I went for a little drive today...

I went for a little drive/adventure today to a town called Big Rock which is a half hour drive (west of Naperville) to a shop called "Esther's Place" - not exactly a yarn store, but they do have yarn.

It is a very unique shop with a very neat idea. A group of families created a Co-Op got a grant from the USDA and created an IL "Animal Fiber" Co-op. They raise all different breeds of sheep (I learned about almost 10 of these breeds today) along with Rabbit fiber (Angora, Fuzzy Lops), some Alpaca and they even had this EXTREMELY lucious Buffalo fiber.

The mission is to increase education about ILLINOIS grown animal fiber and how it is "manufactured" from the raising of the animal, to shearing, taking from raw fiber to roving, then to spinning and finally used in a variety of creative disciplines (dry and wet felting, knitting, crocheting, weaving, etc..)

I ventured to this store as I saw on their website that they have spinning classes and figured that they would know of someone to spin the wonderful Alpaca I received thru the "Fight The Battle Auction".

Well, after talking for over 2 hours with Donna (owner) and her wonderfully creative and talented daughter, Natasha, it looks like this fall I will be taking a spinning class! They offer a 6 week course on spinning whereby you go once a week and then included in the class fee is the oppportunity to take home the spinning wheel to practice and do more spinning at home - how cool is that?

They also offer loom weaving and the roving used as well as fabric is out of this world!

The shop is located in an old home with the first floor housing all the fiber and classrooms and the second floor is set up for a bed and breakfast - 3 bedrooms ALL decorated with gorgeous antiques and beautiful looms and spinning wheels. Two bathrooms also populate the upstairs. I could definitely see a group of yarn/fiber enthusiasts sneaking away from the world for a weekend and "fibering" non-stop!

The absolutely scrumptious roving/yarn, books, knowledge, wonderfully helpful folks definitely makes this a "MUST SEE" for anyone in or around the Chicagoland area - even if you're just visiting.

They were part of the Fiber Festival at Catigny as well as the Fiber Fetival in Crystal Lake earlier this summer.

I'm going to take a day (4 to 6 hours) according to their brochure and do a loom weave project of like a bath mat or such - I'm quite inspired at the moment (gee, can you tell).

Here's a link to their website with all their information: http://www.esthersplacefibers.com/

It was an awesome afternoon and I'm so glad I went!

Silent Auction... Crafts and Horses

Again, I have the opportunity to combine horses and crafts... Yippee, that makes me happy...

Two of my friends who are "horse people" have been diagnosed with cancer. One with Breast Cancer to which she is fighting well! I was going to knit her a chemo cap, but, being horse people... I found in Vicki Square's "Folk Hat" Book, a knitted then felted cowboy hat.. It was made with Malabrigo Chunky in Roanoke (color) and used roughly 210 yards..

I also had enough left over of the yarn, that I made her a matching chemo "purse" for something small to take instead of lugging a big purse around -

The other gal, Connie, is fighting Lung Cancer that traveled to her brain and this spring had a brain tumor removed and is fighting with all her might.

Well, to assist in the humungous costs of treatment, etc.. I put together an "online silent auction" with all proceeds going to the both of them.

Well, another one of my "horse friends" lives in Upstate New York and raises ALPACAS (yes, you read that right) for fiber.. and knowing my knitting frenzy - has donated RAW fiber from her shearing this year - there are THREE different lots of fiber!!!!! One is a black/gray and has 5lbs, another is a medium brown and is 2lbs 9oz and the last is a white at 2lbs...

I forwarded this information to my knitting group, but, thought there has to be MORE ways to pass this information along to the spinners of the world!!! So, I figured this is a good start and if all the yarn / knitting enthusiasts who may see this posted it on their blog then some bids might come for the fiber thus benefiting these two great ladies!

There are also a couple of crocheted/knitted items as well and we will accept items at any time to get added to the auction. Here's the link: http://www.thestitchincorral.com/Silentauction.htm (for some unknown reason, I cannot get the link to show up via the blog format)