Last month was the second annual Knit City, Vancouver’s most splendid fibre festival. The weekend event was important to me for several reasons.
First, inspired by the responses people conveyed to me after I spoke at the kick-off party at last year’s event, I developed a new class and taught crochet for the first time in years. I usually avoid teaching crochet, because I find it the most stressful thing in my crafty career. There’s always the one student who refuses to believe they can do it – the therapy most teachers provide their students during a crafts class is truly amazing to me. I do not have the patience to do it while teaching a craft. I have infinite patience to talk about struggling and feelings in a Mighty Ugly workshop, which is why I like to do those as frequently as possible, but not when teaching a skill that is supposed to be done “rightâ€.
Anyway, so I developed a class to teach crochet specifically to people who already know how to knit, and I loved teaching this class. It was a beginner class, but not for yarn beginners! I solved my teaching problem by avoiding having to start from scratch. And at least one of my students has gone on a bender making granny squares, so I think crochet was actually learned, without pain. I’m eager to teach this class again!
Second, Knit City is simply fun. Yarn-lovers from all over British Columbia (and beyond!) came for the weekend, and we all know that a few hundred yarn-lovers in a room is a guaranteed good time.
And third, I made took a class with Kim McBrien to make a duct-tape dress form! My friend Joanne and I got to know each other a lot more… intimately over the course of those three hours. I still haven’t finished my form (naturally), but I’m excited to use it, especially for sewing.
I had big plans for an epic recap of this event, but since it was a month ago, I’m going to do it quick. I already can’t wait for next year’s Knit City.
I fell head over heals in love with Sweet Fiber yarns. They are stunning. So much so that I deviated from my usual grey or greyish-purple fare and bought some of this green-brown yarn to make myself a sweater. Love love love.
And here I am in various stages of duct tape. In the end, that silver was WAY TOO SHINY. I’m doing the final layer of tape in a houndstooth tape, and it’s looking very snazzy. Pics to come when I’m done.
