Fiber Galore

STRING, a place for stringing together thoughts about…string.

Fiber Galore at Carolina FiberFest
On May 21st, 2011, my mom, my friend Jessica and I spent some time at Carolina FiberFest. The Fest celebrated its fifth year (!) and held true to its name as there was fiber galore.

We arrived right as the Fest opened to beat the crowds. I was pleased to see it had grown large enough to move from last year’s location to the Jim Graham Building at the NC Fairgrounds. As soon as we walked in the door the spinning demonstration was front and center. Spinning always captures my attention as I’m highly interested in learning, hopefully this year will be the one.

We spent the next two hours visiting the vendors along the three large isles. As we casually walked along we saw the skein and garment contest winners, a dyeing demonstration, tons of yarn and fiber, stuffed animals and a very large swift. All of the vendors were very friendly and inviting as we approached their booths.

I purchased a beautiful skein of Bright Blue Merino worsted yarn from Fiber Charmer who was very helpful. I wanted to make a baby cardigan but didn’t have a pattern in mind or know how much yardage I needed so she helped me find a pattern on Ravelry. I just finished the cardigan last night and am getting ready to block it!

We came across Triangle Weavers and Jessica sat down for a lesson. While there we signed up to win a free book called Knit One, Felt Too by Kathleen Taylor—my mom won! It has tons of small projects from hats to pillows and slippers. The group meets the fourth Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at Chapel Hill Senior Center. Check them out the next time you have a free Thursday evening.

Lanart, which creates products using alpaca, had very cute hats and animals. The vendor happily shared with us the details behind the booth signage of which tells a Peruvian story of a child’s journey in beautiful hand needle felt details.

I’ve already marked my calendar with a reminder for next year’s FiberFest with the hope of attending a class or two. Happy knitting everyone!

re-published courtesy of prancerwhoknits.com