Life of the Lintee Bean

I went to the Michigan Fiber Festival the other weekend. No, it’s not a festival with booths of Metamucil, Benefiber, Fiber One, etc. It’s a YARN festival! Lots and lots of beautiful yarn – and fluffy stuff (also known as “roving”) from which to make yarn – and animals from which to make fluffy stuff from which to make yarn.

My friend Amy bought two tickets on the Windy City Knitting Guild’s bus. The bus left Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. sharp. I arrived first. The woman in charge asked me if I was a member of the knitting guild, to which I replied “No, but my friend Amy is. She got us two tickets.” The woman suggested I join the knitting guild, to which I replied “I don’t knit.” She looked at me, perplexed. “Why are you going to the fiber festival?” “Oh”, I replied, “I crochet – and I like yarn.”

Amy arrived, and we all boarded the bus. Of course, within minutes of getting on the road, all the passengers (but fortunately not the driver) were pulling out their knitting. Soon, works-in-progress were being passed around the bus so everyone could admire them. I leaned back, careful not to touch anything unless Amy gave me the okay. I got another perplexed look. Amy explained to our fellow passenger that I was allergic to animal fibers. “Why are you going to the fiber festival?” she asked. “I like yarn”, I said. “I’m sure there will be some plant fibers there,” I replied more optimistically than I felt.

The four hour bus ride went quickly with Amy and I chattering away. Once there, we went into high gear browsing mode. We looked at animals (rabbits, sheep, goats, alpaca, herding dogs, etc.). I’m now very confused about the difference between sheep and goats.  I thought I knew which was which – but after seeing so many of them, I’m not sure any more.

We bought yarn. Amy declared that she was NOT going to buy any small 100-yard skeins of yarn from which she could make a hat (but nothing else). I declared that I was only buying as much yarn as I could fit in my tote bag.

It was hot. The weather was hot – but it was REALLY hot in the barns and sheds with the yarn and the animals. Put a lot of people and animals in a building without air conditioning in August and it gets hot and humid and SWEATY. We persevered.

Toward the end of the day, I was desperately stuffing purchases into pockets of my tote bag – until I finally broke down and got a plastic bag from a vendor. Amy found a great skein of yarn from which she could make a hat (but nothing else).

When we re-boarded the bus, my fellow passenger asked if I’d managed to find anything. “Oh YES!” I exclaimed, pulling out hanks and skeins and balls of beautiful yarn made from bamboo and sugar cane and corn and cotton…

The trip back went just as quickly, with everyone showing off their purchases as well as their works-in-progress. We got back to Chicago before 9:00 p.m. Amy and I agreed it was just possible we might have had enough yarn for a while. At least I thought so, until my favorite online yarn store had their weekly sale and I just HAD to buy a few bargains.

My stuffed tiger fainted at the sight of my wonderful buys

Submitted for publication in the Greeley Citizen