We’re back from the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. We always come home exhausted after such a full weekend, but truth be told we were already pretty exhausted by the time we arrived there to set up our booth on Friday from working so hard to get ready for it. We had our booth in the 4-H Hall this year and were really pleased with being there. We had enjoyed having a booth outdoors in years past, but even if the days were beautiful (which they were this last weekend), the nights still got damp and dewy which our button cards did not like at all. So our button cards were happy to be inside this year. Jeff ordered some adorable (so tiny!) clothespins and we hung button cards all over our booth with them.
Of course we visited the bunny barn, it’s a must every year, and we visited all the animals. (The amazing needle felted art and pin cushions we saw over there were created by Liongate Farm.) We had some friends come up for the day, which was really fun, and got to watch the goat relay race for the first time. Bracken tried to be patient with me while I oohed and aahed over yarn. There was some scrumptious alpaca yarn from Black Wolf Ranch & Fiber this year, so incredibly soft that I wanted to touch every skein in the booth. “Feel how soft this one is!”, was something I probably said quite a few times. We went to the Portland Lace Society booth and they let Bracken try his hand at bobbin lace.
My birthday falls right before OFFF every year, so I always want to wait to celebrate until afterwards because it’s just way too busy that day before we take off, but it’s the perfect place to pick out a birthday present. Last year I chose a wooden yarn bowl after drooling over them for years. I asked Jeff to make a wooden yarn bowl for me, but he didn’t have the tools to do that. Years ago I had a ceramic yarn bowl and it broke. I wanted a wood one that would be safe to bring along in the car and everywhere I went without fear of breaking. Now, one year later, my wood yarn bowl is one of my very favorite things ever and I use it nearly every time I knit. (If I start getting into more colorwork then I’ll surely need a second one, right? Ha!)
This year for my birthday I chose a yarn swift (made in oak, cherry, and maple wood), from the kind folks at CH Woodcraft. I’ve been winding up my balls of yarn by hand all the years I’ve been knitting and though that can be relaxing and meditative (when the yarn’s not getting annoyingly tangled up), I’d really rather be using that time to knit. I set up my swift out in the yard and gave it a try before we had even finished unpacking the car because I was so excited to use it. Winding up a ball of yarn went so much faster with my swift. Next step is to get a hand crank ball winder to use with it and then I’ll really be rolling. I have lots of yarn calling out to be made into projects, so I’ll be keeping that yarn swift busy!
P.S. Morwenna from Mosaic Moon knit these gorgeous sweaters for her kids and used WoolyMossRoots buttons for the finishing touch. (I came home with some of her beautiful yarn I can’t wait to knit up!) Her family invited me to snap some pictures. These sweaters are works of art, aren’t they? Jeff and I feel honored to have our buttons on them. The first set of buttons are trees in mahogany wood and the second set are trees in black walnut wood with inlaid turquoise. He only made a limited amount of the buttons with the inlay and said that more are in order.
Kris in WA says
Thank You for sharing your photos of the OFFF! We used to attend every year, before 2013. So much inspiration there!! It is one of my FAVORITE places! ;o))
Bianca says
I would love to know where you ordered the mini clothes pins from as I could use them with my cards and earrings I make. Please do let me know when you get a chance. Thanks!!
tarynkae says
Hi Bianca, Jeff ordered them from Amazon. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBFY70N/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1