations was AWESOME

I've been a naughty, naughty blogger. This summer has been completely nuts, and blogging fell by the wayside (as it often does for me). We moved into a bigger townhouse, our daughter entered a very... difficult... phase that requires a lot more time and emotional energy, I dyed yarn like a madwoman, and our awesome local fibre festival, Fibrations, happened.

I can't begin to describe how great Fibrations is. It's a community-run event held in gorgeous apple orchard. Because it's highly affordable, it attracts a really wide range of vendors, including brand new dyers. It was my first show, a few years back! Fibrations customers are fantastic too - I think it has something to do with being from Victoria, where everything is just that little bit better.

My tent looked lovely and colourful, I think.

Over the past week I dedicated some time (and my rather inferior woodworking skills) to designing and building new displays. I now have some funky collapsible shelves (they still need backing, but a girl only has so much time), and a yarn rack.

I love the way the rack lets the yarn colours pop. I have recently transitioned all my fibre into bags so a shelf was a necessary display addition. Why bags you ask? I have found (as a buyer and a seller) that braiding or chaining fibre can really compact it and make it harder to spin if it's been stored for a while. This way it has lots of room to be gorgeous and fluffy, and it isn't damaged or dirtied by the fondling it receives at shows. I leave a little fibre puff out the top of the bags so you can still feel it up. I hope you'll enjoy the upgrade in quality this will bring to my fibre!

So yeah, I was there as a vendor, but what did I buy, you ask!

My wonderful friend Melissa, of Miso Crafty Knits, was selling her project bags, in person for the first time! I couldn't resist this one:

I really can't recommend these bags strongly enough. Only high quality fabrics, cute print combos, and perfect stitching here! She'll be vending at Knit City this fall in Vancouver - I fully expect the knitters there to go nuts and buy everything she's ever touched. She's that good.

I visited my favourite local fibre vendor, Humming Bee Farm, again. If Devon is vending at a show, I buy something from her. Every time. Her colours are bold and awesome, and she carries wools beyond the usual merino and BFL (those too though!). Often the fibre is local, some even from her farm, where the world's cutest angora goats live. I loved the hand of the Perendale wool, so I bought a bunch.

A new dyer team, JOMA Yarn, also caught my eye in a big way. They had the most vibrant little helpings of incredibly soft merino, so I got about 90g worth in 3 different colours. Yay 3ply!

Well, that's all folks! I'm going to be back at the blog a lot more often now as my life has calmed considerably. Look out for lots of knitting and spinning FO's coming soon! I'll be able to share all the decorating work I'm doing in our new house too, yay!