There could have been so many witty post titles I could have used, such as “How I Shacked Up with a Nearly Complete Stranger for Three Nights”, or “OMG Fangirl”, or “Fiberholic Exhibits Restraint in the Presence of Too Much Fiber”.
Rabbitch and I had decided we were going to go to Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival this year. Originally we had planned to have a vendor’s booth, but when those plans fell through (no room at the Inn), we decided to just go and Have Fun. Of course, having a pre-paid hotel room booked helped in the decision process.
So, after working a 60-hour week (actually, it came out to 70 hours if one counts my commute), I staggered out of bed Friday afternoon, “packed” my bag and stumbled out the door. Portland is normally a 3.5 hour drive, 4 with potty breaks. It took me no less than six hours to get to Wilsonville due to Portland Rush Hour traffic. Honestly, I think if I had the money, I would have flown. $150 round-trip airfare would have been a small price to pay for not having my bladder trying to explode on me while stuck on the I-5 interchange. Even then, I managed to beat Rabbitch to the hotel (she was slammed with Seattle traffic). The kindly folks took pity on me after Rabbitch called to ask them to let me in the room. I was able to get some Decent Coffee and a wee kip before meeting her. I was rumpled and exhausted and a bit unstead on my pins, but I wil never forget her crossing the parking lot laden with wine, fruit, cheese, and about 3lbs of roving (she calls it a bribe) for me. We settled in to the evening with aforementioned repast. I think we got to bed about 1am (we’re both night owls, so getting up “early” can be interesting at best).
Morning came, breakfast was had. I discovered that I packed rather poorly. The only shirt I had was the one I was wearing when I got there. The jeans I chose were on their way to being too big; by the end of Saturday I was desperately trying NOT to have a wardrobe malfunction. We went to Target hoping for some inexpensive basic clothing. Wow, total fail. Never shopping at Target again. Not a single pair of trousers or jeans to fit me (they were either too short, way too short, too small, or too large), and the tops were sleazy at best. I picked up a basic t-shirt in the men’s department and called it good.
We finally made it to the Clackamas County Fairgrounds at around 1pm. We went into the animal barn first. Not five minutes and we found some lovely alpaca 2nds (neck wool) for $5 a bag. Score! I haven’t worked with alpaca much, and since I’m finding commercially processed top a bit of a disappointment (there are exceptions to this), working from raw product has been the way to go lately.
We wander some more amongst the sheep & goats & alpacas. Oohing and aahing over the longwool breeds. They had Lincolns, Wensleydales, Leicesters of all sorts, and Gotlands. OMG, the Gotlands. Massive silver curled rams. Simply gorgeous. There were Ouessant sheep which were pixie like compared to the 300lb Ram in the neighboring pen. Spirited & sweet shetlands; a few even from the flock where my Shetland fleeces were obtained. One of the shetland ewes REALLY loved having her jaw scratched. I think I stood there for five minutes giving her lots of love while she chewed her cud. Navajo Churro and Jacob were well represented as well. I was able to meet the Shepherdess from Kenleigh Acres from whose “Chevelle” produced my beloved lilac Jacob fleece. It was really wonderful to meet the other people on the end of splendid transactions.
Typical alpaca pose: food hanging out of mouth.
Big Romney Ram
Wee little Ouessant sheep
Another big Ram – this one’s a Gotland Cross (IIRC)
Then, my phone rang. It was Franklin Habit.
I’m totally NOT joking. See, Rabbitch & Franklin are friends. I squeaked and handed the phone to Rabbitch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around with Franklin and Kristin Spurkland. Kristin is a lovely knitwear designer from the Portland area. Her most recent book is “The Knitting Man(ual)” I think I may have to get a copy, since I live with a Man who likes handknits. Seems appropriate!
We sat and knat and spun and had a wonderful time. I met up with one of my local knitting group friends (Hi Linda!) and I was sucessfull in locating a Kundert Spindle for her. They are my hands-down favorite affordable spinning tool, and I wanted her to start out right, and for less than a tank of gas. 
I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping. There were only a few things on my list: Lisa Souza, a full sized Jenkin’s Turkish Spindle, some brown corriedale top, and a fringe twister. The last on the list can wait, as it’s pretty low-priority. I’m probably going to pick one up in advance of the Holiday Weaving I have in mind.
I got meet Lisa Souza AND pick up two bumps of some gorgeous SW BFL in “Chaparrel”
Sunday was pretty low-key. My breakfast made a hasty exit about 30 minutes after ingesting, and the last two days was catching up with me. Sciatica’s a bitch, let me tell you. I found the brown corriedale at Crown Mountain Fibers. It’ll be blended with some handpainted corrie. Think of it as “cutting” the good stuff with filler. The filler is just as nice, but just not flaming orange.
I seemed to take many pictures of goats. This fellow has had his picture splattered all over the internet by OFFF attendees. It’s kind of funny seeing all his pics around.
This fellow was so beautiful, I would love to have fiber goats some day (it would be another life, as I bought property inside city limits…) Or perhaps just some goats I can visit often.
I leave you with one of my favorite pictures from the weekend: Franklin testing out some glass knitting needles w/ handspun. Probably doesn’t get much better than that!
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