March 23, 2015

2015 Fiber Fest

I've reviewed all the yarn shops I've been to, but if you are keeping track, that is only three. With the lack of choices of places to shop an event like Fiber Fest is great opportunity to spend some money and see what is really out there.

I went with my family on Saturday to the Irving Convention Center and for a mere $5 you can get into the vendor hall. I guess from the few other conventions I have attended (A-kon and Gencon) I expected it to be a larger affair. After spending the better part of the day there, I was amazed at the amount of yarn, crafts, and people in there.
This is the full vendor hall. A good size and PACKED with yarn.
As a crochet person, I did feel a tiny bit left out. Most vendors carried knitting items, had knitting patterns and knitted samples. Clearly I am missing out. I did manage to find the no.10 crochet hook I wanted though and I did see a one or two crochet samples worked up, but saw no patterns at all. Thank goodness that yarn is universal.

I was also absolutely amazed at the amount of booths selling raw fiber and spinning items. That is a whole realm of yarn crafting that I cannot even fathom getting into. Especially not when there is no lack of amazingly cool yarns ready for purchase.
Yarn, as far as the eye can see.
I wanted to mention that Cascade Yarns, whom I love for their very reasonable prices and great quality, had a booth and were helpful in choosing the best yarn from their array for a few projects I might like to tackle in the future. They are on the far right in that picture above.

Speaking of which, I wanted to share a few vendors in particular that I really liked.

Tumbleweed Yarn, I was drawn to mostly because of the names of the yarns at first, which are all Texas towns, so I had to take a closer look at Marfa. Once I was in the booth, I really started to appreciate the colorways she had. I was looking for a sport weight yarn, which nearly no one had, but I took her card to keep an eye on as she mentioned they might be working on some in the future.

Miss Babs was probably one of the largest booths in the hall. Not only that, it was packed with a ton of yarn. They also had giant skeins of yarn for really excellent prices, talking 560 yards for $38! This booth was also one of the few to have sport weight yarns in it. These also came in giant skeins of 700 yards for $44, but as I needed four of the same colorway for the project I had in mind, I did not leave with any. I am going to keep an eye online though, as I might break down and get some from them eventually. I am pretty sure the one I was looking at was called Killington, but I cannot seem to find it online... odd. Both of my companions bought yarn from them on this trip and I feel like perhaps I missed out, but I can't justify buying yarn without a pattern for it. Especially when my stash is already so large.


Fishknits is the only booth I actually bought yarn from this weekend; shocking, I know. I got one skein of a yarn I fell in love with. I had gone in to the show wanting to get a sock yarn for some crochet socks (which I hear is a rare thing) and found their selection stunning. I ended up with a self striping fingering yarn in "Dark Side, No Moon". It is a superwash merino wool with a little nylon and a tiny bit of "Stellina" which gives it just a hint of sparkle. Can't wait to use it. 

This was a great little show and I can only hope that it persists and grows. Perhaps next year I will stick around longer and join some of the classes they had going on. Between seeing all the creative people, quite a few of which had odd colored hair like me, all the raffles and door prizes, demonstrations and selection, and free cake, I will for sure be back again next year.