It’s great to be back in the Midwest — especially because of all of the fiber festivals that happen in the summer. On Saturday, July 21, 2007, Andy and I went to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival. I found out about the festival only 2 or 3 days in advance, so I was happy that it was only an hour’s drive from Chicago, in Crystal Lake, Illinois. The weather was perfect — about 80 degrees and sunny and they had a decent amount of standard summer fair-type food in the event Beer Tent.
Although this festival had much fewer yarn options than the larger fiber festivals in the country (e.g. Maryland and New York), it had a lot to offer over 4-5 tents, including some vendors that I don’t think I had seen at some of the other festivals throughout the country. There was also a really friendly feeling from the organizers of the festival and the folk singers added a nice touch to the Beer Tent/food area.
I bought two skeins of the same alpaca yarn — natural brown and black alpaca fibers twisted together into at a fingering weight. If you would like to purchase some of this great alpaca from a family-owned and operated farm in Indiana, visit http://www.frontierfibermill.com/index.htm. Andy picked out this yarn for a pair of gloves he would like me to knit him this fall.
I also bought a great bag from Bridget, who designs for Biggie, her company in Grayslake, Illinois. I’d recommend this fair to any Chicago-area knitter — especially if the weather is as good as it was this year!
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