20-21 April 20-21, 2024 YarnCon Vendor Marketplace
Plumbers Union Hall Chicago, IL
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Archives for March 2023

Food Truck Spotlight

March 27, 2023 by Leave a Comment
YarnCon happens this 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 2023. This year, sandwich and American comfort food experts The Fat Shallot will be on hand alongside dumpling and baowich truck, Yum Dum, and elite authentic Mexican food truck Aztec Dave’s.  It’s going to be another tasty year!

Trucks will be parked outside the main entrance from 11am-1pm to serve any and all who need sustenance to shop. Get yours early – they’ve been known to sell out!

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One Week Left to Register for Classes!

March 22, 2023 by 2 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s hard to believe YarnCon is almost here! And you know what that means, you are running out of time to sign up for classes! Click here to see the schedule.

There has been a change to the schedule. Vera will be teaching her DIY Dropping Spinning class at the Plumbers Union Hall on Saturday and Sunday during YarnCon, just like old times, but with one key improvement; we’ve moved it to the ground level to a much more accessible space. If you’ve ever been curious about hand-spinning, Vera is the perfect teacher to get you started.

Vera Videnovich teaching her DIY Drop Spindle Class at YarnCon in 2019.

We have lots of great classes to choose from on Thursday and Friday at the Crowne Plaza West Loop! You can choose from skills that every knitter should be familiar with like Mastering Short Rows, or how about learning double knitting in Technicolor Double Knitting, and have a finished piece with only right sides!

As stitchers, we know the importance of mending hand-made items, but what about store bought clothes? There is no reason we can’t mend anything we wear, and make it truly our own! Kimberley Langley’s class, Extending the Life of Clothing will have you making beautiful repairs to your knits in no time.

A sweater visibly mended by Kimberley Langely.

You can also learn Brioche or how to shape in Brioche, Knitting in Both Directions!, and Tunisian Crochet!

Sadly, Amy Manko won’t be able to join us at the YarnCon Symposium this year. If you are ever at a fiber festival and Amy is teaching a class you will definitely want to sign up!

Time is running out, so please sign up now, so our teachers know how many people to expect, and so that you don’t miss your chance at taking a class at the first YarnCon Symposium!

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One month to go!

March 3, 2023 by Leave a Comment

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 almost are, so get on it!) We still have spaces left in our fantastic spinning and knitting technique classes, so head over to Eventbrite to read the descriptions and sign up. All classes will take place Thursday and Friday, March 30-31 at the Crowne Plaza West Loop, 25 S. Halsted. The vendor marketplace will happen in our usual location over the weekend, April 1-2: the Plumbers Union Hall at 1340 W. Washington Blvd. Check out the official Schedule for details.

Friday night, please join us for a very special event: Friday Night Knitterati with the one and only Safiyyah Talley, aka The Drunk Knitter! She’ll speak on a topic near and dear to all our hearts, the State of the Skein. Come for Safiyyah, stay for the hors d’oeuvres and cash bar.

Have you seen the list of vendors for 2023? We’re so excited we can hardly wait to squish all the fiber.

We are really excited once again to 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.

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