This has been a glorious adventure to kick off the first leg of our Summer 2022 North & North Again Road Trip which began Wednesday afternoon. Karen has always been fascinated by fiber and textiles beginning with collecting fabric scraps from under her mother’s sewing machine table and trying to figure out how they were made. CJ in turn grew up in a household where things like weaving looms and spinning wheels were a normal part of the furnishings. In time she developed many of the same skills and has far exceeded her mother in her knitting skills. It seemed logical therefore to time our visit with her to include an excursion the the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in Franklin, Indiana today. It was a glorious feast for the senses and a nice way to gather materials for even more projects for future enjoyment. We made a point to visit certain booths. Rebel Purl, is a new treasure on the fiber arts scene in Bloomington and yielded a project skein for each. Yarnbyrds out of Columbus, Ohio is a yarn truck that carries Emma’s Yarns, an amazing supplier of hand-dyed yarns available only through local yarn shops and a fave of Karen’s. We both found skeins there that appealed to us. It was in fact a search for Emma’s Yarns that led us to Yarnbyrds that informed us of this particular festival. Then when the two of us learned that a couple of Navajo Churro growers, Alecis and Julie, collectively known as Churro Life, would be there, we were completely sold on coming to this festival. We’d recently read a fascinating article about the rescue of this rare breed of sheep and were anxious to at least get to handle some of the fleece. Karen resisted the temptation to acquire a whole fleece this time but both she and CJ came away with a ball of roving to spin into yarn. We then circled back to Deep Dyed Yarns because Stephanie had some gorgeous colorways with bling. Along the way we were fascinated with the alpaca shearing demonstration. We came away with more than enough to keep both fiber hobbyists busy for a while and with a desire to come back again next year.
This sounds like something that I would love!