20-21 April 20-21, 2024 YarnCon Vendor Marketplace
Plumbers Union Hall Chicago, IL
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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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Last chance to pre-register for classes

April 3, 2019 by 2 Comments

Woo! It’s almost time for YarnCon! Natalia’s minivan is chock full of gear so Team YarnCon can start setting up the floors for our vendors. We have three levels of vendors! Ground level, main hall, and the balcony, and don’t forget the vendors in the hall outside the main hall! We are putting amazing fiber artists everywhere we can because they are just so good! And don’t forget to enjoy some delicious Dark Matter Coffee at the coffee bar next to the ground level vendors. Yum!

Natalia has crammed all the set up gear into her van, and is ready to layout the floors for our vendors!

Along with filling the building up with vendors, our classes are filling up with students, and we are thrilled! A number of classes have sold out, and many only have a seat or two left, so if you have been putting off signing up, time is running out! You can still sign up online right here:
https://www.yarncon.com/classes/ until Friday at 6pm Central time, after that, any seats still open will be available at the show, but for cash or check only.

Don’t forget to stop by our low-tech selfie station by the stage in the main hall! Please tag us with #yarncon and have fun, like this:

So many of us got into this picture that the whole frame made an appearance!

We’ll see you this weekend at YarnCon!

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That’s so wirecore!

March 20, 2019 by Leave a Comment

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!

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Teacher Spotlight: Javier Jara talks about Brioche

February 27, 2018 by 2 Comments

We are excited to bring you a guest blog post today by one of our teachers, Javier Jara. Javier is teaching Introduction to Brioche Knitting, and will tell you more about why you should take his class. Without further ado, I bring you Javier!

It’s all about brioche!

Hi everyone, Javier here, your favorite Chicagoan brioche teacher also known as “thejavioriginal” on Instagram and Ravelry.  I’m super excited about teaching at YarnCon for the first time! Brioche is probably one of my favorite knitting techniques and I can’t wait to share it with you! Let me tell some of the reasons why I love brioche so much. First of all, brioche can make a very versatile fabric that is REVERSIBLE. This is a huge advantage, so no right or wrong sides! Secondly, taking advantage of interesting yarns and needle combinations, you can either achieve a more classic and squishy ribbing look or a more modern lacy look. Imagine using different yarn textures and colors to make fabulous accessories that will be the envy of everyone such as the “Javi’s first brioche scarf”. Finally, during the last two years we have seen brioche go mainstream and the brioche designs keep getting better! There are so many choices to not only make shawls and scarfs but also beautiful garments with fascinating shapes by using different combinations of decreases and increases. Who wouldn’t want to be part of the brioche family? So, come and join me at YarnCon and learn the basic concepts of one and two-color brioche. After this class, you will have the necessary tools to continue your amazing brioche journey!

Javi's first brioche scarf

 

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Gearing up!

January 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Are you as thrilled as I am that holiday knitting is over? As much as I love making things for my family and friends (no really, I do), I usually reach my crafting-for-others limit by Christmas Eve, when I’m glued to the couch, furiously working last rows and weaving in ends.

So the arrival of January means I’m getting back to knitting for myself, and while I’m not one for resolutions, my first task is to tame my UFO pile. I always have multiple projects going for variety, but the “put-aside” queue has become, um, a bit unwieldy. I’m tackling my languishing sweaters first; they DO take up the most space in the pile, after all.

UFO 1: Rosamund’s Cardigan

I’m actually looking forward to wearing this, and even have buttons already made for it. But I found a glaring mistake three inches back, put it aside, and just can’t seem to get around to fixing the error. And so it sits.

UFO 2: Bonnie Cabled Pullover

Love the yarn (Malabrigo FTW!), love the color, love the pattern. So why has this been in hibernation for *cough cough* more than three years? Short answer: the needles. I’m a small-needle knitter and rarely venture larger than a 6 – so doing the whole front and 2/3 the back on size 7 was about my quota — apparently three years’ worth.

So that’s my plan for the start of 2016. I make no guarantees how far I’ll get, as just the words “new beginnings” makes my fingers itch with start-itis… so much pretty yarn I could be using to cast on new projects instead!

What fibery projects are you tackling this month?

January also means shifting YarnCon planning into high gear! As we make our lists (and check them not only twice, but six or seven times), what are YOU most looking forward to seeing at YarnCon this year? A particular vendor or teacher? A special item you’ll be shopping for? A pattern you’ve been saving for *just the right yarn*? Leave us a comment below!

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