Category: Yarn Projects

For the Love of Fiber Conference

Yesterday, I spent a few hours at the local Ramada Inn attending the “For the Love of Fiber” Conference. This day-long conference was organized by four local “fiber” guilds: Center Knitters Guild, Centre Spinners, Nittany Valley Embroiderers Guild and the State College Weavers Guild.

What an explosion of color and beautiful samples of knitted, embroidered and woven projects. Here are some photos of the displays and demonstrations:

Just a small sampling of the 19 merchants who had beautiful items to sell.
Spinning Demonstrations.
Weavers working on the Sheep-to-Shawl demonstration.
Another weaving in progress.
The Weavers Guild had beautiful samples too!
The Embroiderers Guild members must have the best eyesight for all the tiny stitches.
I was able to track down one of the few yarns available in silk. Of course, the same dye lot produced two different colors determined by where they were in the vat. I hope it will make a lovely scarf but I’ll need to learn how to alternate skeins so they blend together.

There were many samples of knitted and woven items, from scarves to sweaters. NONE of them were for sale…only the yarn. Then I found the shawl below that blew me away!

I would have bought this shawl on the spot but…NO…I could only buy the kit and pattern!
The Pattern.
The Kit.

Geez…like I needed another project, but this really seemed like a fun challenge. Luckily, the vendor selling the kit has a shop just up the road and is available to answer questions! Maybe I’ll be able to wear the finished product for next Christmas!

When I got home I remembered I got rid of all my mother’s knitting needles and no longer had any reference books about knitting on my shelf! Amazon saved the day!

A basic book to remind me of the few things I know.
All the little do-dads that I don’t know if I need.
Of course, needles now look like this!

If any of you out there are knitters, I’ll try to share how it goes…but I suspect it will a long slog!