Another Year at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair

  One thing I love about the summer (since today is officially summer) is fairs! My favorite fair of them all has to the the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair. Miles of yarn, fiber, spinning, quilting, hooking, knitting, bunnies and looms.
   This year seemed to lean rather heavy on the loom side of things.

A "Cricket Loom", love the red sparkly thread, had to buy some!

  First, I have to mention the vintage handbag exhibit. The pattern was difficult and the directions were lacking, typical of vintage patterns. This year's purse was a 1920's handbag that had to have netting, a drawstring closure and a top and bottom tassel. I ended up throwing the directions out and making up my own purse. Who says netting has to be "netting" anyway? 

   I was really looking forward to seeing what everyone else did, how they interpreted the design, the color schemes, etc....well....looks like people gave up! Out of 18 entries on 4 of us got their bags to the fair. 

I do find it interesting that most of us stayed with the "green" theme! 

I picked up a cute sea turtle needle felting kit at Purl and Loop and it seems that embroidery is making a comeback. No doubt because of Design Sponge's long entry and how-to's. 

Kind of reminds me of spiral graph!

I stopped by Swiss Frau Farm's booth to get some goat milk soap. Goat milk soap is wonderful, I highly recommend picking some up. Stay away from those petroleum sudsy soaps, you don't need suds to get clean! Goat's milk is wonderful for your skin, especially if you have skin problems or dry skin.

I couldn't decide, so I bought both! 

  I stopped by one of my favorite places, Nifty Thrift Dry Goods and bought some lace and some other cute ribbons and trimmings. No pictures (or peeking)! You'll see them out to good use soon enough in the Etsy store. 

Lastly, a new favorite place! Mia Bella Yarn. While browsing at their great selection of totes (one of which I should have bought! Grr buyers remorse...unless they have them at their store???) I was approached by Sarah and asked if I had looked at their Mink yarn.

  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They carry 100% mink yarn from The Grinning Gargoyle. I bought a skein in shiny copper penny color. I had never seen mink yarn before; the minks are brushed and not harmed in the process. The yarns are hand dyed and feel silky soft. 

   I felt it was kismet, mink yarn, MinkCouture store, Mink blog, mink swimming in the lake in my backyard. 

Sarah holding my yarn selection and pattern-I better get knitting!

The bag that I should have purchased!

Besides the giant freak thunderstorm, the day was fun, exhausting and as always everyone was friendly and helpful. 

  I can't wait for the Yarn Crawl or next year's fair.