FibreFest North: Fibrefest North: Summary

(image heavy post)

Back at the end of April, I was a participant at a technology conference called HickTech, held here in my city. What some of us knew was that this wasn’t just a technology conference. Emma thought it would be cool to have a birthday party and invite some of her geeky friends: HickTech grew out of that. (You know the line of thinking: “Hm...my birthday is coming up and it would be fun to have party. I know! Why don’t I organize a conference and invite my friends to come and present programs! What a blast!”)

Partway through the HickTech presentations, I wondered what I’d be doing on my birthday, and decided it would be nice to get a half-dozen of my knitting and spinning buddies together. Just a stressfree getaway at a nice venue—a break from the day-to-day routine of life. A couple of days of not having to cook meals; some opportunities to share techniques; get some help with a knitting problem. Fibrefest North grew out of that idea. Thanks to Emma for the inspiration, and to Emma and Maryann for encouraging me to go ahead with the idea. I’m embarrassed to say that I forgot to thank them during the event, so am doing so now.

In the end, a baker’s-dozen knitters and spinners, and a half-dozen husbands, gathered at the Waterview Resort for a couple of days of informal learning, and just hangin’ out. Lorraine taught Mona to spindlespin. Blogless Pat decided to try her hand at laceknitting. Buffy showed some of us how to “knit” bobbles with a crochet hook. Laurie taught a few people to read laceknitting charts.

Angelika presented an informative tour of the Lindenhof Wool Mill, running each piece of machinery and explaining its role in the process from fleece to skeined yarn. We stayed at the mill for knitting, conversation, and refreshments. Many thanks to Angelika for interrupting the production schedule to get the mill tidied up for visitors and to prepare for the tour.

Thanks also to the vendors who brought yarns, patterns, needles and buttons. Given that there was no theme or classes to guide them in selecting what to bring, I thought we had good variety with little overlap.

Thanks also to those who contributed items for inclusion in the participants’ “Welcome” package and for door prizes. As it turned out, there were more prizes than participants, so we had 2 rounds of draws. (What a happy dilemma.)

Finally, thanks to the staff at the Waterview Resort for keeping us warm and well-fed.

All in all, a successful and enjoyable time for all, I think. A great location, splendid weather, wonderful people, lots of laughter. See you all in October 2008.

Looking across the lake from the motel's waterfront. It was a misty Saturday morning.