Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair

Yesterday was a long day. Three friends of mine and I hit the road early for a trip to the new Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair in Crystal Lake, Illinois. It was a beautiful day with temps in the low 70's instead of the blazing 90's we were expecting earlier in the week. The drive from northern Indiana to the northwest side of Chicago took us about 3 hours. That said, it was well worth the drive.

Parking was free and near by. We had preordered our admission tickets. All we had to do was pick up our armbands. A lot of thought was put into setting up this event. Kudos to everyone involved with putting it on!

There is live music all day, an art exhibit, lots of really great food, and tons of shopping for knitters, spinners, felters, etc. Only one of us remembered to bring a camera and even she forgot to take any pics. I'm afraid we're all more do-ers than picture takers! LOL!

Here's a pix of what I brought home with me.

• 8 ounces of 80% merino/20% silk hand dyed rovings in Monet Mix colorway from Jenny Setser at Winterhaven Fiber Farm.
• A 3 ounce braid of pinks/peach in merino/bamboo top to spin from Carolina Homespun
• Three packages of dyed silk hankies and some dyed Bombyx silk top from Lone Tree Wools (Elizabeth Shreeves is an inspired dyer! She'll be at Michigan Fiber Fest.)
• Three skeins of Jojoland Harmony laceweight yarn (880 yards) for just $6 a ball at the Knitting Software booth.
• Two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn for less than half price (It was stash clearance from a lady running a booth selling hand knit dogs sweater. Sorry, didn't get her name. She says she has a book of patterns coming out soon.)
• A bottle of Schacht spinning oil for my Tina wheel

Little Barn had some fabulous deals on yarn and spinning fiber. I drooled over yarn at the Interlacements, Brooks Farm Yarn, and other booths. I showed the ladies at Brooks Farm my water bottle carrier made from their Four Play yarn. They loved it! I gave them my card so they could look up the pattern on my blog.

Tired and foot sore, we reluctantly started home about 3:30 pm EDT. I pulled into my driveway 4 hours later!

If you live anywhere near this festival, it is open today and Sunday.

Go!

Stop reading this and go!