Road Trip! Road Trip!

For the past few years whenever I’ve gone to a fiber festival it has been as an instructor. In that capacity, I have had to fit my fiber shopping in between or after classes. But yesterday, I attended the Fiber Arts Festival at Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Michigan purely as a spectator and shopper.
It’s a nice road trip from Interlochen to Charlevoix, about 70 miles. My friend Becky M and I left about 10:30am. Yesterday was a cloudy – occasionally rainy – day, but the drive was delightful. We made one stop on the way to Charlevoix at a very sweet road stop on US 31 at Birch Lake. It’s one of my all time favorite roadside rest areas. Birch Lake is a small lake, with cottages dotting the shores. Yesterday, there were a few boats hanging out at their docks. Dragonflies lazed above the calm water. Minnows darted in the shallow water near the edge of the lake. Becky picked a bit of mint from the shoreline. It would have been so easy to just hang out there all day, hypnotized and soothed by the scene.

We continued on, however, to Charlevoix. I had some specific shopping goals. I’m scheduled to teach a workshop this fall at the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival on “Spinning & Knitting Goat Fibers”, so I was on the lookout for teaching supplies: mohair, pygora, and cashmere….and blends of these fibers with either wool or silk. I found some wonderful fibers! I got some handpainted cashmere/silk/Merino tops from Creatively Dyed Yarn, some natural brown cashmere blended with silk from River’s Edge Fiber Arts, and some pygora (both types A and B) from Great Lakes Pygora .

Here’s a picture of some of my loot:



Becky and I also ran into many fiber friends who were either vendoring or shopping: Marty F, Cindy H, Tracie H, Joan S. We ate lunch at the festival. It was a perfect day for a hotdog and fries!

So, the summer fiber festival season has begun on a good note. I look forward to more fiber road trips: Allegan, Jefferson, West Branch, Rhinebeck. Good thing I have a trust-worthy car!