Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Review
SAFF booklet with maps, event schedule and more.
I have a confession. I might have been knitting for close to 20 years now, but I had never been to a fiber fair … until last month. As a 10th wedding anniversary present, my husband decided to change that for me. He whisked me off for a 3 day, 2 night trip to Fletcher, NC (just outside of Asheville, NC) to attend the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (aka. SAFF). Yes, he is the best yarn husband ever! This 3 day fiber event has been going on for 26 years and takes place at the WNC Agricultural Center. SAFF has everything from paid classes to free demos, vendors for every fiber craft you might enjoy, fleece shows and sales, livestock shows and more. It was incredible and mind-blowing and inspirational, all at once! I think the coolest part was you don’t even need to be a crafter to enjoy this event as there was an exceptional amount of finished, hand made crafts that were for sale as well. This truly was an event for everyone to attend!
This doesn’t even truly convey the scale of the arena and the aisle after aisle of gorgeous products.
Day 1
We arrived around 2:30 on Friday, and since this was my first fiber event, I think this might have been for the best. As a fiber addict, the first time you walk into an arena of wall-to-wall vendors selling everything you can imagine to suite your hobby desires is, understandably, overwhelming. Not just for me either, my husband was shocked as well by the shear amount of products. This year they hosted the vendors in the McGough Arena and the Covered Arena right behind it. This meant you had an entire circular balcony, indoor arena floor and outdoor arena full of vendors. Due to the shear amount of visual treats to look at, I decided the best course of action might be to not shop and just soak it all in for a bit. From raw wool to yarn, tools and people letting you test out equipment, notions, bags, finished garments, pelts, arts competition for people to vote on, and even live angora rabbits to pet on, … this was truly a sight to behold and experience! I only survived with my wallet intact because I planned ahead to only buy things for spinning wool. This meant I didn’t even need to look at all the yummy, squishy yarns that were there. But believe me, there were tons! It still took a ton of restraint to stick to just spinning stuff!
After basking in the shopping wonderland, it was nearing 5 PM and I knew I wanted to peek in the at the Fleece Show and Sale so I understood how it worked. My intent was to only buy if the price was exceptional. I had heard that the fleeces were often discounted on Sunday so I was planning on doing my real shopping then. Let me tell you, if I wasn’t prepared for the vendors arenas, I was even less prepared for the Fleece Show and Sale. Luckily, I met Fallon, the fiber show master extraodinaire! I think she must have sensed my fear and rookie-ness walking in the door. She was an immense help and educator, showing me how the wool was organized, giving me tips on how to choose quality wool, explaining the fleece show and how that worked. I honestly probably learned more about wool in that hour before they closed on Friday than I have learned on the entire rest of my fiber journey. Some of the fleeces had been submitted for judging and won awards, others were just for sale and the prices were all over the place. Needless to say, a few whole raw fleeces flung themselves into my arms (or really my husband’s arms since he was helping me while I poked through bag after bag of raw fleece) and said “We must go home with you!”. So Friday, I purchased 11 lbs 11 oz of fleece: a Gulf Coast Native (plus sticker from this SE2SE provider), a delicious gray CVM/Romeldale and a gorgeous, crimpy, Montadale.
Day 2
Saturday I knew I wanted to get up to the Livestock Show and get a few items that I knew I needed to purchase (like wool soap). I also really wanted to get some non-sheep fibers to try. This time I was more prepared to chat with vendors, connect with people I knew from social media, hug on some friends from my spin guild, and make new friends. It was fantastic! I got a great button, the soap I needed, and a present for the kids. I also picked up a small, washed Jacob fleece from a SE2SE provider. One moment that we were sitting to give our feet a break, we ended up sitting right by a sheep dog demonstration. Talk about highly trained animals! I also got to connect with Elizabeth of Spotted Circus, met Steven Hicks who is a phenomenally talented pattern designer and knitter (who even shared a sneak peek of his latest FREE pattern, Knollwood) and he introduced me to Madeline of Ballyhoo Fiber Emporium, an incredible farmer and shepherdess and fiber fanatic! All people I look forward to hanging out with again in the future!
From there, I went back to the Fleece Sale and found more wool that needed to come home with me. Another 4 pounds of Gulf Coast Native wool in fact! The prices in this sale were so widely varied that I suggest you set a budget and know exactly what you want. I saw everything from $15 for a whole 2 pound fleece to $300 for 1 pound of pygora. I knew I wanted my prices to be $10/pound or less ($15 if it was stunning) and I was focusing on fleece that were an American breed or a breed on the Livestock Conservancy list.
Saturday we also made a trip up to the Livestock Show. I figure this would be a quick look around and leave. Ahh, dear, sweet naive me. So, SO very wrong! First off, there were more goats and sheep than you could shake a stick at. Some want love/hopeful you have treats and shove their faces through the pens to get your attention while others try to hide in the back of the pen. Rubbing on a sheep while he dozes off from your scratches is magical! You can learn from listening to the judges and talk to the shepherds and shepherdesses; there is so much exciting knowledge that people were ready to share with you. Second coolest thing we learned was that shearers come Sunday and we could potentially pick the sheep we want, pay the shepherd for the fleece and the shearer for their time. Mind blown! We didn’t spend a ton of time up here but it got bumped to the top of the priority list for Sunday because I had to know more about shearing!
Detouring from all things fibery for a moment, if you are going up to this event and you like beer, you should know that you are about 7 minutes away from the Sierra Nevada Brewery’s east coast headquarters. I love visiting a brewery and have seen a few in my day, but the size of this dwarfed any other I’ve been to. They also have a massive restaurant attached that must have been on nearly a 2 hour wait. So we sat on the patio, under an umbrella in the rain, and it was a lovely date with good beer and time with my hubs. After that, we headed back towards our hotel in Hendersonville and discovered this hole in the wall authentic Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Mexicana El Paso Azteca Express. It’s an order at the counter, get your own salsa, sit at the counter type of place with limited seating … but absolutely delicious if you want something off the beaten path. Don’t expect ground beef or even for them to have queso when you arrive (think al pastor, carnitas and tripe). As a native Atlantan, I can assure you this rivaled any place I’ve even eaten on Buford Highway, minus the crowd.
Day 3
By the time we got to Sunday, our feet were sore from walking on gravel, packed dirt and cement. Pro tip: wear comfortable shoes! We decided to start our Sunday up with the the barn full of animals. I’m so glad we did because I bumped into another online acquaintance, the lovely ladies of Piney Wood Farm (another SE2SE provider). They had some Cotswold sheep entering a category in the Livestock Show. If I’m remembering correctly, one of their sheep took best in show for the entire competition. I had been trying to find time to drive up to her farm in GA and got lucky that she brought a 6 lbs Tunis fleece and so I made that my final fleece purchase for my SAFF adventure. We made one more lap through the vendor arena but admittedly didn’t stay super long because I wanted to go back up and watch some sheep getting sheared. I am glad I went back through because I got to meet the lovely Paula Ashworth of Lady Slipper Studio & Farm. She calls herself a “Practitioner of Archaic Skills” and I adore and aspire to that! She raises Shetland sheep, which is a breed I’m interested in due to their miniature size. Plus I snagged some gorgeous grey French Angora I had been eyeing from the farm I got the Jacob fleece from and some cotton lint to play with.
After watching a few rounds of shearing, which is completely mesmerizing to see live and only costs $10 for a sheep and $15 for a goat (plus you pay the owner for the fleece), we decided it was time to start making our way back home. This whole experience was phenomenal! I definitely will go to every SAFF I can from now on. I came home with over 23 lbs of raw wool! I can’t wait to get this washed up and spun up for the shop! I didn’t take any classes at SAFF which essentially means I missed an entire arena. Looking at the list of classes, I hope to schedule at least one class next year. I also hope next year to go with some friends as well so we could sit and knit/spin/crochet in the evening some together too. I also will probably think about bringing my kids on this adventure. There is so much for them to see and enjoy. Oh yes, and next year, I will bring better shoes!
SAFF 2020 is scheduled for October 23-25. Are you interested in going? Let me know in the comments below!
A car full of so much fluffy fun!