Olds Fibre Week 2014

Wow, Fibre Week once again was a dream.  I attended the whole week and it went without any problems at all.  Lots of fun and I met lots of new, cool people and got to see smiling familiar faces too.  Where do I start?
I traveled with two amazing women; Deb Behm and Coleen Nimetz.  Lucky me, because I got to converse with experts in the fibre field, learn and laugh all the way to Olds.  Deb, taught Master Spinners Level 1 this year and had a very full class. She taught me how to spin and has been my mentor ever since.  If you are looking to read up on her, you can check her blog and she also has an article on twist published in the most recent Ply magazine. Coleen, who usually teaches Level 6 and is one, if not the one, of the leading experts on silk in North America.  She also has lots of recent articles published in several magazines including Ply, Spin-Off and more (check them out).  

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The first few days were spent getting settled and pouring over my books (and maybe checking the market).  The Wool Show was on monday and I was getting very excited anticipating the whole thing.  I judged 44 fleeces in several different classes.  Since this is the 3rd year I have helped out or have been involved in the Wool Show, I had an idea of the types of breeds I would find there but cross breeds always force me to think just a little bit harder and there was one fleece in particular that made me laugh to myself because it was such a mix; it was a Romanov, Suffolk, Cotswold, Jacob cross.  So, that means its a primitive breed, that is double coated, which also has characteristics of down breeds AND long wools.  Yeah.  It made the cogs in my head turn a little more then they are used to.  It was a lovely fleece and it won a first place ribbon in its class.  There were beautiful Shetland fleeces, Dorset, Corriedale, Jacob and BFL.  Cotswold, Arcott, Suffolf, Tunis, Cheviot and crosses of each and every one in between.  My friend Val Fiddler from Wooly Wool of the West and co-coordinator of the sheep show at The Grasslands Sheep Exhibition in Drake won Grand Champion for her BFL fleece!  So if you are looking for some really good fleeces you know where to turn.  She also has Black Welsh, Corriedale, Cotswold and more in her flock.  

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There was a Cotswold fleece from Manitoba producer Gerry Oliver, that was absolutely stunning.  It scored only a one mark less than the BFL pictured above.  When I flipped the fleece over to look at its lustre, the people in the audience gasped at its shine!  Below is a gallery of pictures from the show and the auction.  Sorry about the poor quality of some of them, the fluorescent lighting in the building wasn't ideal for photos.  

The auction is always a very stressful time.  My hands were shaking by the end of it and I wasn't even bidding on anything!  You can see the love for fibre right here and I did enjoy seeing some very excited faces once the time was called.  

Once the show was over I got to relax a bit.  As some of you know, Kim from The Wacky Windmill and her lovely minion Donna were there.  Two of my favourite people <3  I got to spend lots of time with them, especially Donna and I hovered around their booth for the majority of the time the market was open.  I came home with a couple items; Alpaca/Merino/Silk in the "Kiss This" colourway, Merino/Cashmere/Silk "Remember That Time..." (luxury!) and a skein of superwash Merino in "The Hollow" colourway which I won in one of Kim's KAL's recently.  I also coudn't go home without some Painted Desert yarn from Pam's Wooly Shoppe, a travel niddy noddy and some fabric from"The Quilting Bee" (in the town of Olds) which I have no clue what I will do with it.  Every year students receive a fibre week tote, that is different every year.  Donna also made me this lovely project bag which had a lavendar sachet and handmade lavendar soap inside!  Have I ever mentioned how wonderful Donna is?

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I may have also come home with a Suffolk X fleece..... maybe

I read an article about a spinning wheel collection donated to the Olds Museum and had to go check it out while I was there.  Donna and I went and saw over 45 wheels that had belonged to a man who's goal was to open a museum with them.  Among all the very unique and cool wheels were also over 20 drum carders, distaffs, mirrors, spinning wheel parts and also his anvil collection and other oddities.  It is quite amazing all the different styles of wheels he had, in all shapes and sizes.  Many of them still work including one that had been charred in a fire.  There were a couple wheels on display during Fibre Week at the college.  All of these wheels are being restored and photographed by a professional photographer and will be put up for auction in the very near future.  Some of them are already being added to the museums website and if you are looking to purchase any of these wheels, you can find out all the information you need here.  Click on the pictures in the gallery below to get a sneak peak on what wheels will be available.

As usual there are always social events in the evenings and I attended all of them.  There was a pub night on Monday, Spin-in on Tuesday and the Fashion Show on Wednesday followed the Fleece and Silent Auctions.   An item of Deb's that was in the show was her handspun/handkint cotton sweater which was featured in one of Kate Larson's articles in Spin-Off.  Zach Webster, who is the new Program Co-ordinator even tried his hand at spinning during the Spin-In.  Looks like he loved it. 

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I did get my spinning projects finished while I was there.  I spun 5 skeins; Shetland, SW Merino/Nylon, Corriedale, Romney and SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon.   I will be listing these skeins for sale in my shop if you are interested.

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And what would a blog post about Olds College be without several beautiful photos of the campus grounds?  Enjoy

And while I was in the wetlands, there were other photographers there taking pictures, look at this amazing one!

On the last day of Fibre Week, there was a plant sale.  How could we say no?  If you've ever thought about attending, I strongly suggest you come next year. Fibre Week 2015 will be June 19 - 26, see everyone again next year!!

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