For many fiber lovers and fiberistas, this past week has been full of things to do... at least here in IL! The Chicagoland Yarn Crawl began on July 29th and continued through August 6th this year. While the Stitches Midwest event is often considered the 'final destination point' of the yarn crawl, it lasted from August 3rd to the 6th. Not to mention the CGOA conference was held in Itasca this year right before these events took place (July 26 - 29).
Decisions... Decisions... What to do?
I'm not one to miss the local yarn events, but this year I completely missed the Yarn Crawl as well as the CGOA conference due to scheduling conflicts *go ahead and insert dramatic boo hoo!*. Nevertheless, I was able to show my face at the Stitches event on Saturday. My original plan was to take a class (or two). Then I changed my mind and ended up spending several hours at the market place and working on my current spinning contract. I'm SO glad I did! I had a blast and also left with some awesome goodies...
My StitchesMidwest Goodies!
On the left is my favorite hank, it is 85% cashmere 15% silk and also hand beaded... just gorgeous! The next two hanks of yarn are from the same company (Artisanal Yarns). The brighter blue one is a blend of tencel/silk/rayon and the aqua one is a blend of linen/cotton. With my purchase, I received a bonus miniskein of chocolate brown cashmere/silk blend. Check out the Sirka counter I bought. It's a fancy looking tool to help you keep track of your progress during complex parts of patterns. Last but definitely not least is the fiber braid that I needed in my life lol. It is from KimDyesYarn: 50% superwash merino, 25% bamboo, 25% silk. I believe it is THE perfect colorway for autumn. I can't wait to spin it up! Not sure what to make as a result. Can you help me decide?
Besides shopping, I decided to do a little bit of booth crashing of some talented indiedyers and hand spinners. That was a LOT of fun! Some were old friends and others are now new friends! YAY! Of course, I met up with one of my favorite fiberistas: Emonie. She is also very, very talented and boy, can she sew! Emonie is equally awesome at spinning, knitting and a wonderful person to be around. I love hanging with her at the local events!
In the photo below, we were heading off to lunch during the event. Can't forget to eat, right?! (P.S. Emonie, I figured you wouldn't mind seeing your fabulous, glowing face on my blog, ha!)
Rewind: I would definitely come back to Stitches next year, BUT I would love to see more of my handspinning friends there and WITH their wheels/espinners. This year, I saw more fiber available for purchase than the previous years which was a bonus. Maybe, just maybe there will be a larger variety of spinning workshops for next year... Hmm, I'm thinking of proposals. In the meantime, with our wheels and presence, let's continue to raise awareness for handspinning! Thanks for swinging by, and I hope you have a FANTASTIC week!
Now it is your turn, Lovelies!
Handspinner Questions: Did you recover from TdF and/or what is your favorite fiber or fiber blend to spin?
Knitter/Crocheter Questions: Did you attend any fiber events recently? What was your favorite part? For fiber events, do you look prefer attending classes or marketplace shopping or both? If you could choose classes to attend, which types of class would you attend?
Fashion Questions: What should I make with the beautiful braid from KimDyesYarn? Hat? Gloves? Cowl? Or should I just 'pet' it?
General Question: Are there any yarn and fiber events that you look forward to every year?