Today is one of the best days of the year. It’s Fiberpalooza in Winterset, Iowa. Every year Ivy and I head over to browse the yarn market, wander around the little town square, and eat fried pickles.

The market moved this year to the gym at the middle school from the gym at the elementary school. There was more space, which meant more vendors. In the end, even though there were more vendors, I ended up buying from the same people I usually buy from. Ivy did too, actually. We are old and set in our ways.

I went over board on yarn purchases. I’m now 187 g in the hole for my yarn diet. I need to get knitting on my WIPs so I get back in the black soon. The yarn on the left is from Fiber Cuiro and Sundries LLC. It’s a Romeldale/Suri Alpaca blend. It’s lace weight, but I’m going to pretend it is fingering and make a wrap out of it. Probably. Or I’m going to put it in my wine cabinet/yarn storage cabinet and look at how pretty it is for years. Only time will tell.

The rest of the yarn is from Yarn Geek. I love her yarn. I already have a skein of it in my stash, and I made socks for John from her yarn last year. I went into her booth and all self-control was lost. It started when I picked up two mini skeins for my sock yarn blanket. Then I saw the Rainbow Dashing (just left of the mini skeins) and knew I needed to take it home with me. I was trying to convince Ivy to buy more mini skeins when I saw the sparkly yarn (it is much more sparkly in real life than in this photo). I said “SHUT UP!” like a loud passionate teenager and grabbed the yarn. I may have said that while the dyer was having a conversation with Ivy about the mini skein options. After I reached over, clutched the yarn in my hungry grasp, and held it close to me, I explained to Ivy and Sarah (the dyer) that I was overcome with yarn love and was not yelling shut up at them. Being yarn nerds, they were understanding.

After the fiber festival we headed to the town square. They have a wonderful cafe that we eat at every year. We always start with fried pickles. Two years ago they switched from pickle chips to pickle spears. We still haven’t recovered from that shock. This cafe is where Clint Eastwood and Kathleen Kennedy ate in The Bridges of Madison County.  If you are a mid 1990s film buff that tidbit might be exciting to you. Personally, I care more about the pickles.

After our lunch we walked around the square checking out the shops. The old county jail is now a shop carrying hand-made goods. The last time I was there I found a kitchen towel that featured knitting. This time I found one for my other love – reading. I don’t really need another towel, but this is a really absorbent and soft towel, so I felt justified bringing my 1000th tea towel into our house.

At Heartland Fiber Co. I wasn’t tempted by much. The store was crowded with knitters in for the festival, so it was hard to wander around. I was going to walk away without anything when I discovered a basket on the floor filled with random bits of yarn. They sell yarn leftovers for $0.10-$3.00 depending on the size. I splurged on 3 balls and spent $3.25. I loved being able to pick up a few yarns for the blanket for less than a mini skein. I’ll be searching for fingering weight in the basket every time I visit their store.

We ended the day at Ben Franklin, a store where I always find random things that need to come home with me. Today it was a googly eye chip clip. How could I possibly say no to that? I also picked up some fat quarters to make some project bags or stuff in my drawer and forget I bought until I find them next year and make Kathleen take them.

It was a wonderful day in Winterset. I now need to go knit furiously until my yarn diet is in the black. I would grab some pretzels to snack on, but the bag is giving me a dirty look.