Archives for March 2019

Food Truck Spotlight

YarnCon happens next weekend! Are you ready for this much fun?

Because fiber fanatics cannot live on yarn alone (although we try our best), we are thrilled to announce the food truck lineup for YarnCon 2019. This year, sandwich and American comfort food experts Fat Shallot will be on hand alongside newcomer Yum Dum.  It’s going to be another tasty year!

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Last few days to sign up for classes

One week from right now YarnCon will be happening! That means time is running out to sign up for classes!*

We have some really great classes this year, maybe you have thought about taking a class but aren’t sure if you are up to it. You are!

Let’s say you were thinking about the Steeking class with Lori Grady, but don’t know if you can bear to cut your own knitting, or have knitting ready in time. No problem! Lori says you can bring in a thrift shop sweater to learn on. Added bonus, you might end up with a pretty great cardigan!

Steeked Sweater
freshly steeked sweater by Lori Grady

How about learning to make jewelry by knitting an unfamiliar material? In Knit Wirecore Jewelry, Emily Wohlscheid she shows you how to knit with wire that has been core spun with colorful wool. She has the kits ready for you, all you need are knitting needles, and you come out with unique jewelry that speaks to your love of knitting. What better souvenir than new skills and a fancy new piece made by you?

Finished wirecore necklace
Finished wirecore necklace

A perennial favorite at YarnCon is our Dyeing workshops I and II wwith Samantha Lynn. In Dyeing I you can learn to dye yarn, provided by Wool2Dye4, with Kool-Aid! In Dyeing II you learn to use traditional acid Dyes, also with yarn provided by Wool2Dye4. In both classes you go home with a bag of yarn dyed by you!

Color control is not just for finished yarn, you can also control the colors in your fiber for spinning, before you ever get to the wheel, and while at the wheel. Heavenly Bresser shows you how to use Blending Boards to your best advantage; how to combine colors that won’t look muddy when you spin them, and how to make rolags and really take advantage of what a blending board can do.

Blending Board with wool
Blending Board with wool

Heavenly also has a great workshop on a technique for making self-striping yarn on your spinning wheel: Fractal spinning! Learn how to control your colors to get your desired stripy effects!

Fractal Spun Yarn
Fractal Spun Yarn

*Pre-registration for classes ends at 6pm CST on Friday, April 5th. We will happily register you for a class with openings during the show, but you risk missing out on the class you want if it is full.

You can check out the whole roster of classes here:
https://www.yarncon.com/classes/

See you at YarnCon on April 6-7!

Getting to YarnCon

One more week to YarnCon! We are guessing many of you are planning your trip, and we are here to help. (You can see the direction page here: https://www.yarncon.com/directions/ )

YarnCon is held in the Plumbers Union Hall, and it has a fairly large parking lot (both the lot and admission are free, yeay!!), but it’s not limitless. So, we have a few suggestions.

Plumbers union wrench sign with YarnCon logo
We always love seeing our logo on the Plumbers Union Wrench sign next to the parking lot!

One of the reasons we choose to host YarnCon right in the middle of the city, instead of at one of the large convention centers in the suburbs is that we want everyone to be able to come, whether they can drive over or not. We are close to public transportation (about a third of a mile from the Ashland Green Line stop, and only .2 miles from the Madison and Loomis bus stop) and close to the Kennedy Expressway (I90). If you are in the Western Suburbs, for example, you can take the Metra into the Ogilvie Station, and take the Madison (20) Bus over to Loomis. If you live not too far from downtown, you could bike over. Or, you could share a Lyft or other ride-share/taxi over. Lots of options, and that’s what we wanted. Lots of ways for everyone who likes yarn to come and be part of the community.

That brings us back to parking. If you can carpool, please do. We know the parking lot will fill up, and we know street parking can get tight. There isn’t much we can do about that. So, please plan accordingly, we would hate to see not being able to park easily get in the way of a fun day at YarnCon.

We look forward to seeing you at YarnCon next weekend! Safe travels!

Check out our Vendors!

Are you getting excited about YarnCon? It’s a week and half away, and maybe you want to check out our vendors in advance of the show? You can always check out our Vendors page to see who is coming this year, but if looking at the logos is a little hard on you, or you just prefer a written list, we made a table for your use.

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We hope that helps! Don’t forget, we will have vendors on three levels this year! You can find them on the ground floor, in aroma distance of the Dark Matter Coffee and Tea bar (and hot cocoa if you are so inclined); in the main hall on the second floor; and in the balcony. All three areas are accessible by stairs and elevator, and there is a ramp to the ground floor area.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Every year we try something new to make each YarnCon better than the one before. Some changes are in the inner workings, and hopefully you won’t even notice. Others we really want you to notice, and this year’s change is one of those.

A view of the main hall and balcony from the stage.

We are a small, but growing fiber festival, and this year we received more applications than we thought possible (thanks for the love!) Although we still had the sad job of turning a lot of really great artists down, we decided to try to add a few more this year, meaning this year we will have the most vendors ever at YarnCon! (I mean, just look at this list! (https://www.yarncon.com/vendors-2/ ) But, where will we put them all?

The balcony (accessible by stairs and elevator) is hopping with shoppers.

So glad you asked! Now you can shop in the main ball room on the second floor, up in the beautiful balcony in the ball room, and downstairs in the hall with the coffee bar. What? Coffee and more yarny goodness? You read that right!

The Coffee Bar, and some of last year’s organizations spreading the word. If you could turn your gaze to the right, you would see vendors this year!

Stop by the bar* for some delicious Dark Matter coffee, or choose from a fine selection of teas or hot cocoa, and then check out the vendors and guilds in the room! You can also have your yarn wound into a cake for you for instant yarn gratification, and then sit and start swatching. All of this in one room!

And just outside this room, we still have tables and chairs so you can enjoy a tasty lunch from some of our food trucks, and play with your new yarn. You will also find the YarnCon Merchandise table, Operation Chemo Comfort, and don’t forget the raffle tickets!

Speaking of don’t forget, we still have spaces available in a few of our classes, but tickets are selling fast! You can find more information about our brilliant teachers, and what classes are still available here:
https://www.yarncon.com/classes/

*Did you know JFK had a drink at that very bar? He did! Yarn, coffee, and some history. We have it all!

That’s so wirecore!

So, you have knit with wool (or some kind of fiber), and maybe you have knit with wire, but have you tried the combination of the two?

Wirecore yarn is what it sounds like, it is fiber spun around a wire core. The beauty of knitting with wire is you can make jewelry and sculptural objects with it. Once you add fiber, you get the same features of knitting with wire, but with the look and color of yarn.

wirecore yarn and tools
Wirecore yarn and tools

Emily Wohlscheid spins up some beautiful wirecore yarn, and in Knit Wirecore Jewelry she will teach you how to make jewelry and accessories with it. For this class, you don’t have to spin your own, Emily will be selling kits for the class.

Wirecore jewelry
Wirecore jewelry
Finished wirecore necklace
Finished wirecore necklace

Bring your knitting needles and your imagination, and learn to make jewelry at YarnCon!

You spin me right round

Right round like a spinning wheel, baby.

Let’s delve into the spinning classes, shall we? We have a great variety to offer you, so let’s start with the very basics.

If you are curious about spinning, and have either not tried it before, or tried, and you just couldn’t get the swing of it, DIY Handspinning with Vera Videnovich is the class for you. This class is offered on both Saturday and Sunday, and in it you learn the basics of spinning on drop spindles. You don’t even need to have a spindle yet, Vera will show you how to make your own with common household objects, or items easy to pick up at your local hardware store. She also introduces the basics of spinning on a spinning wheel. (We have a few student wheels that will be available in case you want to give it a try.)

DIY Spinning class
Vera has been teaching at YarnCon since our second year, back at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. Circa 2008.

Do you already know how to spin, and are ready to learn some new skills? Heavenly Bresser has classes for you! Let’s start with fiber preparation. Of course you can buy fiber ready to spin from, and that’s fantastic, but maybe you want to blend your own colors, or you have seen those pretty rolags, and want to know how to make your own; Blending Boards: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly is the class you want to take.

blending board
Preparing a rolag from a blending board
Finished Rolags
Finished rolags

What about controlling your color while spinning? Just because your fiber is ready to spin, that doesn’t mean there aren’t more choices to make. How do you create yarn that self stripes, that gradually changes color, and how do you ply those singles and maintain your desired effect? Heavenly teaches you how to create a subtly self-striping yarn in Color Control with Fractal Spinning.

fractal spun bobbins
Bobbins ready to be plied in Fractal Spinning
Fractal Spun Yarn
Fractal Spun Yarn

How about art yarn? Have you seen those pretty beehives and wondered how to spin those up? Heavenly shows you how in Art Yarn: Bubbly Beehives.

spinning beehives
Spinning beehives

Just look at the amazing yarn you can make! Vera and Heavenly will make spinning a pleasure, we hope you will check these classes out, and sign up while there are still seats open.

We do want to make one important note about our spinning classes this year. Spinning classes will be held on the stage this year (just like old times!) There are a few steps up to the stage, so if stairs are a problem, please let me know. We hope to have these workshops back in a classroom next year once work on the building is complete.

Make it uniquely yours

When you wander the aisles at YarnCon, it is hard not to be inspired by the beautifully hand-dyed yarns. And every dyer creates colors that are uniquely theirs. But how do they do it? And it’s not just dyeing yarn, what about all the gorgeous batts, roving, top, braids, etc., just waiting to be transformed by your hands into yarn or felted art. But how does it all work? How do you dye yarn or fiber so that it is color-fast, and approximates what you have in mind? How do you transform that unspun fiber into yarn, and how much equipment do you even need to make it happen?

We have answers! To be more precise, our teachers have the answers, and they are waiting to teach you their methods to you at YarnCon.

Let’s say dyeing yarn is what you want to explore. Samantha Lynn can teach you to dye yarn, even with something easily accessible like Kool-Aid! And thanks to a generous donation by Wool2Dye4, the yarn will be provided for you! These are fun, and short workshops, leaving you time for other classes and shopping, and you go home with a baggie of yarn you dyed yourself! She has two classes, Dyeing I (the one with the Kool-Aid dyed yarn) and Dyeing II which explores professional acid dyes (believe it or not, Kool-Aid does count as an acid dye, so don’t let the name intimidate you.)

Dyeing with Samantha Lynn
One of Samantha’s dyeing workshops from 2014

Our next post will delve into the many spinning workshops we have in store for you. We can take you from never having tried it at all in our DIY Handspinning classes with Vera Videnovich (Vera taught Natalia how to spin on a wheel, and let’s just say her fiber stash is starting to rival the yarn stash) to blending your own fibers with Heavenly Bresser (take classes with her now while you can still get into them, she was just accepted to teach at Stitches Midwest, and once more people get to know her, she is going to be in demand big-time!), or even learn to make wire-core jewelry with Emily Wohlscheid.

DIY Spinning class
Vera has been teaching at YarnCon since our second year, back at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse. Circa 2008.

Let’s talk steeks.

I know, I know, the very idea of cutting our freshly knit or crocheted sweater breaks us out into a cold sweat. So much so, that many of us prefer to stitch our sweater in pieces over doing it in the round and taking scissors to it. But, think about the time it saves, and so much less purling for those who prefer the knit stitch. If you have ever thought about learning how to steek your sweaters, but were too nervous to jump in, then Lori is here to help.

Freshly steeked sweater.

Lori Grady is teaching Cut Your Knitting: Steeks on Saturday at 1pm. Spend the morning checking out all the yarn, fiber, and accessories, and then do something for yourself, learn a new skill! It’s a lot less scary with an expert to show you how.

Getting ready for the big cut!

Interested in taking a class, but with less cutting involved? You are in luck, we still have spaces in our spinning and dyeing classes. More on that in our next post! Stay tuned!

PS Don’t delay on signing up, a few of our classes have already sold out!!

YarnCon is a month away, and we have updates!

Hard to believe it is already well into March with such cold weather, but hey, we’re stitchers, we know how to do cold. (Spring, we want you anyway, please hurry!)

YarnCon is just a month away, and we thought it would be a good time to remind you to sign up for workshops before the class you want is sold out (some already are, so get on it!) We still have spaces left in our fantastic spinning and dyeing classes, look for our next post with more information on those classes, or head over to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yarncon-2019-tickets-55954541540 to read the descriptions and sign up.

This is just one thing you can learn how to do if you sign up for Art Yarn:Bubbly Beehives by Heavenly Bresser.

We also want to share our superb list of vendors for 2019, now with more vendors than ever before! https://www.yarncon.com/vendors-2/

We have one more fun thing to share with you! We teamed up with Threadless to offer something many of you have requested in the past: hoodies! We also added some coffee mugs (traditional and travel), and stickers! You can buy your YarnCon gear, and come to the show in style right here: https://yarncon.threadless.com/

Available in other colors as well!

We are really excited to once again be offering Dark Matter coffee, thanks to their amazing support! See us at the beautiful bar downstairs for all of your hot coffee (and tea) needs.

Keep an eye on the blog, we’ll keep updating you on what to look forward to at YarnCon as the date approaches.