The Happiness of Handcraft: Experiencing Fiber Events
Exploring Wool Festivals and Crafting Communities
It has been an incredibly busy couple of months! In the most wonderful of ways. I have had the great privilege to attend multiple wool and yarn events, both as an attendee (let’s be real… a shopper), and also as a vendor with Storyteller Stitchery. I’ll share the extremely abridged summary with you.
October saw us attend Tempe Night Market, a local night market with other Arizona vendors and makers. We traveled from Arizona to New York, to attend Wool & Folk, Cakeapalooza and of course, New York Sheep and Wool festival, which was definitely the highlight of the month (possibly highlight of the year?)! I took a 2 day workshop on wet felting botanical sculptures with the incredibly talented textiles artist, Mallory Zondag.
The day we returned from New York, we immediately drove home from the airport and packed up Storyteller Stitchery to head to Interweave Yarnfest in Mesa, AZ. That was an inaugral event, with 3 fun days as a vendor at the marketplace. There event was a mix of yarn, art, and beading classes and vendors. We don’t have many yarn events in Arizona so it was wonderful to attend a local event and meet lots of new yarn-loving friends.
November included a wonderful trip to Pomona, California, where we gathered with many other vendors for the wonderful inaugral event: SoCal Fiber Fair. Nancy and her team organized a beautiful event! It felt like celebration of the fiber arts community with lots of fun details and events, such as scavenger hunts and fashion shows. We absolutely loved being part of this event and plan to be back next year!
Thanksgiving weekend, we attended at a local Makers Market for Shop Small Saturday, at an event called Phoenix Flea.
I had intended to write detailed posts about the fiber events, sharing what we did, places we visited, and people we met. Alas, the prep work between each event dominated all of my time. You may have noticed that one result of this was a deep neglect of this lovely Substack space. This was unintentional - I adore this special Substack community and the opportunity to share and connect with each other. Now that we are through the swirl of events (and event preparation) from the past 6 weeks, I plan to be much more active here in our little corner of Substack.
So rather than writing in detail about each event as I had initially planned to do, I thought it might be fun to instead share some general observations and notes, made while attending fiber festivals (spoiler alert - I adore fiber events so this may read like a love letter of sorts to the fiber community).
Taking classes at fiber events is highly recommended! There are so many knowledgeable and skilled fiber artists willing to share their expertise. Learning from others at these classes makes a huge difference in skills, and is so much fun to be among other fiber artists, learning and sharing. It can be difficult to find workshops outside of a fiber event (especially on the west coast!), so they are a fantastic opportunity to attend classes.
Some of the (partially complete) felted items I made during Mallory’s amazing class at NY Sheep & Wool Festival. Wool is generally underappreciated as the magical medium that it is! Nature gifts us this this special material, given through beautiful little personalities in the form of sheep, alpaca, and others. With this medium we can spin yarn to knit, crochet and weave, we can dye it a rainbow of colors, using many different techniques, we can felt it to make at and sculptures for fun or practical purposes (and often both), we can clothe ourselves in this magical natural material that helps to regulate temperature. And so many more amazing things! Going to a wool festival that includes some little wooly friends that you can visit, really helps reframe and renew your appreciation in the absolute magic and special qualities of wool.
Some of the woolly cuties at New York Sheep & Wool Festival There are many small businesses within this community, yet they are so unique! Even within the indie dyer space, you could visit 20 different hand-dyed yarn vendors one after another, and their yarns will be different through the color choices the dyer makes, the dye application, the yarn bases they offer, and the stories they choose to tell through the yarn they produce. This is wonderful! I have dyed yarn since 2006 but I am always learning and feeling inspired to create new and different yarn and fiber. I genuinely think we are a greater community when we connect with each other, share best practices and techniques, and offer our products knowing that there is space for all of us.
Along those lines… there is no one way or correct way to do things in fiber arts! There are, of course, some best practices that will avoid mistakes (such as accidentally felting wool), or some requirements (such as using heat and acid to set acid dyes). But outside of those few very specific rules that should generally be followed, there are an abundance of ways to do something and this makes it such an exploratory and FUN artistic pursuit! “What happens if I do this” is such a freeing approach to fiber arts, whether it is dyeing, weaving, spinning, knitting, crochet, or any other medium! From that place you will always learn something - at the basic level, either you love the result or don’t, but often it leads to thoughts of “wow that is interesting! Hmm I wonder what would happen if I try this!“
Fiber arts are for everyone. Whatever label or category you want to try to assign to people… it is irrelevant. The act of making something and creating beauty, art, and functional pieces, is something we all benefit from.
There are lots of cool people making amazing fiber arts tools and materials that you may never hear of in your regular circles… but going to a fiber event opens up a world of new products, tools, materials, and small businesses.
It feels really, really good to attend events and connect with others. Even as an introvert.
Some events have great food options and some… don’t. So pack snacks, just in case.
From a practical perspective… wear comfortable shoes. And check the weather to dress appropriately. This should of course include whatever handmade items you want to wear, but make sure you have layers and possible a raincoat, too, especially if it is an outdoor event.
New York Sheep & Wool festival Don’t feel intimidated to try new things. There will always be a variety of experiences in workshops and classes, for example, with absolute beginners through to people that have been doing it for 40+ years. Don’t compare yourself to others or talk yourself out of trying something new or joining in because you are worried that you don’t know as much as other folks. That doesn’t matter. Join in, have fun, and learn new things! Even those folks with 40+ years of experience continually learn new techniques, or tips and tricks. Show up and have fun!
If you are interested in fiber arts, I highly recommend getting out in your community and attending events if possible. And if you are attending an event where Storyteller Stitchery is a vendor, please pop by and say Hi! I love meeting new folks and will take any opportunity I can get to connect with our Substack community.
Curious which events we’re planning to be at? Check the Events page on the website. I update it regularly as we confirm new events.
I love your observations and envy your experiences you've shared here. Fiber events are such a joy!