THE DAILY CHUM

Knitting Events: the fiber frontier. Mysterious and ungainly, events pop up all over, seemingly pell-mell and without any reference to anyone’s yarn diet. Lest you think I am speaking only of fiber festivals, let me assure you, when I said Knitter’s Guide to the Galaxy I meant the whole galaxy (though it may take me a while to figure out where the Alpha Centauri Knit Out is held), and in this big galaxy of knitting there are many, many different ways to party.

I have, somehow, been to a bunch of knitting/crotchet/needlework events. It comes from the conjunction of living in Minnesota, where the Twin Cities knitters manage to sustain more yarn shops than the entire state of New York, having people around me who are corruptible also knitters, and my undying affection for the Internet, for when I can’t make an event in person. Owing to my experience with these events I feel authorized to make a list of different types and we all love lists.

I classify fiber events into 5 categories, (1) Free Yarn Events, (2) All About the Animals, (3) Shindigs, (4) Special Guest Appearances, and (5) Let’s Learn. These are not hard and fast categories, you can learn anywhere and meet an alpaca at some Shindigs, and, lets face it, no event really sets out to make giving away yarn as its main purpose (though I wish that were the case).

In order to be confusing I’ll count down the categories, starting with:

(5) Let’s Learn

A.K.A. let’s shop, because, if you think about it, any class puts you in close proximity of yarn for several hours at a time. Classes, from Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp, to Stitches, to the learn to knit night at your LYS are your chance to hang out with other knitters and learn a new technique from someone who really knows what she (or he) is doing.

(4) Special Guest Appearances

I’m easily starstruck, so when the book tour/trunk show/master class comes to town I get so excited! Not only do I get to meet one of the bloggers whose words I’ve devoured for years, whose knitting I’ve drooled over and attempted to emulate, but I can meet other people who think she/he is as cool as I do.

(3) Shindigs

From things like the (dare I mention it) LnV sleepover, to your weekly Stitch and Bitch, to a pair of over-caffeinated knitters keeping each other awake as they frantically try to whip out the last few Christmas presents, a shindig is any time when knitters get together.

(2) All About the Animals

Ironically, after deciding on this category name, I realized that it’s not just about the animals, naturally Fiber Festivals like Rhinebeck and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival are important and vital, but visiting your yarn at any point on its metamorphosis from raw form to yarn counts. For those of us who can touch them, meeting the animals that produce the fiber we covet is fascinating (well, except for those of us that clean up their waste, that is hardly ever fun), but going where the yarn is made, The Brown Sheep Outlet in Nebraska for instance, is just as exciting.

(1) Free Yarn Events

These are events that, sometimes literally, throw yarn at you. Think I’m joking?

See that pile of yarn (granted, acrylic)? All from the Great American Knit Out of 2007 (I’ll talk about that next week), and yes, someone at the Michael’s booth was literally throwing yarn into the crowd. Free Yarn events are usually thrown by larger organizations and have support from yarn companies and local LYS’s , examples include Stitch n’ Pitch, Knit Outs, and Shop Hops. These events in this category are special because some of them will not make your credit card cry.

So that’s my introduction into the wonderful world of Knitting Events. There is a lot to cover, of course, but I know that along the way we’ll see yarn, meet knitters, and party like the knitting stars we are.

Erin is…probably in Minnesota somewhere. She adorns the land of 10,000 lakes yarn stores with her glorious presence and profound geekiness. Erin knits, when she is not studying, singing herself hoarse, and reading whatever comes into her notice. Erin also enjoys speaking in the third person, although she does not do so on her blog.

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