Jam Packed Saturday

Today I went to the Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor and took two workshops on wet felting.  It has been ages since I've taken any kind of class (online classes at work to learn fruitless skills notwithstanding) and I've been eager to finally attempt wet felting.  I have scads of books on the subject but I've always thought I needed a hands-on lesson first.  Today was the perfect opportunity.

I left the house early today and made my hour long drive over to Ann Arbor. The drive-thru line at Tim Horton's was too long so I wasn't able to pick up a bagel to eat on the drive.  Luckily the UofM football game didn't kickoff until 3:30 so traffic was fine.  Along the way on I-94 you pass under these peculiar blue structures -- I don't really get the point of them.

I arrived 40 minutes early due to good traffic.  Does this signage strike you as odd?

I knit a few rows on a scarf while I waited to go in and managed to snap a few pictures of the alpaca in attendance.

 

My first class was a wet felted vessel.  The class was taught by Janette Borke and it was so enjoyable.  I chose a fabulous ball of roving in fall colors.  The class had only 4 students so it was easy to get extra attention and have all of your questions answered.  Now I feel like I can start using all of these great balls of roving and the batts I've been collecting......................  Here's my end result ~~

The class ran long so there was only enough time to run to the restroom (housed in another outbuilding) and make it back for my next class.  I took Suzanne Pufpaff's wet felted tote bag workshop in the afternoon because I wanted to try a slightly different method and take the class she had taught at the last BSKG retreat that I had to miss.

While I was satisfied with my end result it was a lot of work compared to the vessel class so I would have to say I prefer the methods taught in Janette's class.  The tote bag workshop was a lot messier and much more strenuous.  I didn't even get to take any pictures during that class.  Hopefully soon I'll have enough time to post the pictures from the vessel class.

After the tote bag class I made a bee line for the food trailer and got a hot cider and fresh donut.  Yummy!  I was soooo hungry having missed both breakfast and lunch.  Next I was off to see the vendors.  I chatted with a few gals I knew and learned sales and attendance were both great.  So good to hear.  I shopped a bit, helping the economy whenever I can, and will take some pictures of those items tomorrow.  Stay tuned -- I found some beautiful things.

Here are a couple more pictures of the super cute alpaca.  If they weren't so stinky, I could make them a pet!