YarnCon 2020 is Cancelled

With incredibly heavy hearts, we have decided to cancel YarnCon this year. The health, safety, and well-being of our vendors, attendees, speakers, and friends is our top concern. Because of the evolving nature of the COVID-19 situation, we feel it’s important to do what we can to minimize the spread of this virus.

We encourage you to check out our amazing vendor list, and support them through this difficult time. We will be here to answer any questions you might have.

If you registered for a class, we are already working on getting those refunds to you, please give us a little time, but email us if you have concerns.

Register for Classes Today!

Class registration is LIVE!
The classes are posted, and registration is open! Most of YarnCon 2020’s classes and workshops will take place April 2-3 at the YarnCon Symposium right before our weekend fiber fair opens. But don’t worry, we still have some 1-hour classes over the weekend, too.

New in 2020: a Hotel Room Block!
Stay close to the action at the Crowne Plaza West Loop! We’ve reserved a block of rooms, and you can book online or by calling 312-829-5000 and mentioning Group Code MYF. The deadline to book a room is March 5, so call now! Operators are standing by.

Advanced Spinning Classes
Lots of classes on spinning at YarnCon this year: Wheel Navigation with Emily Wohlscheid and Spinning Wheel Primer with Heavenly Bresser both aim to teach students the ins and outs of their wheels. If you’re further along in your spinning journey, try your hand at Spinning for a Project or Spinning Wirecore and LED Lights! These classes are designed for students who have already some  spinning experience. Bring your own wheel and learn something new!

Brioche Knitting Forever
We’re welcoming back Javier Jara for another year at YarnCon. Learn a new skill in his Brioche Knitting class, or if you’re familiar with single-color brioche, why not up your game with his Mastering Two-Color Brioche class? Sign up soon — his classes always sell out!

New Friends and Old FavoritesNew to our workshop schedule this year: Jenn Watkins, Rita Petteys, and Jules Huntsberger.Hailing from North Carolina, Jules is ready to help you with Short Rows
 and Picots and Bobbles! Usually behind a booth at YarnCon, Jenn is sharing her knowledge of Lace Knitting and Cables, and Rita will teach you how to put those leftover Bits and Bobs to good use!Perennial

YarnCon favorites Vera Videnovich (DIY Handspinning) and Samantha Lynn (Intro to Dyeing I & II) are back, along with Kathy Kelly’s classes on Tunisian crochet.Check out the whole schedule here! Register to pick up a new skill or brush up on something you thought you’d forgotten. 

Volunteer at YarnCon!
We can always use extra hands in many areas: helping vendors unload their wares and schlep them to their booths, working various information tables, booth-sitting for vendors who need a break, and then on Sunday, helping the vendors move their remaining goodies back to their vehicles.In return for your help, you’ll get a special volunteer YarnCon goodie bag! Also, our undying gratitude. Seriously, it’s one of the best gigs going.

Fill out the Volunteer Form to sign up for weekend spots, or click here to help out Thursday and Friday at the YarnCon Symposium!

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

And Now for Something Completely* Different

*Okay, not completely, but very new!

We are proud to announce the inaugural YarnCon Symposium! We have wanted to expand our workshops for some time, but the limiting factor has been availability of space at the Plumbers Union Hall. We love being at the Plumbers Union Hall, and we have no plans to leave, but it has made hosting classes more and more complicated. So: a new space was in order if we wanted to expand our class offerings. That led to another change we have always wanted: to be able to attend classes and parties while registered as a vendor at a show.

Intro to Dyeing class at YarnCon
Intro to Dyeing class at YarnCon

The solution is the YarnCon Symposium: two days of classes at the lovely Crowne Plaza West Loop!

On Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, 2020, we will host our first annual symposium, with classes on both days and a reception on Friday evening. Then on Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5, 2020, we will have YarnCon at the Plumbers Union Hall, as we have since 2013. We will still have beginning dyeing and spinning workshops over the weekend during YarnCon, but sit-down classes in classrooms with all of the amenities will take place at the Crowne Plaza. The hotel is just down the road from the Plumbers Union, and is the perfect place to stay if you are coming in from out of town!

If you are a teacher and have thought about teaching with us, but weren’t so keen on the open layout we used to have, now is your time to join us. We think you will be pleasantly surprised, as we have put lots of thought into the care and feeding of instructors. This means competitive pay, lodging, and travel expenses. You can see the details, and fill out the application at the following link:
https://forms.gle/z6CdUUx2DgC8FX4F7

Seeing as we are growing and expanding, we also thought it was time to have a party to celebrate! We are planning a reception at the Crowne Plaza on Friday night after classes have wrapped up. We will have more information on that soon, so be on the lookout, as tickets will be limited. Sign up for our mailing list to get the info!

On your marks…

Just kidding! No need to race to get your vendor applications in. Sara and Natalia took a weekend off to re-work the application process, and we hope it will be a better fit for all of us as we grow.

Natalia and Sara in front of the Sandpiper, home of the Hoof to Hanger Fiber Mill.
Natalia and Sara in front of the Sandpiper this summer,
home of the Hoof to Hanger Fiber Mill, a 2019 sponsor.

As many of you who applied to vend at YarnCon in the last few years know, we filled up in record time, and many of you who planned to apply never got a chance. That was never our intent, so this year we are changing how the process works.

Applications will go live on October 1, 2019 at 10am Central Time, and will close on October 8, 2019 at 10pm Central Time. There are no bonus points for being the first, but we will not take applications after they close.

Edited to Add the application link: https://forms.gle/2G6tADKn1eCPe1S58

YarnCon has always been a juried show. We will judge all the applications according to our posted guidelines, and send our acceptance and rejection emails on October 15, 2019. You will be able to find the application on the homepage of our website. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@yarncon.com. If you want to be on the vendor mailing list, please sign up on the homepage.

We will also make an announcement about workshop proposals in the near future, so stay tuned! There’s also a sign up for the teaching mailing on the homepage.