Fiber Rendevous

Ohhhhh what a good time I had! It was a day full of nice shade in the sunshine, a gentle breeze and lots of fun people. I'd not been there long when I heard someone call my name. It was Katya in real life instead of in eMail, and she gave me this! A Peace Lily. And how appropriate since I'm told that my name, in Hebrew, means lily. Thanks you so much Katya! It was fun, too, meeting her friend and her adorable kids and getting to visit with folks I'd met at last fall's retreat. And meeting people that I only knew through the Yahoo list. Now I have faces to put with names. Not that I'll have the right faces with the right name, but hey it's a start. :-)

I only made one mistake getting there and it wasn't a disaster, I just got to drive through a town that I'd not been in for years. Whoa it's grown!

The Rendevous was held in the little town of Arcadia, which is northeast of Oklahoma City. It's most famous for this round barn and it's right on old 66. And the event was held at Fort Braxton. Not a for real fort but a great venue for such an event, or a family reunion...and in a way that's what this was. A family of fiber folks.

The directions stated it was right across from the barn, and I took that literally. So what did I find? A bunch of bikers! Wow who knew bikers knitted and spun??? They were all quite burly and tattooed but very nice and pointed me about a half block down the street. *G*

Right away I knew it was going to be a 'me' sort of day when I met this nice attendee. I'd never actually seen an alpaca before, but I'd love to have spent a lot of time with this one and it's friend/sister/whatever. I also didn't know they cried. The darker one was being quite pitiful. I was told it was because this babe was used to being around more. It's been weaned so it shouldn't have been missing it's mom, but that's surely what it sounded like. I'd wander around looking and visiting and then, every little bit I would go feed the alpacas a few more pellets that the owners had provided. This blonde one's hair or whatever you call it, feels a lot like my dog Zoey and they are about the same color. I was told that she was a standard poodle/??who knows what. Could she be an alpoodle? polacka? LOL

There were lots of spinners, a few knitters, a lot of dyers, and vendors galore. I got to watch someone use a drum carder; watch and visit with lots of spinners; hear about a lot of experiments in dyeing and such.I got a new spindle (since mine was at home on the dining room table..oops) and a 1:1 lesson with Kati. I was in her class last fall and it was a disaster for me. I couldn't do anything, I wanted to cry, I wanted a nap yadda yadda. But this time it made sense. I'm to spin for 15 minutes a day. She said that until I was a bit more comfortable that should assure that I didn't get frustrated and throw it across the room. LOL she must know me! The white part is some practice fiber that she brought me. The seafoam green is alllll mine! If I unwound the yarn on the spindle it would e an odd site. Some is soooooooooo tight and some is almost too loose to hold together. But I think when I actually get better..and I will..I hope... I'll put it in a little shadow box.

I stayed for about 4 hours and then headed off to part 2 of the days adventures. Which will be told after I see if this collage will actually upload.