Estes Park Wool Market

The Wool Market officially opened at 9:00 in the morning on Saturday, but John and I got there earlier than that. The picture below shows the setting for the event which is held at the fairgrounds in Estes Park, Colorado.


We decided to check out the animals first. They were housed in barns and tents. There were sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas and angora rabbits. Most of the animals were getting last minute beauty treatments.

I'm not sure I like how this "hairstyle" turned out. The head doesn't seem to match the body.


Next it was on to the vendor area.


Just about everything a fiber fanatic could want was for sale in this one big barn. There were fleeces, roving, spindles, spinning wheels, looms and much more. I looked at some of the fleeces and roving, but I was most interested in yarn.


I tried to walk past the Brooks Farm booth, but the beautiful colors pulled me in as they always do.

And then I made the mistake of touching the yarn. I was goner after that. However, I did show a bit of restraint by waiting until I had shopped all the other vendors before I came back to make my purchase. I didn't want to blow my fiber budget too early, especially since Brooks Farm is a vendor at the festival I usually go to in the fall.

The next booth that caught my attention was Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool Co. Their yarn is gorgeous. Should I buy this color? Or maybe that one? They are all beautiful.


Right after I made my choice and paid my money, I ran into fellow Texan and blogging buddy, Suzann Thompson and her daughter Eva. It was the first time for us to meet in person, though we've been visiting back and forth on our blogs for about three years. I would have loved to have taken her polymer clay button making class that she taught the day before, but it was filled up by the time I found out I would be at Estes. I'm happy we at least had a chance to talk for a while. Suzann is just as nice as I knew she would be and it was a treat to meet Eva as well. Our meeting was best part of the Wool Market for me.


Our next stop was the sheep dog demonstration. It was interesting and we learned a few things about the training of these dogs.

It was close to lunchtime by now, so we headed over to get some food. John and I tried the lamb kabobs. They were very good. For dessert we had a strawberry banana smoothie. Delicious!

And then we decided it was time to go. I left with an armful of yarn, a Wool Market baseball cap and a smile on my face.

1600 yards Plain & Fancy (100% Wool)
800 yards Brooks Farm Yarn Willow (70% SW Wool, 30% Bamboo)