Black Sheep, Part 2: Shwag, Bingo, & Peeps

Couldn't cover everything yesterday, there was so much to see/do/buy at Black Sheep Gathering, so it's spilling over today into Part 2. I didn't make the financial killing I was expecting, so I didn't spend much (I think I got away with only parting with $55 of my hard-earned cash for everything), but I got a big return. It helped that my friend/driver/pee-breaker Elena/Knitopotamus trotted back to the booth the first day with this gift of a 2oz. bag of merino/mohair fluff from Rainbow Farms Northwest in one of my fave colors, international orange. Next year, I want to get some Pygora from them, which I hear is to die for.

This green/brown batt is from Superior Fibers, a mill that specializes in Shetland wool, which is much softer than I'd expected. They had some of these huge mill end batts in crazy Velma colors on Friday, but I forgot to go back to their booth with cash 'til Saturday, and they were all gone. But I think it's time for me to do some forays into more 'normal' colors, so I got this one, which is much prettier than it looks in my crappy photo.

I traded a skein of my LoopyDoopy yarn for this spectacularly soft Cormo-X batt (and $12!) from the lovely Linda & Lois at The Bellwether. I am recently in lust with Cormo, and just couldn't pass this up. I hardly ever spin undyed fiber, but I am a sucker for chocolate brown. Just want to eat it up! And I can't speak highly enough of the women behind the company (and their fiber groupie, Madeline); they were my neighbors outside the vendor building in the scorching heat, and they were just a blast, making my first time as a vendor just the most pleasant experience one could hope for.

I shared a booth with Veronica of Ronnie's Handspun, who sold the most scrumptious merino/Rambouillet/Targhee blend (look for 'Soft Wool Blend' on their website). I bought 2lbs. of it undyed, and 12oz. (all they had) of it dyed a screaming acid yellow-green (shown), another fave color.

I think I will spin all that I bought at BSG for myself, the little hoarder that I am. I think I have enough of each
(except maybe the orange) to do something substantial. Not sure what yet, though.

I also found a booth (sorry, can't remember which one!) that was trying to get rid of some cones of weaving cotton, marked at 25cents each on Friday. When I remembered to go buy 'em on Saturday, they'd been marked down to 15cents each, and I got all of these in the photo for the princely sum of $1.75, which is what I had left in my pocked after buying the Shetland batt. Score!

As for other BSG activities, local Ravelers Jodie/violinjodie and Bonnie/TheBon organized a game of Black Sheep Bingo, a la Rhinebeck Bingo, and it was a blast. Prizes were solicited (I donated a $25 BOMBucks gift certificate - congrats to Eliza/Fiberliza who won it, and who turned out to be the Official BSG Fiber Wrangler), and I won this lovely skein of handspun from Janet/jkplanet! Brenda/mythkeeper, came over to me and gave me a big hug from our friend Eva/atomHEART in Santa Cruz, which was really cool. I got to meet Mary/catmccall in the flesh, the woman I did the mondo seeds-for-fiber swap with several months ago; sad to say, many of the heirloom seeds I sent her from my mother didn't germinate, so I need to send her something else. Amelia/AskTheBellwether was not only there as a vendor, but she bought one of my BOMBits art yarn ingredient spinning kits! Can't wait to see what she makes with it; check the COLORBOMBers group on Flickr for her results. I met Wendy/Tortuga, who I really liked, but with whom I only seemed to bitch with about a person with whom we'd both had a bad encounter; I want to hang out with her again and talk about fun stuff sometime, so maybe a trip to Yreka is in my future. The crew from A Verb for Keeping Warm and Tactile Fiber Arts were really fun & friendly; hi to Kristine/KristineV, Adrienne/AdayKnits, Brooke/MissyB, Maia/Maia and Marcel the Bunny. Oh, and a shout-out to Adam/Knitguy - I had a blast chatting, hope I didn't talk your ear off; I'll email you about Twisted. I even met some folks from my own neck of the woods: Erika and her daughter Cecilia from Fortuna. Small world. I know I met a metric TON of interesting people that I haven't mentioned; if you didn't make the list it's just because I was so discombobbled and sleep-deprived that I've temporarily spaced your name. Never fear, I will remember you in time! Thanks to E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. who took the time to come say 'hi', fondle my wares, have me sign their bingo card, or otherwise interacted with me.

Tomorrow: BSG Part 3: Merchandising, and 'Why I Love Vending'...

Tags: Black Sheep Gathering, BSG, fiber, Ravelry, fiber, handspinning, handspun, bingo