(8/9/16) BSG, TdF, & a Roving Regatta

August 9th, 2016

I don't know about you, but my summer has absolutely flown by! I'm sure some of this is that as-you-get-older-time-goes-by-faster phenomenon, but seriously...summers NEVER used to pass so quickly for me. I used to spend them holed up inside the air conditioning, praying desperately for autumn! Now it seems like I have more to do than hours in the day to do it, and honestly, that is OKAY! Because it all seems to revolve around the sheep or fiber in some form, so it definitely makes for fun times!

I'd like to recap this summer a bit and tell you about a few things that happened - the first is BSG, or Black Sheep Gathering. This is a fiber festival held in Eugene, Oregon, every June, and this year I decided to go - never having attended a fiber festival before, this sounded like the perfect one for me as it was within driving distance (albeit a LONG drive, but still...), not so enormous that I would feel lost, and they were also offering a blending board class. I won a Fancy Kitty blending board a few months ago in the FK Ravelry group, and I really wanted to take a class that would teach me all about it - my initial attempts to make rolags on it were not terribly successful, so I figured having an instructor to talk to and learn from would make a big difference. I arrived in Eugene after an extra long drive, thanks to traffic, but arrived safely, and the next day drove over to the festival - I stepped out of the car, and what did I hear?  BAAAAAAAHs, coming from the barns! It was the Song of my Sheeple!! So before heading over to find my class, I immediately walked into the barns:

It was SO cool to walk in and see so many sheep, goats, and alpacas...so many sweet faces to admire and nice folks to talk to! But before I could get too entrenched in the wooliness, I made myself go get checked in for my blending board class!

The class was fantastic - I learned lots of great tricks for making smooth, easy-to-spin rolags, and the instructor, Gwen Powell, was very generous with the fiber she provided! In addition to learning how to properly use the blending board, Gwen also made sure we had loads of different fibers to try out on the board - there was wool, of course, but she also included alpaca, synthetic fibers like faux cashmere and firestar, angora, and even feathers! Basically she made sure we got a lot of hands-on work with our blending boards - I think I made about 60 rolags that day!

The next day at BSG was the best of all, though, as I got to meet one of my Ravelry friends, Corinna! We had a total blast shopping, having lunch, watching a goat show, shopping, looking at all of the sheep, and shopping!

Black Sheep Gathering is a fantastic fiber festival - as I previously mentioned, it's not so huge that one would feel lost, but it's big enough that there is PLENTY to do and see - loads of great classes, a variety of animals and shows to watch, and so many vendors!!

After I returned home from BSG, it was time to get ready for TdF - Tour de Fleece! This year's Tour ran from July 2nd through the 24th, in conjunction with the Tour de France, and I am absolutely THRILLED with our Blaine Fleece and Fiber Team - we had 36 spinners sign up for the team, and of those, only 3 ended up not participating! Not only did LOTS of spinning happen (with only 50% of the team reporting their finished yardage, we spun 17,300 yards!), but friendships were made, and the level of support and camaraderie was through the roof! Folks posted questions they had about their spinning, and members responded quickly to help - some even took the time to post video and photo tutorials! My personal goal was to spin 1 ounce of fiber everyday of the Tour, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that - I had to quit spinning about halfway through as I started out spinning too much everyday, and managed to really mess up my back and ribcage (yeah, it's true...between spinning, plying, and making batts, I managed to put some ribs out of place, which caused massive inflammation under my shoulder blade...I'm currently doing PT to fix things, so hopefully I'll be back to normal in a few more weeks). But even though I didn't spin everyday, I still managed to spin 27 ounces of fiber into over 1,000 yards of yarn! And I've already started knitting with some of it, and couldn't be happier!

I am SO proud of Team BFF, and I am already excited for the 2017 Tour!!

Now, I know there is one more BIG item to talk about from this summer...I'll give you a hint:

However, I really want to devote an entire blog post to Miss Daisy and her arrival, so I will save that for next time. But before I end, please be sure to check out Blaine Fleece and Fiber on Etsy - this month's special is a Roving Regatta!

Because I am unable to make BFF Batts for awhile, this month we're showcasing the gorgeous roving that is in the shop, courtesy of Black Velvet, Mikey, and Panda Bear! All roving is discounted through the end of August, and no coupon code is required, so if you've been considering a roving purchase from BFF, don't miss out on this special!

Thanks for reading!