Cowichan Fleece & Fibre Fair 2011

 Today I drove up Island to attend the Cowichan Fleece & Fibre Fair.

 This year it was held at the Island Savings Community Center. I think this is my favorite venue so far.

 I recognized Leola's table from Fibrations in August. Her hand dyed skeins of 75% Mohair / 25 % Wool are so soft and I love the unexpected colour combinations.

 Another booth that caught my eye was shared by Bella Vita and Conheath Farm. I was drawn in by Aurelia's absolutely stunning hand spun / hand dyed yarns, aren't they absolutely stunning?...And her booth partner was so knowledgeable (...so sorry for not getting your name), I learned a lot about dying and fibre when I stopped at this booth, I really hope to see this table at Fibrations next year!

 

 There was even an area for kids, I didn't get too close but it looked like they were making felted bars of soap. Over in another corner a little girl was getting her first knitting lesson. Isn't that wonderful?

This table had these really soft luxurious skeins of alpaca blends. The fibre is from a local alpaca farm in Cobble Hill and is processed within Canada (Alberta I believe). I think it's really wonderful that owner Arden Jenkins tries to keep the process Canadian, it's not always easy. The quality of the yarns was unbelievable... I had to take one home with me :)

 

 But for me the star of the show wasn't fibre at all! It was this booth of stunning ceramic buttons by artist Franziska (who happens to be absolutely adorable~!). She is also a photographer and all of the buttons that have images on them are from her original photographs. You can see the ones that went home with me below. Franziska has an Etsy Shop but amazingly enough you won't find her buttons there (at least not yet, I gave her a very hard time about this :)... but you will find them very soon at Knotty by Nature! I think the best thing about these buttons is they are light weight, even the larger ones are much lighter than you would imagine them to be.

 And finally, here is what I took home...

I purchased one skein of 52% Huacaya / 38% Suri / 10% Bamboo from Alpaca Farms and two ceramic buttons from Franziska. These items were definitely out of my normal price range and certainly not in my budget but the quality was incredible and they were made locally which ups the value significantly in my opinion. If you had been there you would have done the same :)