Ready, Set, Apply!

YarnCon 2024 Vendor Applications are open!

We are excited to announce that vendor applications are open, and will be accepted until November 30, 2023! You can find the application here: https://forms.gle/LSudtAManuMTp6BQ7 and you can find the vendor guideline here: https://tinyurl.com/29yt234u (please read these first!)

The ballroom at the Plumbers Union Hall full of YarnCon vendor booths and shoppers. The room is full of happy people and so much yarn.
YarnCon 2023 Ballroom

There has been a bit of confusion concerning adding pictures to the application under the “Internet Presence” question, which you can’t do in the form. What we’re looking for is links to your online presence (your website, Facebook, or Instagram pages) that have pictures of your wares, and of your booth. If you need to email images after submitting your application, please send them to info@yarncon.com and let us know your business name.

Finally, some good news that I am sure vendors at YarnCon 2023 will be delighted to hear: The City of Chicago heard everyone’s complaints about the permit process this year (and by process, we mean some stronger words) and has simplified the system. YarnCon will apply for the permit once we have our vendor list, and all vendors will be covered by our permit. None of you will need to apply for a permit; you will just have to submit the tax forms we will provide you with as the show approaches. Normally I wouldn’t bore you with permitting information at this point, but given how, um, difficult the situation was this year, I thought everyone should know in case they were hesitating to apply on that account.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@yarncon.com. Both Sara and I will see your emails, and it helps us stay organized. As much as we love you, please send YarnCon related questions there instead of to our personal DMs, emails, etc. Thanks!

Vendor Applications Are Coming Soon!

Hello Friends! We are getting a lot of questions about YarnCon 2024, mostly from folks looking to apply to be vendors, so I wanted to give everyone a quick update.

First, the dates will be a little different for 2024; YarnCon will still take place in April, but on April 20-21, 2024 instead of the first full weekend. A total solar eclipse is coming our way, and we aren’t far off the path of totality! As much as we love yarn, and we obviously do, we also don’t get to see a total eclipse* with any regularity, so Team YarnCon is going to be traveling to nearby locals to enjoy this event. Curious about the eclipse? Here is a link with information about it: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

And of course the main question we have been getting is when are applications opening up? We are finalizing details with the Plumbers Union Hall, and hope to have the application ready to go next week. The best way to make sure you see the notice to start applying is by signing up for the mailing list. You can sign up at the bottom left on the homepage of yarncon.com. We will also make announcements on Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for all of the enthusiasm for YarnCon! Stay tuned for more updates soon.

2nd Floor Ballroom during YarnCon 2019

*Do you suddenly have “Total Eclipse of the Heart” stuck in your head like I do? Did you grow up watching music videos? I have a treat for you: https://youtu.be/fsgWUq0fdKk?feature=shared

One Week Left to Register for Classes!

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!

On-line classes you say?

When we announced that YarnCon is offering on-line (virtual) classes this year, we received a message about pricing. Why are we charging the same amount for an on-line class as for an in-person class? Glad you asked! The reason is that the main consideration in pricing our classes is that we fairly compensate our teachers. Our teachers are doing the same job, teaching the same material, and for the same maximum class size whether they come to a conference room, or they teach via Zoom. In fact, there is more work on their ends when they teach via Zoom because they have to be responsible for their camera set up, Zoom account, internet connection, etc., while still making sure to give just as much attention to their students as they would in person.

I think if the last two years have taught us anything, it is that we can be flexible, and teach in different settings, such as remotely or in the class-room. We all have our preferences, and that’s fine! But, let’s remember that the teacher is teaching the same material, and is working just as hard to make sure their students are getting the most out of their classes, and deserves to be compensated fairly for their work, and the expertise they bring to the classroom, virtual or otherwise.

So, I hope you will take a look at our fantastic class offerings for this year, sign up to learn some new skills, and plan a cozy space in which to Zoom in and enjoy taking a workshop with other stitchers.

All classes are listed here: https://www.yarncon.com/schedule/ and include a link to the registration page.
Please also check out our Instagram page where we are sharing pictures and details about the upcoming classes! https://www.instagram.com/yarncon/

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!

Let’s hear it for YarnCon 2019!

Oh my goodness, what a show! I know it has been over a month (sorry, I really intended to get this out sooner!) but I am no less excited now about the great show we had this year than I was a month ago. We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you who vended, taught, volunteered, and especially all you who attended! Yes, you. It is all of you together that make this fibery community so special. You line up in the mornings, you come and meet up with each other in this space we have made, you make new friends, meet old ones, learn new skills, and seriously enhance your stashes. But more than anything, you make it the most special weekend of the year for us.

And I am not joking about the morning lines! I took a video less than an hour before the doors opened on Saturday. Stitchers are well prepared folks, look at all of you with chairs, blankets, and working on projects.

Can I show you how Sara and I feel about this community, and this event?

Natalia and Sara a moment before we opened the doors on Saturday, April 6, 2019.

Now, let me show you just a moment in time on Saturday morning, after we saw a record number of people come through our doors. Over 700 of you arrived within the first half hour of the show! I am still in awe.

A view of the ballroom from the balcony.

And it just kept getting better all day long. We not only saw old friends of ours, we saw you connect with your friends, and enjoy a yarny day together. We met lots of new friends, and hope you did as well. We watched people learn how to prepare fiber and spin it into yarn right on our stage, and so much more! How about we show you in pictures?

Selfie Station at YarnCon
Visitors enjoying the Selfie Station
Heavenly Bresser teaching fiber preparation at YarnCon
Heavenly Bresser teaching fiber preparation at YarnCon
Mochi Mochi Land!!
Mochi Mochi Land! Did you do the scavenger hunt?
Sara calling out the raffle winners!
Sara calling out the raffle winners!
Vera back on stage, teaching DIY Handspinning. Vera's been teaching folks to spin at YarnCon since our second show, back in 2008.
Vera back on stage, teaching DIY Handspinning. Vera’s been teaching folks to spin at YarnCon since our second show, back in 2008.
This is what YarnCon is about, great friends and great yarn! Lauren and Karen are two amazing volunteers and supporters of YarnCon, and wonderful people.
This is what YarnCon is about, great friends and great yarn! Lauren and Karen are two amazing volunteers and supporters of YarnCon, and wonderful people.

And it just kept being amazing all day long! Check out some faces you might know from the larger yarn-crafting community:

Kristy Glass and Natalia at the YarnCon Selfie Station
Kristy (Kristy Glass Knits) and Natalia at the YarnCon Selfie Station
Sara, Louis (Brooklyn Boy Knits), and Natalia at YarnCon
Sara, Louis (Brooklyn Boy Knits), and Natalia
Natalia and Cecilia (Creative Ceci) at YarnCon
Natalia and Cecilia (Creative Ceci)

I’m not going to lie, seeing Kristy, Louis, and Cecilia at YarnCon was so exciting! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting them before at other shows, and have wanted to share YarnCon with them, and we got to this year! Kristy did more than just visit, she filmed a video tour of YarnCon, embedded below (her tour of YarnCon begins at about 30:43).

Kristy Glass celebrating her 40th birthday, and her tour of YarnCon at 30:43

Friends, this was all just on Saturday! Sunday was another day of fun, and fun on two floors, I might add. What? Yes! For the first time we had vendors on the first and second floors, plus of course the balcony. It was our biggest YarnCon yet, and we have been so happy by the response. Check out the first floor (I didn’t get all of it, but hopefully you will get the idea):

Check the new vending area near the coffee bar!
Check the new vending area near the coffee bar!
Check the new vending area near the coffee bar!
Check the new vending area near the coffee bar!
Toad Hollow and Yarnify in the new vendor area.
Toad Hollow and Yarnify in the new vendor area.
Midmitten Designs and Heavenly Knitchet in our new vendor area
MidMitten Designs and Heavenly Knitchet in our new vendor area
And yet more vendors on the first floor!
And yet more vendors on the first floor!

Needless to say, I can go on and on. YarnCon is definitely a labor of love for Sara and me. We have a terrific team of friends who help us put this together every year with their ideas, connections, knowledge, and hard work. We can’t thank them enough. We didn’t get everyone we wanted to in the picture below, but we love you, and thank you for making this community event happen. And thank you, fiber community, for making it so special. We couldn’t do it without you.

Team YarnCon posing in front of the YarnCon Selfie Station
Team YarnCon (from left to right), Layne, Lauren, Natalia (being her foolish self in front), Sara, Shannon, Andi, and Lindy.

Last chance to pre-register for classes

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!

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.

[table id=6 /]

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.