Evanita Montalvo
- Jul 4
- 3 min read

Black Sheep Gathering 2024 - 50th Anniversary

This past weekend I attended the 50th Anniversary of Black Sheep Gathering. It was EPIC! I road down with my friend Charan which made the four hour trip down fly by quickly. Once we arrived we unloaded and set up the booth. It was cool seeing each vendor setting up with each one having their own style and methods of booth set up. Here's a peek at Charan's booth. He makes the most gorgeous textile inspired pottery!

Before the doors opened to the public on Friday I wandered around to take photos of all of the booths. Here's a peek at some of my favorite booths.

Jenkins Woodworking is one of my all time favorite vendors to stop by at Black Sheep Gathering. I always look forward to getting to catch up with Ed and Wanda and seeing all of the beautiful spindles that Ed makes. I love getting to hear the stories Ed tells about the various woods he comes across. This year was a pretty epic year for Jenkins with a ton of Jenkies planning to attend at the last minute. Thankfully they had a lot of help from their kids to run the booth. I loved seeing that Ed and Wanda were able to socialize a lot more than typical despite having a busy booth. It was also fun to see just how many vendors were spinning on Jenkins while in their own booths.

My first time at Black Sheep Gatherings I started a tradition where after I bought my first Jenkins I'd make a beeline over to Greenwood Fiberworks and buy some of her adorable little pigtail braids. The small colorful quantity is so perfect for getting to know your new spindle. This year a lot of folks followed suit and paired pigtails with their new Jenkins. It is always such a pleasure getting to catch up with Carolyn. He dyeing skills are incredible and her sense of color sings to my soul.

Skagit Woolen Works is one of the local to me mills. This was my first time getting to meet Jess and Anna in person. They are absolutely wonderful! In addition to their lovely assortment of beautifully prepped and dyed fibers they also had a small collection of Allen Berry spindles available. Allen is a local wood carver who does incredible work. The assortment of dyed colors give off an Andean vibe to me and I am looking forward to seeing which of their wools will be the best to work with for my Andean weaving.

I made sure to stop by Rosanna Diggs Embroidery to pick up some kits for my niece. Their kits are absolutely fantastic!

Dreaming Creek Fiber Arts had some gorgeously displayed locks and beautifully dyed semi solid wools that I was also thinking would be lovely for Andean weaving yarns.

Needing processing tools? Clemes and Clemes is the place to go! I ended up getting a pair of student cotton hand carders for making samples.

This was the very first festival that Little Skrunks has vended at and surely won't be the last! I had such a great time chatting with them and checking in every once in awhile to see what new things they had made. Their adorable little needle felted friends were so cute and full of so much personality! I adopted an adorable ladybuggie that was adorned with a cowboy hat. I'm currently on the hunt for a glass enclosure to keep this lil buggie nice and safe from other buggies that may wish to do her harm.