Bowling Green Festival.....pictures added!

Close at hand is Bowling Green, Ohio, the home of Bowling Green State University and one of the best independent coffee shops I've ever seen, no matter where in the world -- it's called Ground for Thought, and it's in the historic downtown area.   If you are anywhere near Bowling Greene (which will happen if you travel north and south through Ohio on I-75), pull into town, go all the way through the fast-food strip to the real downtown, and turn left on Main Street.  I also had a fabulous lunch at Panera's, which people continually underestimate.  They make amazing black-bean soup, and I had an equally amazing Thai Chicken salad, with fresh, fresh greens and soy beans in it.

This annual event, sponsored by guilds, is a small but fruitful event -- one building on the Wood County Fairgrounds.  It doesn't look like much of anything.  But, as I told Carol Larsen of River's Edge Fiber, which is at Grand Ledge, Michigan, it's also one of the best in quality terms.  I always find great things to buy for Artisan Knitworks.  Here are two of the finds -- one a pile of drop-dead-gorgeous tweed alpaca blend (natural alpaca with coloring spun in from an amount of fine-quality Merino wool) and a small pile of alpaca with a copper binder (all from a farm in Ohio), and then some of Carol's stunning new gradient yarns -- LOOOOOOOOONG color runs of the kind usually associated with Freia Yarns or the equally beautiful versions done up at Twisted Fibers in Mason, Michigan.  Like the others, Carol has used the best quality Merino.   I think Carol's productions are really gorgeous, and, if you know the other companies' products, the prices are lower than you'd expect.  Come have a look if you're near the shop.   One of the cakes (actually two cakes packed as one to make socks) sold within an hour of my arrival.  If they go like hotcakes, I'll get in touch with Carol and have her ship some more.     svb

For Artisan Knitworks' Newsletter Readers

Note that Larry will be sending out another edition of the last newsletter.   Sarah Peasley's workshops are three hours long, not two hours; there will be lunch with the tuition; and the captions with the workshop descriptions were reversed.  Also, the 'dollar-off' promotion of Merino 8 goes on for another week; it does not end on March 24th (which was, um, some days ago).      Stay tuned.     svb

The Season is Upon Us!

Time to hit the road!   This weekend, I am going to inaugurate the fiber-festival season with a short jaunt to Bowling Green, Ohio -- to a small, delightful festival sponsored by the Black Sheep Guild (not the same guild as our own Black Sheet Guild in the Royal Oak area).   I love some of the people who sell stuff there -- such as the woman who calls herself Bad Amy.   I still carry a little gadget bag that she made -- covered in brassieres!   I thought it was odd that nobody on the east side of Detroit wanted it -- !!!!  It's a hoot.  So I adopted it.   Anyway:  Next up will be the fabulous and huge Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on May 2-3, just after the great, medium-sized fiber event in Greencastle, Indiana, just to the south of Indie.  I hope to find some more one-of-a-kind hand-painted and hand-dyed yarns at all of these places.  Stay tuned!  I will take pictures.    svb

DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS THING

Everyone, just look at this drop-dead beautiful thing.   Terrie Voigt (the gifted glass-button maker and all-around fiber genius from Troy, MI) made it in the wake of the workshop I did several weeks ago for the wonderful Textile and Fiber Arts Guild of Michigan (free-form crochet).   Sometimes, when I see this kind of thing, I well up.   What extraordinary joy this brings to the world.   If you want to see more, visit Terrie's blog -- www.terrievoigt.com/blog