Waldo - A love of nature and a knack for weaving has landed Rose Whitehead and her fiber fabrications at the Folk Festival year after year.

Whitehead says "I usually end up hearing some of the music from this stage and some of the music from that stage over there. Background music is great."

But the road that leads to the festival is a long one for Whitehead.

"The fleeces that I'm using for the woven items are fleeces that were sheared not this spring, but the previous spring and they were washed and dyed and spun and woven over this past winter."

When creating her hats, slippers, or even coin purses... it's all local when it comes to Whitehead's products.

She gathers wool from local sheep farms and then dyes that wool with plants found in her own backyard.

From there, it's time to spin or felt the wool and Whitehead follows that up by weaving on a loom she has right in her living room.

After that it's time to cut out pieces and sew them together for the finished product.

But one of Whitehead's most popular pieces are her felted scarves, which require no sewing or weaving.

While her scarves may take the cake when it comes to sales, it's another product that holds the title of most unique.

"Then there's this bunny rabbit who hops across the floor."

That bunny rabbit is Mahitabelle and her fur provides an extra flare to hats.

Whitehead explains how she procures the fur from Mahitabelle, "Well what I do is brush her and save her fur and then her fur is spun into yarn."

But whether the materials come from sheep or rabbits.

"I provide them with high quality beautiful wearable art."

Whitehead says her products sell fast, so you might want to hit up her booth first at the American Folk Festival.

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