Knit Wear Fiber Art Experience 2012

         Start your fall off right by joining me in Fort Collins this Sunday for a gem of an annual event called  KnitWear.   Part of the Lincoln Center annual ArtWear event that coincides each year with Fashion Week in New York,  KnitWear market is a one day celebration of fiber, showcasing some of the local yarn / fiber producers from our region.   Besides the great vendors, there are free demonstrations scheduled all day.

 
       My demo is of techniques developed to knit with the beautiful Recycled Sari Silk ribbon from Treenway Silks (a Colorado company!).  I spent some time this summer obsessed with this intriguing alternative fiber source which comes from co-ops in India where women sew together strips of gorgeous fabrics reclaimed from the sari garment industry.  The colors and textures are inspiring.  And the knitted  fabric is like nothing else I've seen.

 

        Sari Silk creates a unique garment every time.  You just have to try this one on.  I've got a small series of garments designed for the techniques. The first pattern will be up in the Ravelry shop soon.  I hear that a big shipment of the yarns is due in mid October,  just in time for gift knitting.

 

        While we are anxiously awaiting the Sari Silk ribbon yarns,  I'll also have my hand-dyed yarns, Just Beautiful Alpaca, and lots of shawls and garments to show you.  Plus some of my favorite yarn places are included in the vendor list like Brown Sheep Company,  Cowgirl Yarn,  and Lambspun.  So come along to KnitWear.  Spend a Sunday getting inspired.  Love to meet you there.

More Stories About Wool and Food

     The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival held treats for lovers of both fiber and food.  I taught two day long knitting workshops,  plus I had an entire day before my classes to tour the festival grounds and market.  I must have been thinking "green" as I couldn't resist adding a Greensleeves spindle and some Green Mountain Spinnery yarn to the market basket.  You'll see the yarn again soon as it  is destined for an Elizabeth Zimmermann design, the Three and One Sweater.

      An early morning cruise over to the sheep barn found this wooly one waiting for breakfast, and obliging the camera with a winsome pose.  Sorry BaaBaa, but I've already eaten all my cherry pie.  Dearie, your earrings are très cyberpunk!

 

     Right out side my classroom was the Future Farmers of America ice cream wagon.  A fresh strawberry sundae is perfect for lunch.  Hey! there's fruit and protein in there!

 

 The young ladies selling the treats thought is was pretty odd that I was taking pictures of my food and not of them, so I took this snap, promising to mention that they are members of the Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, chapter of the FFA.  There you go, girls.

      Getting to meet Carol Rhoades, famous spinner and instructor extraordinaire, was icing on the cake.  She is also the translator of many favorite knitting books that are in the Studio library.  Her class was just across the hall and I poked my head in a few times to watch the spinning wheels turn.

 Carol teaches all over the country and at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival every year.   Think I to myself, now wouldn't it be great to return and take a class with her there next year?    hmmmm......

Yarn Along the Rockies... here goes!

      Just a couple days left of the first annual Yarn Along the Rockies yarn shop crawl.  After being out teaching all last week, I'm caught up on sleep and ready to get going on the event.  I know I won't make it to all the shops but I can't resist getting to as many as possible and collecting those buttons!  What a great idea the shops came up with to alleviate the pain of having to turn in the stamped passport to be in the drawing, each shop giving out a button to pin on your Yarn Along the Rockies souvenir tote bag.

 

 I got my bag yesterday at Knit Knack in Arvada. Getting to give Gerri Bragdon a hug made my day.  Gerri was the one who got the ball rolling, literally, on this great event by stepping up to contact all the other yarn shop owners when it was all just a dream. The shop owners have been amazing, creative and organized, in pulling this all together. Brava!
     Last evening I walked the few short blocks to Wild Yarns to check in there.  Got another button!  Kelly had her resident button-making elf (Hi Norm ^-^) in back feverishly cranking out more buttons....the turnout for this event has been stupendous!  I bet local button making machine shops are wondering why there's been a run on button making machines this week.  What fun!
   So off I go to capture a few more buttons. Oh and I know some more goodies will be following me back to the studio.  Yarn Along the Rockies simply rocks!

Whirlwind Wisconsin Tour

    Just home from a whirlwind, week=long tour of Wisconsin.  From the beautiful North Woods country to Waunakee (the only one in the world), and from the fabulous Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival to Madison, I met hundreds of knitters and saw lots of dear friends.   And we knit..boy, did we knit.

 

      I taught two sessions of the miniature Nazo Vest workshop and over 60 knitters tackled this little puzzle.  I like nothing better than fielding questions, listening to knitters as they reason out the process and then watching the projects come off the needles.  Along with a Faroese Shawl workshop and a Lace Sampler workshop, the marvelous knitters of Wisconsin put me through my paces, and  it looks like I put them through their's as well.  Intrepid knitters all!

       All the while they made sure that I was well supplied with pie.   Have I told you all that I am absolutely crazy for good pie?  They've got it in Wisconsin!  

      Over the next few posts I'll cover the great events I attended on this trip, explore the ins and outs of some new techniques, and share the inspiration I always find on my travels.  For now I plan to sleep for a couple extra hours and knit on one of my favorite Elizabeth Zimmermann projects. Hmm which shall it be?

      You'll be hearing from me soon.....