I woke up ridiculously early Saturday morning so that I could be on the first ferry over to the mainland to attend Fibres West. This was my 4th fibre festival ever, my first year attending this event, and so far the largest fibre festival I have been to.
...Thank you so very much to Julia for picking me up from the ferry and Holly for bringing me back (a coffee is surely not payment enough!).
For me the highlights were...
I had the great pleasure of meeting Felicia Lo and all of her Sweet Georgia Yarn. It seems this yarn hasn't made it over to the Island because I had only heard of it but never seen it. It was nice to see something fresh, the colours were vibrant and so appealing. Everything was displayed neatly on white shelving, no bins to route through or bags to open, just single rows of yarn and fibre grouped by blend and weight. It was such a relief to see such care put into presentation. I purchased 3 skeins of the Tough Love Sock in Cayenne, a blend of 80% superwash merino wool and 20% nylon in a fantastic rusty colour. By the time I had made up my mind this yarn had sold out so I am patiently waiting for it to be dyed and dried and shipped straight to my house!
Indigo Moon
I was sad not to see Trish at the Fest but I guess it was good enough to be surrounded by her lovely yarns. As always the yarns are phenomenal, it's like having a friend with the same taste as you, and then having that friend dye your yarn. I just love all of it! I was, as always, on a budget so I didn't walk away with any Indigo Moon Yarn this time which was okay because my last big yarn purchase was 5 skeins of Silken Pleasures in Teal at the Victoria Fibre Festival last June. I'm still knitting with it and it is heavenly.
I was sad not to see Trish at the Fest but I guess it was good enough to be surrounded by her lovely yarns. As always the yarns are phenomenal, it's like having a friend with the same taste as you, and then having that friend dye your yarn. I just love all of it! I was, as always, on a budget so I didn't walk away with any Indigo Moon Yarn this time which was okay because my last big yarn purchase was 5 skeins of Silken Pleasures in Teal at the Victoria Fibre Festival last June. I'm still knitting with it and it is heavenly.
...I am so incredibly picky about colour, so picky in fact that I often sacrifice softness and blend for that perfect colour, even if the yarn is scratchy and terrible. For this reason I really appreciate independent dyers like Felicia Lo and Trish Moon, it may cost you a little more than commercially dyed yarns but the quality and handle of their yarns paired with such inspiring colours means you don't have to compromise. The only difficulty I had was choosing which colour to buy!
Sweet Georgia is on the island. :) And it really *is* fabulous, isn't it? :)
ReplyDeleteHow could I have missed it??? You'll have to tell me where!
ReplyDeleteHi Jane
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the wonderful mention on your blog...you really are too kind! I missed being at FibresWest and plan to be there next year...though it'll be on my birthday so we'll see how that goes :) You probably saw all the new colourways in the Silken Pleasures ...I went a little crazy with the dyepots :) Hope to see you soon ...happy knitting!
Hi Jane! It was so nice to have met you and your friends last Saturday. Your Cayenne yarn is dyed and dried and should get to you before the end of the week! :)
ReplyDelete