LandMade

 

http://www.licketyspitfibrefarm.ca/

I recently attended LandMade, an event at a small Toronto hotel. 

Here are the details they posted in a local Ravelry group:

“The Upper Canada Fibreshed is bringing farm-fresh yarn, roving and fleece to the urban maker.

LandMade hosts local fibre farmers to the Gladstone Hotel, giving urban knitters, spinners, crocheters, weavers, felters, makers and artists the chance to discover fleeces, rovings and yarns direct from the farm. Eight farms that raise sheep, alpacas and mohair will be available to talk all things fibre, and to provide locally and sustainably raised materials to the natural fibre enthusiast."

https://www.facebook.com/events/723183224511333/?active_t...;

It was a tiny show, with only eight vendors but the turnout was amazing. We arrived about 30 minutes after the start and at that point could barely get through the room it was so crowded. The best comparison I could make is to a farm show. I'm sure the spinners in the room must have been pleased with the amount of fleece and roving they saw. Everything available was in the natural colours. I purchased a skein of the yarn in the photo at the top. I would have liked another one in black but I was standing beside someone who purchased the last two black skeins as I chose mine. The yarn is fabulously soft and silky to the touch. 

I ended up seeing lots of knitters I know, both local and some from the smaller towns surrounding Toronto. The audience was very different from a retail show where you see lots of novice knitters. This type of event works better for those of us less dependent on patterns. The yarn labels tend to be limited in their information. The skein I purchased is labeled as Type: fine, Yardage: 268, Needle size: 2.5 - 3.25. No gauge is listed on the label. If you follow the U.S. Craft Council yarn weight system that would put it as a 1 superfine or 2 fine weight. That's in the fingering to sport range. I think it might be a little off as 103 grams should have more yardage in that weight. However as with all yarns only swatching will answer my questions. I do have some black alpaca in my stash which is a light fingering weight so I'll try some comparison and combination swatching to see if I can put them together.