a mountain of sheep hair

I've been going slightly insane lately due to the fact that I rarely leave the house. And on the occasions when I do, its for a doctor's appointment. While necessary, I'm sure you'll agree that they just aren't all that fun.

So when I heard about the fleece fair that was coming up today by a local spinning group that was pretty close to the house, I begged a ride off my friend Carol, grabbed my cane and got two hours out of the house that restored my sanity and also got me some sheep hair.

I've been to their fleece fair in the past but this is the first time that I went as a spinner. Granted, I'm a fledgling spinner but I was excited to go be among all that roving and wheels and spindles. I wish I had taken my camera because there is no way to describe what this fair looks like. They take over a middle school gymnasium and set up tables and there are literally mountains of roving all over the place. In every color imaginable. In every fiber imaginable. Its quite the site to behold.

When we were walking up to the door there was a sign stating that they now accept visa and mastercard. Luckily I intentionally left mine at home. I'm really interested in getting a spinning wheel but have not researched them enough and am not physically able to take lessons to learn how to use it so I want to wait until my back is done torturing me.

I got some pretty nifty roving, here's Dooley dog checking it out:

He always gets all a twitter when I bring home handspun yarn or roving. I'm not sure if he gets excited because he knows its from another animal or if he thinks they are imposters and wants to take revenge on them. Its hard to tell. See that multi-colored one he's nudging in the picture? He rolled it halway across the living room before I realized what he did and had to screech at him to knock it off. No telling if pulling and yanking would have been next.

The colors on each of these are really pretty. They all contain a mixture of wool and mohair so they are soft and squishy. Here, admire the colors with me:


This one didn't have a name for the color on it but I'm calling it autumn. (Its richer in person, my camera is being crabby.)




This one is called Fiesta. Very pretty. I was eyeballing this one for a while and then when I saw a sample that had been spun up I caved. Its very pretty and apparently has the added bonus of rolling well should your dog be interested in a gigantic wool ball as a toy.






The last one is Oaks and Acorns. (Also richer in person.) This one is going to have a very slight variegation in it and I'm liking that, I'll be able to do a stitch pattern with this that won't get destroyed by all the colors.

I still have two rovings I bought from them last fair for felting that are straight up wool that I considered spinning but they are pretty coarse so I don't think I want to use those for spinning. They are going to have to be felting material.

I consider the fact that I came home with only these a triumph. I stood and stared at several spinners as they were working on their wheels. (I tried really hard to not look like a creepy stalker but I'm not sure I accomplished it. I was kind of entranced.) They were friendly, one was a licensed dealer for the smaller one she was working on and was trying to convince me to come to a meeting to try them out. I'm going to once I'm feeling better.

So now my back hurts like the devil and I'm going to go lay on the sofa to appease it and read a book. I'm hoping to feel well enough later on today so I can sit up for a little while and start spinning one of these.

Which one should I start first?