Silent Auction - Fiber Fest

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

checking out the silent auction items and bids

Members and their friends donated items for the Silent Auction, which was displayed in the middle of the building. Items ranged from original, framed photographs, to fabric, to yarn, to weaving tools, and to finished shawls and baby sweater sets.

A bidding frenzy broke out as the time to close the auction neared. The Guild netted slightly over $400 from the auction. The money will be used to fund future Professional Development.

Members in Action - Fiber Fest

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Jeni V. prepares a sign to direction traffic to the Fiber Fest

Maia R. organizes up her materials for a demonstration

Mary H. takes time to do some shopping at Sheep Camp Quilts' booth

Laura B. answers a question about looms

Buttons A. places an order with a vendor

Mary H., Brenda H., Alice B., and Vicky B. visit in the "Dr. is IN" booth

Liz P. explains the vendor's thank you
card attached to a door prize 

Rachel B. and Cheryl O. chat while knitting and crocheting 

Weaving - Fiber Fest Display

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Laura B. brought several example of her weaving for display. The paper plates were prepared by Katheryn E. for the primitive weaving demonstration.

Colorful yarn ready for the primitive weaving demonstration. 

Laura also brought several types of looms and frames for the display: this simple wooden frame loom, the paper plate looms, a rigid heddle loom, and pin looms.

Fiber Animals - Fiber Fest Display

the sheep on display loved the attention they received at the Fiber Fest

Cinde P. made arrangements for the fiber animal display at the Fiber Fest. Two sheep, two goats, and three angora rabbits drew a lot of attention from both children and adults.

Winter had a large area, a carrot, and some rabbit kibble

Beginning Knitting - Fiber Fest Class

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Dana H. assists a young man with his stitches

Dana H. and Christy P. offerred a class in beginning knitting. They first had one young student, but one of the vendors came in a bit later for a lesson, too.

Dana supervises two beginning knitters. 

Yarn and needles for the class were provided by Christy P. and some of her suppliers. Thank you, Christy!

Beginning Crochet - Fiber Fest Class

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Mary H. teaches a gentleman how to crochet

Mary H. and Cheryl O. taught a class in beginning crochet at the Fiber Fest. They had one student, a gentleman who works but does not live in the community. He wanted something to do in the evenings in his motel room. 

He caught on to the craft quickly and purchased a kit (yarn and hook) to continue practicing his new skill. 

Tunisian Crochet - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Maia R. shows the technique of Tunisian crochet
 to those gathered for her demonstration

An interested group gathered at Maia's demonstration table to learn more about Tunisian Crochet. Maia showed examples of projects and explained the technique. Some stayed after the demonstration to try the craft.

Drop Spindle - Fiber Fest Demo

Sandy W. explains how to begin using the drop spindle

When Sandy began her demonstration of drop spindle, only four individuals were seated at the table, but by the time she finished, she had a crowd gathered around and required Briana F. to help her in assisting those who tried the technique.

closely watching the technique so it can be tried. 

drop spindle was intriguing for those attending the Fiber Fest

Yarn Substitution and Color Selection - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Christy P. shares her knowledge of yarn substitution and color selection

Christy P. is a yarn and fabric representative and knows her way around the trends of the industry. At the Fiber Fest, she discussed yarn substitution and how to select colors for projects.

Rigid Heddle Loom - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Laura B. tells the participants the finer points of the rigid heddle loom

Laura B. is no stranger to a loom or weaving. You will note from last week's posts that she also demonstrated the pin loom, and primitive weaving during the Fiber Fest. All of her demonstrations were anticipated, and the participants in the rigid heddle demonstration gained knowledge as she showed them the parts of the loom and the finished projects that she had on display.

Primitive Weaving - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

working on a primitive weaving project

One of the members was ill and unable to present her demonstration, so Laura B. filled in with a demonstration on primitive weaving. Katheryn E. had prepared the materials, but she was also unable to attend the festival.

The announcement was made that a primitive weaving class was starting, and three children came to make a weaving on a paper plate.

After some instruction from Laura, the three jumped right in and began their weavings.

Steeking - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Brenda H. explains the steeking process

Prior to the Fiber Fest, Brenda knit several samples so those attending her demonstration would be able to have some hands-on experience.

Participants learned two ways to prepare for the steek - crochet and back-stitching. They discovered steeking was not as scary or difficult as they first thought.

Pin Loom - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Laura B. shows how to begin working with a pin loom

Laura B. brought materials to demonstrate using a pin loom. She showed participants how to load and begin weaving squares on the small loom. Laura had a variety of samples and explained how to turn them into finished projects.

Needle-felting - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Vicky B. explains the process of needle-felting

Vicky B. brought materials for a hands-on demonstration. The participants worked with a cookie cutter for a controlled needle-felted object.

participants worked on their needle-felted project

Dyeing Natural Fiber - Fiber Fest Demo

This week will feature the activities of the Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest, held on Saturday, September 10, 2016.

Cinde P. spins yarn to dye on Saturday

Cinde's work began on Friday as we waited for vendors to arrive and set-up their booths. Cinde concentrated on spinning the roving into yarn for the Saturday demonstration of dyeing natural fiber.

Cinde P. stirs the yarn in the dye bath

Saturday, Cinde could be found outside working with the dye bath. She spun and dyed enough yarn for a sweater. Those who stopped by could ask her questions about the process.

dyed yarn drying in the sun

In the afternoon, Cinde's yarn was finished and drying in the sun for all to see.

Yards by Yarn Weight

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(click image to enlarge)

A metric conversion calculator can be found here. It will assist you converting meters to yards and yards to meters, as well as grams to ounces, and ounces to grams.

An app is also available for Android and iPhones, so you can convert while shopping. 

Fiber Fest This Weekend

Plan to attend

Fremont Fiber Arts Guild Fiber Fest 

Saturday, September 10, 2016

 in Riverton, WY 

(map given below)

click on the following links for specific information.

Vendors' list

Demonstration and Class schedule

Lots of Door Prizes - courtesy of the vendors

Directions from the intersection of East Main and Federal Blvd., Riverton, WY

click on image to enlarge

Safety Line or Lifeline

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Lifelines can also be added as you knit, especially easy with interchangeable needles that have a hole near the needle and cable join large enough to insert the end of a crochet thread (contrasting color). 

Pass enough thread through the hole to allow you to secure it as you knit in your pattern across a specific row. Do NOT cut the thread until your entire row is knit, and only cut it when you've stretched out the row and have enough to hold the stitches and another five inches on each end. Take the thread out of the hole (only the hole) after you've knit the row. The thread should be through all the stitches on the row.

When knitting the next round, just make sure you do NOT knit the thread into your project.

Should you need to frog a section of your knitting, the crochet thread will hold your stitches at the row where you added it.

If your project is extensive try to add a lifeline after every repeat.

Spinning Guilds

Colleen J.
Maggie Casey Professional Development weekend
September 2015

Looking for national or international Spinning Guilds?

Interweave Press has compiled a list by state and country.

Quilt Block Library

Quilts to Be Stitched website offers links to 133 free quilt block patterns. The blocks are listed alphabetically as well as by the grid number, i.e. three-patch, four-patch, etc. up to eleven plus-patch blocks

Double Crochet Tip

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Another handy trick from WEBS - starting a crocheted border, or join in the round, without having to use a starting chain.

When the first stitch of a new round or a border is a taller stitch, like a double crochet, usually you need to chain two or more before you can begin. This allows the first stitch to reach the height of the other stitches.

The pattern would say something like, “Chain two (this will count as your first double crochet).” The chains look different from the other double crochets and can end up standing out on your project, especially if used on a delicate border.

You can eliminate the need to use the chains with this technique.

1. Tie a slip knot on your hook, then yarn over.

2. Insert the hook into your project, yarn over, and pull through.

3. Now you’ll create your double crochet normally. Yarn over and pull through two strands, then yarn over and pull through the last two strands.

It’s a simple little trick that ends up making your project look neater in the end.

Swatch Tip

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WEBS posted this handy tip for swatch knitters: after knitting and blocking swatches, photocopy onto graph paper. This allows the knitter to have swatches for quick reference, without carrying around the bulk of multiple swatches, or risk damaging the swatches.

This can also be done using a scanner.