Monday, December 5, 2011

5th Annual Arkansas Fiberarts Extravaganza in Review

Whew! What a whirlwind weekend at the Arkansas Fiberarts Extravaganza. This year was an entirely new experience as it has been moved to Hot Springs, AR. It was all held in the Convention Center in Horner Hall. It was very nice to have such a roomy space to spread out. With 26 vendors, we really needed it!


We completely took over the Embassy Suites as you can see below.
 




There were more knitters there this year than in previous ones. Maybe because we had changed locations, who knows? I spent much of my time teaching lots of knitters to spin on a drop spindle. You know, entice them with a new extension hobby. Even if a knitter doesn't want to spin, I think by knowing yarn construction, a knitter will be better able to understand how a yarn will behave. For instance, some knitters find that when they knit a yarn single in continental, it tends to unwind and pull apart. By knowing that it's the twist that holds it together, they may be able to see that the yarn unwinding and is getting unsound and weaker. Then, they can change the way they are knitting to keep the yarn from falling apart.

The knitting contest was a lot of fun to watch. For such a relaxing activity, having them speed it up entertained the heck out of me. Annie Modesitt had entered and won because she really wanted a pair of sassafras earrings. I know the feeling! The fashion show had a wide array of entries from classic shawls and sweaters to works of fiber arts. I saw a really neat nuno felted sari vest that I want to try to make. I just need to get me a sari now.

The Ravelry ice cream party was a hoot! I didn't actually get any of it. The organizers didn't foresee just how many people were going to show up!  Sarah aka onestitchshort
handed out lots of prizes. Near the end, she gave away a lovely bag that I was coveting that had fiber animals all over it. I turned around to tell my friend how I wished I had entered the drawing just to get one of them when Sarah called her name! Color me green with jealousy. I told her to go get Sarah's autograph on the bag. I mean, when else were you going to get an autograph from Sarah?! She did, of course. She deserved such a treat for helping me run the booth all day.
 
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are several more I took at the event.  There are also more on my Flickr page if you want to see what else was there.