Yarn at the Northwest Chocolate Festival

I have been going to so many events. It's been fun, but also exhausting. I recently attended the last event I'll be going to for a while. The Northwest Chocolate Festival was interesting and tasty, but also very crowded. It was located right on a pier with a pretty view of the Puget Sound. They had chocolate vendors visiting from all over the world. In addition to chocolate, they also had other specialty items like hot sauce and jerky. I sampled both kangaroo jerky and alligator jerky. I enjoyed the former... not so much the latter.

Why am I talking about a chocolate festival on a fiber arts blog? Well, as luck would have it, I actually found yarn there! Stellar Alpacas had a selection of yarn and goodies for sale.

Vouge Knitting Live Seattle 2017: Megapost!

Fall has shaped up to be quite a busy season for me! I've been to at least one event each weekend, I'm working on several projects at once, and my day job is as busy as ever. I was lucky enough to go to Vogue Knitting Live last weekend... and I'm only just getting around to posting about it today!

This was such a cool event. I had heard about it when it came by a few years ago, but I didn't end up going. I made sure to snag my ticket early this year!

The event was filled with art, presentation, classes, booths, and fiber lovers of all ages and crafts. I saw lots of great crochet. I think the fine yarn world is doing a much better job of being inclusive of crochet these days.

There was soooooo much delightful yarn! I really had to contain myself. Look at the lovelies above from Mary Gavan Yarns, Knit Picks, and Third Piece.

I absolutely fell in love with the gradient yarns of The Blue Brick, and the dyer herself kindly posed for a picture. Unfortunately, I snoozed on the hank that I wanted. When I went back, it was gone! How exciting are the sparkles?

Nicky Epstein had a booth showcasing her large "Teatime Bears," as well as toy animals made by knitters who had followed her patterns.

Laurinda Reddig, a super friendly crochet designer who I previously met at Urban Craft Uprising, had a lovely selection of crochet pieces out to show.

Gina Rose Gallina, whose pineapple I blogged about previously, was there showing off some amazing and whimsical art. She took the time to chat with me and share tidbits about her process. She is so friendly!

Mandy Greer's art was a mix of many mediums, crochet included. The blue artwork was made by many hands and brought together by Mandy. Such a neat aesthetic!

More amazing art was showcased by Suzanne Tidwell, Carol Milne, Claire Taylor, and Gabriele Meyer.

At the end of the event there was a yarn drop, hosted by Rowan. I got to catch yarn as it fell from the ceiling! It was really fun to line up with all of the other yarn lovers. I managed to snag two skeins from the same dye lot!

After the event, my friends Claire, Suzanne, and Caroline all joined me at a coffee shop. We worked, chatted, and reviewed our loot.

I came away from the market with some lovely stitch markers and a case from Miss Purl. They can be used as either crochet or knitting markers. Isn't that cool!? I also splurged on a gorgeous skein of sparkle yarn from Fidalgo. It was such a great time! I'll definitely attend when it comes to Seattle again.

Wedgwood Art Festival 2016

Summer certainly is the time of festivals and fairs. My dear friend, Becca, and I recently stopped in at the Wedgwood Art Festival, a local gathering of artists and craftspeople in north Seattle. It was so nice to mill around the booths and chat. Of course, I had my fiber goggles on full blast, constantly searching for interesting things to show you. Want to see a few highlights?

On of the most notable booths at the fair was that of Judy Taylor and her brand, Little House Rugs. This woman is seriously impressive. I was lucky enough to catch her spinning. However, she also had latch hooked rugs, crochet, knitting, and felted items in her booth. She does it all!

Sarah Bak over at Sarah Bak Pottery had some lovely work on display, not least of which was a selection of glorious ceramic buttons! It is so hard to find really unique buttons, and hers are simply lovely. I may have ended up with a delightful button that I just couldn't part with...

Finally, I was enchanted by the work of Doris Kanz for her brand, Art By Namaste. Her ethereal pieces are created by felting over silk garments to make truly unique items.

I hope your weekend was a wonderful as mine. Thanks for a great day, Becca!

Urban Craft Uprising Summer 2016 and Seattle Pride 2016

WOW. So, this past weekend was super busy and very fun! I am so fortunate to live in a wonderful city with so many opportunities to get out and about.

The first event I went to was Urban Craft Uprising's 2016 summer show. I've been to UCU a few times in the past, so this year I decided to skip getting up early and waiting for a grab bag. I think I'll go stand in line again come the winter show, though. I missed having the thrill of opening that mystery bag full of goodies!

There weren't as many fiber offerings this year as there have been in the past, but they did have a bunch of new vendors and it was fun to see new types of crafts. People are endlessly creative! It's beautiful. Here are a few highlights.

By the time I got there in the afternoon the crowd had thinned out a little. It was nice and leisurely.

One of the first awesome fiber booths that I visited was Loome. What a cool tool! I'm on a limited budget right now but I couldn't help buying one for myself. I'll just share introductory pictures today because I want to spend an entire blog post sharing my upcoming Loome experiments with you.

Look at those fun pom poms and tassels!

Diana was back again with her lovely line of jewelry, MOSS. I really respect threadies; that is, crocheters who love to work with thread. Her jewelry is just lovely. You gotta love those doilies, too!

I found more fiber jewelry, including this funky knit chain scarves, over at Twyla Dill Design.

This isn't fiber art, but I can't resist sharing it with you. Fernworks had stunning artwork and jewelry for sale. It was so multidimensional, with layers inside each piece. 

More than a few items were space themed. Look at these necklaces! It's not enough that I have a space dress, space leggings, space skirt, space purse, space scarf, and space earrings... I need one of these necklaces, too!

Wonderful.

This weekend also held the annual Pride celebration here in Seattle. I attended both the Capitol Hill Pride street fair on Saturday, the same day I went to Urban Craft Uprising, and also the parade and various parties on Sunday. 

At Capitol Hill Pride this lovely, friendly woman was selling crochet festival wear. Look at her amazing rainbow shorts!

Here is a shot of the start of the parade on Sunday. I didn't take more pictures because I was too busy having fun! 

I hope your weekend was as amazing as mine was. Between all of the friends and fun I'm afraid I didn't get much crocheting done! I am almost done with a pattern and I am super excited to send it to testing...

Knit Fit 2015

How was your weekend? Mine was great! I had a chance to go to a special annual Seattle fiber event called Knit Fit with some good friends. I am so very lucky to live in an area where fiber culture is alive and strong. Sooz, Lindley, Hilary, and I met for a delicious lunch and a visit to the fiber market at Knit Fit.
There were also knitting classes available, but I didn't catch any this time around. Sooz enjoyed her classes on knitting for health and Portuguese knitting. There weren't any crochet classes offered. Maybe I should change that? :p It's sometimes hard to go to events that exclude crochet, even now that I know how to knit. However, nothing will change unless folks like you and me get out there and change it. We love fiber, too!

Wow, I have digressed... Here's a bit about my time at the market. I met some super awesome people!

One of the first booths I stopped at belonged to Three Fates Yarns, who I've interviewed here on the blog. 

 Just look at those gorgeous colors!

I also met and chatted with Dave of Dave Yocom's Wood Creations. His yarn bowls are absolutely lovely and he makes them all himself. Such a friendly and talented guy!

Look at this intensely creative interactive wall put up by Hazel Knits. They had each yarn color on a magnet so that you could make your own color scheme easily. So neat!

I was so happy to finally meet Cory Ellen Boberg of Indie Knits. She's simultaneously a local legend and a friend of those in my fiber circles, and she was every bit as wonderful as I had heard. 

Cory had many inspiring knitting patterns available for purchase at the market.

After looking for evidence of crochet all day and wondering if I'd have to leave disappointed, Meg ran in from the rain wearing one of her personally designed dresses.

Look how lovely the crochet elements are!

It was a terrific time all around. I am thinking about how I might want to get involved next year. Hmmm... In the meantime, here's one last picture. It's a weird one that I took after coming in from the cold. My camera lens was all foggy!