Fiber Feel Day

The LYDIA booth. Photo by the awesome Lynn Dukes.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to be a Yarn Minion to the lovely and gracious Angela, owner of LYDIA Yarns, LLC for the 2nd annual Fiber Feel Day in Asheville, NC.  This event is sponsored by Local Cloth, a cooperative of fiber farmers (think sheep and alpacas) in the Western North Carolina/Upstate South Carolina area.

There were vendors with fleeces, with roving, with yarn and all sorts of things made from fiber--clothing, jewelry, rugs and more.  The weather was perfect (you really can't beat those cool mountain breezes on a June day!) and the shoppers and fellow vendors were friendly and pleasant.  It was great fun!

Sheep!

Baby lamb. One day old!

The flowers were so pretty.

So many flowers!

My latest pattern made its debut! Look for it in a kit available soon from LYDIA Yarn!

Vendors, shoppers, and a gorgeous mountain day.

Me and Roscoe, our cutie-pie mascot.

Knit Inn 2014

On February 7-9, it was my privilege once again to attend the SC Knitting Guild's annual Knit Inn.  As always there were a lot of laughs, a lot of knitting, and many memories to cherish (or not, depending on your perspective, and if you hear the "cookie tantrum" story, trust me, it's very much exaggerated).

This year I again taught the Vintage Winter Shawl class, which is SO much fun to teach!  There were several finished shawls from last year's class in attendance and the lovely knitters who brought them made me feel like a Rock Star Teacher for sure.

The best part of any Knit Inn weekend for me is connecting with old friends and making new ones, and this year was off the charts fabulous in that department.

Until next year, y'all...keep on knitting!

My First Trip to SAFF, part 2: Before it's yarn, it's fiber...

...and before it's fiber, it's sheep! 

Or maybe it's alpaca, as shown here enduring a friendly pat from one of my pals--the brave pal, who pet an alpaca.

SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) is less about knitting and more about becoming a better yarn consumer.  It also helps you become a better consumer overall.  I realize I was only there one day, but it made a big impression on me.

Having had a couple of weeks to develop some hindsight about my trip, I look back now and realize that one of my biggest takeaways is a finer appreciation for all that it takes to make a simple skein of yarn.  It helped immeasurably that one of my activities that weekend was a class on using the Turkish spindle.  Whereas before I never looked twice at roving or bats of un-spun wool, this time I paid attention.  I was charged with the task of not only buying a Turkish spindle for class, but also in finding roving--but not just any kind.  I needed BFL, which for the "Un-Spun" among us sounds like it abbreviates something nefarious.  BFL is Bluefaced Leicester, named after the sheep breed from which it is sheared, and it is an excellent fiber to use as a beginner due to its long staple. Or so I was told.  Being as I am still a rank beginner, I wouldn't know any different!

I found some seriously gorgeous BFL at Gale's booth.  She had some stunning colorways in her hand-dyed roving!  I ended up with these that looked like sheep :)

My gorgeous BFL!

Ready to get this party started!

I mentioned in an earlier post about the amazing spindles made by Subterranean Woodworks.  Mine is lovely, isn't it?  It did NOT come with a guarantee that I would be a natural at spinning, however.  (If you're listening, guys, you might want to think of adding that bit of magic to your product line.  It's too late for me, but others will benefit in the future. Just promise you'll think about it.)

They tell me that "thick and thin" yarn is premium stuff that costs way more at yarn shops.   Y'all, spinning "thick and thin" is SO easy!  It's getting it to be uniform and just one (or even just TWO!) yarn weights at once that is incredibly hard....at least for me.  As you can see, most of our class--made up of members of the Flowertown Knitting Guild, a super-talented bunch-- seemed to have gotten the hang of it (or the spin of it, as the case may be!) after several hours.

The bottom line is this: If you think that everything starts with the finished product you see on a store shelf, then a trip to SAFF next year will do you a world of good.  You'll meet small farmers (well, they weren't all short, but most of them had small farms...hahaha) and business owners that operate on a scale that won't put them on the top 100 sellers on Amazon.  You'll see craftsmen and weavers and spinners and yes, even knitters.  Look past all the smiling faces and beautiful fiber and you'll see heart and passion and a love for the job that you won't find just anywhere.  This, I believe, will make you (and me) a better consumer.  I think that purchasing decisions are made a little differently when one considers the life, the passion and the talents, behind the item.

(For part 1 of this post, go HERE)