Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival

So we have made it back from the first annual Middle Tn Fiber Festival. It went very well I thought with the weather really being nice (of course I was hoping for rain here at home while we were gone!).
We met some amazingly interesting people---both customers and other vendors and really had a great time. There were demonstrations, instructions and fiber animals too.
We had a drive of about 3 hours to get to the festival, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and back home at 10:30 pm. which made it a very long day. One other vendor came from about as far as we did: Peaceful Vally farm (no web site on them but fresh veggies, honey, eggs, fiber, flowers and herbs fresh and dried.) They are in Taft Tn.---931-425-6551 Which is near Huntsville Alabama. Extremely nice people---we also took shearing classes with them a few years back. It was one of those "I KNEW I recognized you from somewhere!" situations. Here they are:























One really great vendor there was Jacque Dumas of The Outback Menagerie. She raises angora rabbits---of which she traded me fiber for fiber and I definitely got the better deal for sure (thank you Jacque!) Gorgeously soft soft soft fiber. Magnificent. Jacque is located in Waverly Tn.

Here are some pictures of one of her rabbits (he's a national champ!) and of her interesting electric spinning wheel.





Jacque sells her fiber dyed and not dyed and also breeding rabbits.














Then there was Far Out Farm of Jane and Kim Caulfield (email jcaulfield@vallnet.com) They sell the fibers of their sheep mixed with silk, quiviet, mohair and a number of other fibers. They also sell tussah and another (can't remember name--though it was super soft) silk ready to spin already dyed in luscious colors. My favorite was a blue/green blend called Opal. Gorgeous. Here's there picture:


















The last vendor I would like to mention is Deer Trace Farm. Gary and his wife Carole do fiber (think exotic: camel, mohair, yak etc) but even better is that Gary is an excellent woodworker and makes custom crafted spinning wheels. Very nice people with excellent products. Reach him at deertrace@callnet.com or 931-433-0936 Sorry no picture (!???)

And though I thought my husband took pictures--he thought I did-- so we didn't get many unfortunately.
There were some other vendors---some we didn't meet and some we didn't really talk with much but overall it was an excellent day.
So---Next year: Make plans to attend the Tennessee Fiber Festival near Nashville Tn. Though this one was put together in under 3 months and was a bit small: Next year will be bigger and even better since we now have a whole year to plan it. What more could you ask for than a day of Fiber, Friends and Fun. Such a convenient time of year too!