On Saturday April 28, 2007, Andy and I went to the Connecticut Sheep Breeders’ Association Sheel, Wool and Fiber Festival at the Tolland Agricultural Center in Vernon, CT (http://www.ctsheep.org). There was great weather that morning, but we didn’t spend too much time at the festival because it much smaller than the NY Sheep and Wool Festival that we went to in the fall of 2006 and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that I went to in spring 2006. I would recommend that you only take the time to attend if you are in CT the last Saturday in April — it’s not really worth the drive from out-of-state because of the limited yarn, raw fibers and supplies available.
The only purchase I made was of some recycled silk yarn from Nepal, which although generally not a unique find these days, was directly purchased by the seller from the producers in Nepal. The seller had posted that she pays a fair trade price for the recycled silk yarn, and because she has visited the facility herself and directly imports from the producers in Nepal, that the workers are receiving a fair wage for their work. Although I could not verify this, it seems better to buy this type of yarn from her than from the LYS. Here is a picture of the two skeins I picked up — each are 3.5 ounces and 15-20 yards per ounce:
I am looking forward to working something up with these skeins — please do email me if you have any suggestions! If you are interested in getting some of this yarn, please check out www.thecooperage.com.
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