Wednesday, September 29, 2010

OFFF

I interrupt my blog construction to bring you news ... well, sort of. I traveled to Canby, Oregon last weekend to be a volunteer photographer at the 17th annual Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival.

Since I hadn't attended this festival in the past, I was pretty excited. Additionally, I had arranged to help a vendor, Huckleberry Knits with setting up and taking down her booth, and since she is an indie fiber dyer, I was excited to see her yarn up close and in person. (P.S. - it's lovely!)

After hitting a major traffic jam on 1-5 due to an accident late Friday afternoon, I was glad to finally see Saturday morning - gloriously sunny and just perfect for a festival. As you will see from the OFFF presentation I've put together, people were patiently waiting in line early to get a jump on fiber stalking and buying.

I was interested in the animals, as well as the fiber and handicraft. Like our food, we don't really get that many opportunities to see the direct link between animal and our textiles, so that was great to see. I was also incredibly impressed with the dedication of all the owners, as well as others involved in the competitive side of raising fiber animals. Judges worked
hard (!), owners and handlers spent copious amounts of time waiting for their animal to be judged, grooming their respective  animals, and then attempting to show off the animal in the best light possible. And everyone did all that in the rain on Sunday; and the OFFF organizers all volunteer their time!

I had a ball seeing all of the vendors, viewing the goings-on in the barn, and visiting as many of the classes as I could. I hope you enjoy the OFFF photos I have on the blog, on their own dedicated page. If you were in attendance, I'd love to hear of your experience at OFFF, so please leave a comment.

January, 2011 update: FYI - if you would like to view the OFFF photo slideshow, it can now be located on my Photography page. Housecleaning (in prep for the new year) necessitated its move. :)


2 comments:

  1. Oh, how fantastic to be a photographer at such an event - the photos look lovely and I bet you had a great time!

    So, what fibre followed you home?

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  2. Thanks - and yes, I did have a good time, even in the rain on Sunday.

    In terms of fiber (and thanks for asking) ... well ... I snagged one hank of Huckleberry Knits Ocean Spray laceweight (80% merino, 20% tussah silk, 1125 yards) in weeping willow; I won (yeah raffle!) a skein of fingering weight angora/superwash merino (about 212 yards) in a mottled shade of blue from Cindy's Treasures - www.mdcranch.com (very lovely - she's a breeder of German angora rabbits); 2 skeins of hand-dyed Bambuki (60% merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon)in colorway Shell from Dicentra Designs (that 900 yards has a spring shawl written all over it!); and, finally, a luscious skein of Silkmo from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in colorway Cloudy with a Chance. The last skein will be part of my next shawl, and I can't wait until I receive the other fiber so I can get started. :)

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