Great S.E.X.!

No, not THAT kind of S.E.X.! Last weekend was OFFF, was a Stash Enhancement Xpedition, silly! Anyway, here's the fiber p0rn:

First, from Barbara, who always brings assorted goodies in that Mary Poppins bag of hers, four mystery batts straight from her drum carder:



Last winter she sent me four batts in exchange for a pair of ToolMan's cedar sock blockers. I didn't think anything could be prettier than those batts, but these are!

I decided that this year at OFFF, I was going to buy from vendors that I hadn't purchased form before and fibers that I had not spun before. And not green. Green, the color, was off the list completely; "green", as in ecologically sound, is OK. As long as it wasn't green, the color.

So, my first stop was at Crown Mountain Farms for exotic fibers. The first thing I picked up was a 50/50 blend of Baby Camel and Merino.



This stuff is sheer heaven! I bought 8 ounces (there were only 4 of these on the shelf when Klaus opened on Saturday. SCORE!), which is so light and fluffy that this hank is almost a foot across.

Next, a 50/50 blend of Yak and Merino.



This is possibly even softer than the Baby Camel. It's combed into streaks of greys and a tiny bit of white. It's 8 ounces and should spin up beautifully.

And the last thing from Crown Mountain, purely on instinct because of the colors, was a 1 ounce of silk hankies, hand-dyed in the "Aztec" colorway.



It's hard to see in the picture, but the shine of the silk makes these look almost metallic. But after fondling them a few times, I know I need to REALLY moisturize my hands before I start on these. The silk is so fine that it catches on every little rough spot.

Having acquired the "new to me" fibers, I went in search of "new to me" vendors. I found Lisa Souza's bouth and dove in head first. I surfaced with this:



Another 50/50 blend, Silk and Merino this time. I know it really doesn't show up in the picture, but this really is NOT white. The colorway is called "Mother of Pearl", and with good reason; the colors are subtle and varied, just like the inside of an oyster shell. And the silk gives it a beautiful shine. There's 8 ounces, and I want to stretch this stuff out into laceweight; it'll make a gorgeous shawl!

I was on my way to find a new indie dyer, recently discovered through Ravelry (Where else?), when I stumbled into a booth of another "new to me" vendor, Puffy Mondaes. I swear this jumped right off the shelf into my arms!



Another 8 ounces! (I sense a theme here. Apparently, I am no longer capable of buying anything in less than 1/2 pound increments. This could be bad. Very bad.) This time it's Louet Black Diamond; Carbonized Bamboo.

Then, right across the way was that new indie dyer I'd been stalking! Recently, all the indie dyers have been doing dark, intense, deeply saturated colors. Walking into Lorajean's booth was like landing Somewhere Over the Rainbow!



This is a nice, soft Corriedale in lovely soft colors. All her colors were soft and inviting. Must be the influence of that new baby (who was asleep, or I would have nuzzled him).

Last, but not least, a bag of Young Adult Mohair Locks from Barbara. I don't know if they wouldn't fit in her bag, or if she was just tired of packing. And she knows that I fall down at the syllable "mo".



A lovely jumble of raspberry, china jade, wild iris, and pine green from Frene Creek Farm. I have to confess, I've already been playing with this stuff and it is fabulous!

Next time, some results of the spinning with new fibers. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.