Spent the morning yesterday at SOAR. I've never been to one before, and wasn't taking classes, just visiting the vendors.
The room wasn't huge, and held maybe 30 vendors, certainly not more. The booths looked to be 12 x 12, which allowed for a bit more space than most shows I've attended. The aisles were adequate in size, except for one area--that leading to the booth for Rovings, which was mobbed. I never got a good look at their product, but all morning there were at least 20 people in line, holding bags of roving to pay for at that booth, and completely blocking access to the booths the line snaked past. The overall quality of product sold was very high. Silk was clearly the fiber of the day, and wood the 'other' product. Most booths that sold fiber had silk in some form, mixed with other fibers or plain. The rest of them sold handmade accessories--hundreds of spindles, of course; nostepindes, shuttles of various sizes and shapes and styles, and other wooden things I couldn't identify. Ashland Bay top was available in several booths; didn't recognize any other 'brand names'. Dozens if not hundreds of different books--I told my daughter I'd get her something and she picked out a book on Chinese knotting. I'm not sure whether it was for the knots, or the Chinese characters (she's studying Chinese writing these days), but she's been making knots since we got home. Raw fiber was very limited--I saw a couple of raw Polwarth fleeces, but that was it. I was hoping to find some natural colored cotton--I'd still like to make those dishtowels in Spin-Off a few issues ago--but disappointingly there was only blue jeans cotton, a multi colored natural top, and cotten blended with wool, none of which were what I was looking for. I did buy some painted wool top--not something I normally do, but this reached out and grabbed me by the throat, especially when I saw the matching silk top. In what I call 'bright pastels', it has light but not real pastel versions of orange, turquoise, purple, and red--yeah, I know, sounds horrid, but it's really pretty. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it :) But I'm impressed with how it's drafting--I usually have trouble spinning top, but this was superwash, which I've never worked with before, and it drafts so easily it's almost slippery. The company is at <http://www.royalehare.com> but their website pictures don't show the colors. I guess the best part for me was finally getting to meet Paula Simmons, and she autographed my copy of Spinning with Softness and Speed :) We didn't talk long, as I didn't want to keep her from selling carders, but that was certainly the highlight of my day! We then collected the various parts of our group and headed off to Bellaire for lunch at a place called Lu Lu's. Not a name I would choose, but the food was great. Finally a quick visit to a quilt store, and off home, with really not much to show for the amount of money spent, but still a fun day. I've never been to Shanty Creek, and the building the show was in is perched on the top of what passes for a mountain in northern lower Michigan--which is to say, maybe 500 feet, with a wonderful view. SOAR attendees are lucky, for some reason our fall color is hanging in weeks later than usual this year, and there's still lots of golden leaves all over, with a few in the oranges and reds. Really makes the stands of pine look all the more green and beautiful. Holly To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
