Stuck in for work, makes a good day to dye.

Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em Tunis fiber, in a bath of 80% orange to 20% blue.

“Looks poopy” said X.  Does not.

I was going to make a multi-colored blend next…  but when I opened the box of “Butterscotch” it’s all I wanted to spin next.  Something about this color I just love!  The delicate yellow…  And, the locks are BEAUTIFUL.  Janet is a nice goat.  THIS is why I didn’t consign anything this year, so I could hold onto the good stuff!

Those blue things buried in the right-hand basket are just some of my tools, thrown in there to help weigh things down.  The fluffed-out fiber tends to fly, otherwise.

I didn’t consign any of my leftover mohair after the Fair this year – I kept it all to self-process… and here is Skein #1.

S’E2S’E project #7 is in full swing, Lincoln Longwool dyed “Santa Fe” style, carded into 5 batts so far; I usually use 8 in a skein.  I’m really liking the Lincoln because it’s much like a coarse mohair which makes it familiar to work with.

I wasn’t going to stop at just a tote bag!  I aim to entirely fill up my S’E2S’E passport.

I was never so happy to see a project end as the above.  Short little hairs that just got EVERYWHERE the moment you breathed near the fiber.  It was all short.  And coarse as hell.

It does make everything else on my fiber plate feel like a breeze in comparison.

The project is working.  I’m learning about fiber.  Avoid karakul.

 

I never posted anything about the Fair.  Let’s talk about the handspun contest.  Since the Fair theme this year was rare breeds, you got extra points for spinning a Shave ’em to Save ’em breed fleece.  Well, I was already doing that!  All I had to do was make sure I conformed to one of their categories.  I chose “medium-weight plied.”

Second place!  OK, it was tied for second.  And there may well have been only four entrants.  But even so, it came in better than third place!  You gotta be in it to win it.

OK, let’s move on to the feedback.  Turns out the judge is the same guy who buys mohair for us from Green Mountain Spinnery.  The comments say, “Color – good!  Tighter ply would be more balanced.”  This is appropriate and unsurprising feedback given my experience, as I never ply, but I dye all the time.

I got 4 points out of 5 for “Aesthetics,” “Originality,” and “Complexity”.  3 points for “Mastery of Craft,” as I suck at plying.  I got 5 points for 100% heritage breed fiber.  And I get a zillion points for participating, because that’s what it’s all about.

Speaking of “it’s participating that counts,” it wasn’t a very profitable year for my booth.  Maybe it’s because the needle felting craze has come and gone.  Maybe my Greener Shades colors weren’t so much eye-candy as my Pro Chem ones used to be.  It wasn’t lack of attendance – the gate keeps increasing every year, they report.  I’ll chalk a bit of the loss up to my location, though.  I am close to but no longer on the end – they put some bunnies there!!  And my space was miniscule.  It was so narrow that once my table was in place, you could only fit one person wide in front of it.  And unfortunately, I made a bad choice of orientation on the first day, having my mohair face away from my own pen.  That meant it was facing the next pen, which was Shetland sheep being peddled by two sweet grandmas (I believe the farm name was “Two Grandmas Farm” or something thereabouts).  Two CHATTY grandmas.  I’ve never seen people so interested in Shetland sheep.  People were constantly in my space to look at the sheep and chat chat chat with the grandmas.  At one point, one of the grandmas herself was not only in my space, but leaning on my merchandise obliviously while she chatted away.

I think this cut down on impulse buys, since nobody could see my full display or comfortably come in half the time.  I remedied the orientation on Sunday, but Saturday is the big day to sell.