Sandra and Leslie had decided to go to the Shenandoah Fiber Festival, in Berryville, Virginia and invited me to go along. A fiber festival … Okay. So, what is a fiber festival? Out of curiosity I wanted to go – but I’ll admit my expectations were not particularly high – hovering somewhere between the fragrance of sheep in general, and the sound of sheep – in general.

After a short search on the internet, I figured the logo would pretty much say it all. In my mind’s eye, I was pretty much seeing a sheep market. You know – lots of baaa’ing lambs, lots of odiferous stalls. My imagination had a little difficulty going beyond that first thought – I mean, just how diverse could a “fiber” festival be?

Ok – so maybe I would get to see some sheep being sheared. And, more than likely I’d see some wool for sale. Hah! Was I in for a pleasant surprise!!

Oh sure, I did get a vague distant whiff of sheep, in a far-off, dreamy kind of way – but that isn’t really unpleasant to me. I had just recently bought a raw fleece from Virginia Tech and began trying to learn how to clean it. The smell of sheep has become a gentle, comfortable experience for me, so the slight smell was not an issue.

Yes, I did hear sheep bleating – but not a raucous, miserable sound like you would hear at an animal auction – just occasional quiet little wooly comments on the heat, or the neighbors.

After what seemed an incredibly quick, not-quite-4-hour, trip from “downhome” in southwestern Virginia, we got to Berryville around 10:30-ish Saturday morning. Even as quick as four hours may be, our first stop still had to be the somewhat small powder room. Then off to the Craft Barn. Along with the gorgeous sunshine, we had a little nippy breeze at the beginning and the closed warmth of the Craft Barn felt good.

The very first thing that caught my eye was this treasure of an antique spinning wheel. Since there are no obvious pedals, I was wondering how the spinning might be done. Later on, with a crowd gathered around, a lady demonstrated by hand-turning the wheel. The wheel itself is higher than my head! I don’t believe I have ever seen even a picture of one of these.

Fiber Festival, indeed!

And that was only the very first attraction. This craft barn contained spinners, weavers, knitters, antiques, gorgeous displays of any and everything fiber-related, charming hand-crafted clothing, folks demonstrating their crafts, a huge antique loom – which I failed to get a photo of (*sigh*), and more fiber, spun wool and goodies than I could have dreamed. There were tables of wool fleeces from every breed I could imagine, which had been judged and awarded ribbons. I couldn’t quite grasp how the judges decided which was which – the colors were wonderful – and all of it was “greasy.” Ha. Really. I couldn’t resist putting my fingers into some of it – and greasy is exactly the right word.

It was possible to buy a whole fleece right then and there. Many of them were already sold; but I am such a novice at this, that I wouldn’t begin to try to buy anything until I learn more about the whole process. Sandra or Leslie either one could have given me excellent advice on what to buy – but I decided that learning to spin might be best on some finished roving, so I could get right on with the learning, instead of washing, washing, washing. Sandra was kind enough to give me a quick lesson on crimp – and I made a mental note of just how long it will probably be before I can identify a fleece by the crimp!

Across the way from the spinning wheel was the Blue Ridge Spinners and Weavers display, where that happy, exuberant group was demonstrating Sheep To Shawl. I didn’t see anyone carding, or combing, but they had people spinning, who handed off their product to the weaver, who handed off her product to the finishers. Sandra took advantage of a photo-op with their Blue Sheep mascot. I got the impression she would have absconded with him, if they hadn’t been watching him so closely. They also had many already-finished lovely items for sale.

Wandering on down the aisle, I passed the Shenandoah Knitting Guild, where several local ladies were busily knitting -- then spent a few minutes in enchantment at The Barefoot Spinner display: home to hand-spun yarn, truly beautiful hand-dyed roving, knitted items, handmade needles and spindles, and Louet spinning wheels. Later, I would be drawn back here, to succumb, and take home a wonderful round-pound of merino-blend roving.

Nestled in the corner at the back, I discovered The Golden Ram – with an abundance of antiques and vintage collectibles, as well as knitted things. The proprietor continued knitting as she answered questions and visited with folks. As it turns out, her home is in Christiansburg, Virginia, where I live. What a surprise to travel that distance and run into someone from your own small town!

We continued down the opposite aisle of the Craft Barn, but by that time my head was spinning, and I noticed very little. That would change when we came back after lunch.

Outside, the wind had calmed down and the day was perfect. We took our time meandering by the many different vendors. The Virginia Draft Horse and Mule Association had a couple of bags of wool for sale (? but it looked like it came from sheep, to me ?) as well as mugs, caps, note cards, stuffed animals, and some witty T-shirts and sweatshirts that proclaimed “Real Horses Weigh a Ton.”

Almost Heaven Alpacas, set up under the huge oak trees, had live alpacas right there with them. Mt. Airy Farm had all kinds of wool products, as well as two of the sweetest little angora goats for sale. Looking at those adorable little guys, I suddenly developed a yearning for a baby goat – but Sandra had told us ahead of time there would be no live animals in the vehicle on the way home.

We saw basket makers displaying and demonstrating their work. “Handmade by Janet” baskets were fascinating with their deer antler handles woven in, and various other interesting treatments.

There was a lady using an antique Singer sewing machine, and a bodkin, creating twisted rag rugs.

My Favorite Yarn Shop had a plethora of yarn in practically every imaginable color, plus some roving dyed in electric-neon colors. I later regretted not buying some of that eye-catching beauty.

I caught Leslie definitely enjoying the selection at Lofty’s Own Yarns.

On the opposite end of the fairground from the Craft Barn, we came to the Dairy Barn. I thought that was so funny, because there was nothing in there remotely connected with dairy. Of course, I suppose it had to be named something – just for identification!

Several exhibitors had set-up in the Dairy Barn, but the two I remember are Wool*Mart and Lawre’s Laine. The Wool*Mart spinner was hard at work and her knitted tunics were impressively nice.

Lawre of Lawre’s Laine is a distributor of Strauch’s Fiber Equipment Company of New Castle, Virginia. She also creates hand-made stone and washable suede buttons, as well as knitting bags, stitch markers, and knitting needle cases that defy description. Beautiful work. She also had giant ball-winders on hand, so I took one home. I could hardly wait to get it back to the motel room, where I began to practice making center-pull balls with Sandra’s in-progress knitting project. The ball-winder is easy to use, and works like a charm. Lawre mentioned that she has wound as much as a full pound in one ball.

On the way out of the Dairy Barn, we turned left to the Llama barn – where we found not only live llamas, but hot food, a felting demonstrator who used a Black & Decker belt sander and steamer (can you do that?). Next to the felting, was a dyeing demonstration, which had produced an exquisitely beautiful robin’s-egg blue wool. In the next aisle, we found more live llamas, and sheep.

This Shetland ram seemed a little disgruntled about having his picture taken, but isn’t he a beauty!

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Linda Wright is a native of Cripple Creek deep in southwestern Virginia.  Growing up on a farm just outside Galax, Virginia, she found fascination in the self-sufficiency of farm life, and a life-calling in the rich musical heritage of the region.   She recently began recording her thoughts at Goin’ Up Cripple Creek and offering hand-crafted items for sale at Wild Iris Wool on Etsy.com.