Amazing SAFF Weekend: Part 3

Vendors, yarn, critters and really cool people...

Years ago, I worked retail in a shopping mall.  SAFF is a little like the mall at Christmas--busy, exciting and occasionally crowded. With super crafty fiber artists!

I talked indigo with a lot of folks, including one who has already sent me seeds from her indigo plants (I can't wait to plant them, Jamie!)!  Eileen, who is a scientist (and whose business card I can't find) told me all about her experiments with indigo and indirubin (the red in indigo). Fascinating stuff and her dyed cloth was so pretty!

Here is Ashley, aka The Feisty Redhead. She was the tech editor for my Carousel Hat pattern and she's so talented and such a sweetheart that I have become one of her groupies. She has a blog, a page on Craftsy with great tutorials, and a new book!

Me with The "Feisty" Redhead. Except she's as sweet as can be!

When you're at a craft show or fiber festival, you get to meet your neighbors, of course.  On one side was Brooks Farm Yarn. I swear I drooled every time I walked by. Their yarn has a sheen to it that is amazing, plus, SQUISHY!

Brooks Farm Trio. Beautiful yarn--this will grow up to be an amazing new design!

On the other side of us, the gals from Tangled Up in Wool were busy selling felting supplies all weekend. This sort of craft is definitely above my pay grade, but they also teach classes, so there's hope for me yet.

Sandy and Kristin from Tangled Up in Wool.  It was like having two "Ginger the Movie Star" characters in our own version of Gilligan's Island. Since they stayed at our hotel, we also saw them early in the morning at breakfast. Yep, gorgeous then, too.

The activity chez nous at Bird Mountain Creations was always interesting!

Pat was busy in the booth--helping folks dye their own sock yarn and maybe, just maybe, getting some weaving done on the triangle loom. Also, greeting folks and making them smile. Tutus are always in style!

My friend at LYDIA Yarns was able to get a booth due to a last-minute cancellation. Word has it that there is a waiting list 40-50 vendors long to get in to SAFF, so yeah, she got that yarn up the road! And it was all gorgeous as usual...

LYDIA!!! I spy a Dagny hat!!

Across the aisle from me was Bijou Basin Ranch. Confession: every time I walked by on the way to the stairs, I fondled the things made from Yak down. Sorry about the smudges, y'all.

Bijou Basin Ranch, home of this 100% Pure Yak Down yarn, which I had to bring home. (I got cranberry!)

Also across the aisle from me was RoseSpring Farm. Look for them at The Fiber Festival of New England this weekend. Tell them Tamara said hi, and sorry I forgot to snap a picture!

While on a mission on Saturday in the sales arena (up the hill from me--SAFF ain't small) I  stumbled across this, the cutest booth at the show. I love the shutters, and the door and the twinkly lights. The seriously fancy yarns were pretty amazing, too! The ladies from Camelid Cottage happen to be hosting the Georgia Fiber Fest next year, so mark your calendars!

Camelid Cottage. So so so cute!!

Being a fiber fair, of course there were animals. I did not, however get to venture to the barn. I did see some animals, though, including Piper the Pom, who is adorable and has her own FB page. She smiled at the camera when I told her I was taking a pic. What? I thought everyone befriended dogs everywhere they went!

Alpaca! Pomeranian! Fluffy bunnies!

I can't decide what was my favorite part of the whole weekend--it was really all so much fun!

Did you make it to a fiber festival this year? What was YOUR favorite part?

Amazing SAFF Weekend: Part 2

SAFF was awesome, see?

L-R, top row: 1.My knit-mobile for the trip was appropriately decked out. 2. Mountain skies? Yes, please!  3. Me and Pat Lorenz, somehow color-coordinating, ready for SAFF shoppers! 4. Claudia and her awesome sock yarn.

L-R, bottom row: 1. Thank you for buying my kits, Corinne!!! xoxox  2. I met Starr at last year's Knit Inn and decided she fit right in. So cool to see her again! 3. One of the SAFF volunteers in THE skirt. 4. The colors, oh my!!

The sunsets, the fall foliage, the knitwear (just look at that skirt! "Knit a skirt" went to the top of my to-do list when I walked in and saw this) and of course the friends, all made it so much fun. 

Claudia came up from Charleston to shop and take classes and dye her own sock yarn (red, white and blue--I can't wait to see how the socks turn out!) in the Bird Mountain Creations booth (more on that next time). Corinne has the distinction of being my very first customer! After connecting via social media, it was so lovely to finally meet her. Since we live near each other, we will do lunch soon. And probably knit.

Starr took my Vintage Winter Shawl class at the SC Knitting Guild's 2014 Knit Inn last February, and we have since kept up with each other on Facebook.  I love that she came to see me...and she bought a kit, too!

She wins Denim Jacket.

Wendy and me--SAFF selfie :)

Wendy from Spinsjal came to SAFF in the coolest jean jacket I've ever seen. She's always got something brewing on her blog and I wish we'd had more time to chat!!

Pat from Bird Mountain Creations was as much fun to hang out with all weekend as I expected. I love her zest for living and her sense of excitement that she carries around with her everywhere. She's never met a stranger and is one of the most generous people I know. She is an encourager and a bright light in a dark world. Plus, tutus.

What a weekend, right? And I've only just scratched the surface. Next time I'll show you sock yarn dying in action and introduce you to some of the lovely vendors (of which there were many!).

Amazing SAFF Weekend: Part 1

The first day, before opening. Vendors scurrying to make it all perfect before the doors open on SAFF 2014!

This is the definition of frustration: realizing that you only got pics of about half the cool people you met at the fiber festival. It was all so full-blown and fantastic, that I got caught up in the moments and forgot to pull out the camera as much as I would have liked.  On the one hand, this stinks because there are some really great people that I would love to have been able to show you and now I can't. On the other hand, thank goodness I DID get caught up in the moments, because, hello??? SAFF!!!! It was great and since one day last year led to two blog posts, you should be prepared for more this year. After all, I was there for 3 days and part of one evening. And that's a lot of SAFF, I'm telling ya.

Because of the long weekend of intense work and dusty mountain air, today I'm feeling slightly less spry than average (translation: I'm exhausted and pretty much just want to lie on the sofa and stream British detective shows on Netflix. All day.)  So I'm going to give you a quick summary of my Amazing SAFF Weekend, move my laundry to the dryer, pour myself some more iced tea and find the TV remote.

In short: It was pretty fabulous! Going for one day as a shopper was fun, but having the privilege to be a vendor was over-the-top. I loved getting to know some of the other vendors, plus having a location for folks to find me was super convenient. I met new people, saw old friends, and believe it or not, ran into the mom of my daughter's best friend from dance class, circa 2003! It made for a very special trip.

The night before opening day: the setup!

I also managed to sell some kits and patterns and I won't lie: that felt pretty good.  A lot of hard work went into preparing it all and it humbles me to know that people were willing to add those kits and patterns to their Special SAFF Purchases of Awesomeness. I sincerely hope they enjoy knitting their projects up as much as I did putting it together for them.

Thank you so much, kind knitters and indigo enthusiasts, for your vote of confidence in me. The only thing that kept me from hugging ALL of you was the vague semblance of professional cool that I was trying to maintain.

Stay tuned for much more about my SAFF 2014 adventures. I have much to tell and more to show but right now I hear the sofa calling my name...

Tutorial: Add a Zipper and Lining to Your Knitted Bag

Y'all. I am not a seamstress. I have great respect for them, but I am not one of them. I have always wanted to learn to quilt, no doubt due to the genetic code relating me to this marvelous quilter. When I realized that sewing was not really my thing, I decided I would knit quilts, which is crazy and, as it turns out, totally do-able.  That, however, is a blog post for another day.

Today is about using the skills you have to make things. Not being a seamstress, adding a lining to a knitted bag first sounded pretty daunting, but all it takes is few simple steps, some fabric, thread, a sewing needle and a zipper. If I can do it, so can you!

This applies to those of you who might purchase a certain pattern available today for the first time, or anyone who has ever knitted a bag and thought, If I don't line that, I'm in big trouble.

Step 1: Knit your bag. You'll want to have taken care of any blocking or weaving in ends before you get to the zipper + lining stage. The bag shown is a small, flat accessory bag, but you can add linings and zippers to larger bags as well. Just size it all up!

Step 2: Add a zipper like this:

Step 3: Sew a lining by hand (or by machine, if you have access to a teenager with a sewing machine and the mad skills to use one). In some cases your lining fabric might need to be trimmed to size. If that fabric is hand-dyed Shibori tie-dye indigo, save the scraps and make something small.

Step 4: Add the lining to the bag. Remember how you folded down the top edges of the lining? Pin it in to the bag and sew to the zipper so you will have a hem in one easy step (along with a lining sewn to a zipper). The end of the zipper (they always seem too big, but I might be overcompensating when I buy them. Hush.) will need to be tucked down in between the bag and the lining. Out of sight, out of mind.

Step 5: Enjoy! I also add a tassel or zipper pull to the end of my zipper. Some choices in that department include: a tassel, some i-cord, a crochet chain, and a braid. Also a post for another day!

I hope this brief, very amateur foray into sewing was helpful for you. My apologies to the talented seamstresses out there who might have cringed through this tutorial, but this is for those of us who knit our quilts, remember?

The patterns for the bags pictured will be available soon in my Ravelry shop, if you haven't already bought yours at SAFF!