I am in full prep mode trying to get as much made to bring to Knit City as I possible can! But I am also feeling a bit nostalgic. I remember the first knit city in 2012 at the Croatian Cultural Center. We were so excited about the lineup:
And here is my kiddo holding the 2012 postcards:
So bitty! Tyler is almost 6 feet tall now. He will be my booth helper so you if you come by you will see how much he has grown.
I took a bit of a break from vending after 2015 and then gradually started getting back into it – I am excited to be back at knit city this year after 10 years away and for the last show that will be held at the PNE Forum.
Well that’s enough traversing memory lane! I need to get back to carding batts! This is how they look before they hit the carder, each Fibre carefully measured to the gram with cards carefully written out so you know each toy what you are getting!
The year is nearly half over so it’s probably a good time to post an update and let you know where I will be this year. I have signed up for a whopping SEVEN events! This is a lot for me and I am so excited!
I revamped my logo this year to simplify it and make it more suited to printing and embellishing. However because nothing is ever simple I have 2 versions plus the original and I can’t commit to any of them! I think I will just use them all. Which is your favourite?
2025 Shedule
March 21 & 22 – Fibres West, Cloverdale
April 13 – MWSG Fibre Fun Day, Mission
May 4 – LWSG Fibre Retreat Day , Langley
June 7 – XOXO Fibre, North Vancouver
August 17 – Fibrations, Victoria
September 5 to 7 – SCSWG Fibre Camp, Gibsons
September 27 & 28 – Knit City, Vancouver
My favourite new item this year are these square stitched markers made from teeny tiny seed beads. Each one is made using a Pacific Knit Co. Doodle Deck pattern which are designed for knitting colour work. I love the connection of using a knitting pattern to make the knitting tool you can use while knitting a pattern! Full circle!
I also taught myself to sew last year. So I will have some of these little notions pouches available this year. Who knows what other fun hand sewn things I may have for sale soon!
Time to get back to carding batts! I hope to see you at one of my several events this year!
Hello! I had so much fun last year it never even occurred to me to make a post. So I will do a quick recap of my fibre filled year!
Fibres West 2024 – what a great show! Friday was a whirlwind of shoppers. My new item for the show was “build a bag” where you got to design your own notions pouch. It was very successful and sold out so I will be doing it again this year too!
Bringing Your Fibre to Life spinning class at ConiagasTextiles: I signed up for a spinning class with a breed study at Coniagas. Sherry’s studio and farm is beautiful and the class was amazing. I hope to do it again this year!
Langley Weavers & Spinners Fibre Retreat: I was lucky enough to be able to vend at the LWSG spin in again this year. It’s always an amazing day. I love getting to catch up with all my Fibre friends at guild events.
Whonnock Weavers & Spinners Dye Days at Gretchen’s: The WWSG has some fun days scheduled too. We got to learn about dying and experiment a bit with colour!
The best part of visiting Gretchen is feeding the alpacas!
Peace Arch Weavers & Spinner’s Guild Spin In: I attended the PAWS Spin In for the first time this year. It was also my first time at the Historic Stewart Farm. What a beautiful place! It was a hot sunny day so we followed the shade and had a wonderful time.
Maple Ridge Country Fest with WWSG: The Whonnock guild set up our demos and displays at country fest again this year. I had so much fun demoing my antique sock machine all day long.
Flock 2025 in Seattle: I went to Flock again. The new venue is absolutely stunning!
While there I took a tapestryweaving class. The teacher, Kira Dulaney, was terrific and the other students were so much fun also!
Fibre Camp with the Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild: This is the event that I look forward to most every year! It’s such a relaxing weekend in a beautiful place. I started it off by spending the day knitting at the beach with some of my new purchases from Flock.
Then I headed to Camp Sunrise to get set up.
Chilliwack Spinners and Weavers Guild Spin In: less then a week after I got home from Fibre Camp I was packing up my car and heading East to the Chilliwack Spin In. I have never cranked out so many batts in such short time! The hard work paid off because it was another fabulous day AND I was lucky enough to win a beautiful hand made blanket from the raffle.
XOXO Fibre: XOXO is a new show being held in North Vancouver. It was very well organized and attended. I am already looking forward to this year’s show which will be held in June.
Whonnock Weavers & Spinners Exhibit and Sale: The Whonnock guild put on another amazing Christmas sale! I contributed ornaments, envelope books and pouches. It was a busy day and great to see the huge line up before we even opened the doors!
And that’s all folks!
It was a year full of fibrey goodness – I didn’t even get it all included here because some things I had so much fun I didn’t take any photos. The Whonnock guild had lots of good programs. I spun a whole lot of yarn during Tour denFleece. I attended Fibrations in Victoria and did a lot of shopping and caught up with friends I hadn’t seen in too long! And I discovered Knots and Hops, a monthly knit night at the Barely Merchant! On top of all that I finished knitting 2 sweaters!
Now I am busy getting ready for my first show of 2025: Fibres West, next month. Here is a sneak peak of one of my new things that will be debuting there.
Fibres West 2024 is on Friday! I have spent the last month doing some intensive prep for the show. Most exciting is some of the new things that I will have this year.
I am really excited about my “Build a Bag set”. you get to design your own complete notions bag set.
I have some new word stitch markers using some of the slang words my son uses. These were fun to make!
Instead of putting the sparkle in my batts this year, I am selling it separately so you an add as much or as little as you want. I spent this morning carefully weighing out a whole bunch of little 5 grams bag. They will be $4 each or 3 for $10!
I also got some stitch fixer sets. These are mini crochet hooks in a set with 3 different sizes.
Last but not least are my new row counters! I just love these so much even though I have already shared them I had to include them here too!
I hope to see you all at Fibres West this weekend!
I am part of the Whonnock Weavers & Spinners guild. Every November we do a huge Exhibit and Sale where we sell our hand spun and woven items. We also invite guest artists.
I was lucky enough to vend at the Chilliwack Spin In on September 16, 2023. This spin in is hosted by the Chilliwack Spinners and Weavers Guild. It is a fabulous day with a silent auction, a delicious lunch and a handful of vendors.
I sold lots of batts and stitch markers. Spent some time spinning and shopping. My favourite purchase was a fabulous mini lazy kate from
There is a new Fibre show on the West coast. It is in Seattle so a bit of a drive for me. The first ever Flock Fiber Festival was on August 5th, 2023. I drove to Seattle all by myself to do some shopping and meet with some of my online American friends in person!
It was in this big open hangar. The semi outdoor venue was lovely. I really enjoyed getting to be at a show as a shopper. I bought some fantastic yarns so I could knit myself a new fade sweater.
I even knit myself a pretty new cropped tee to wear to the show as part of their knit-a-long challenge leading up to the show.
Next year’s Flock is August 9-12, 2024 and will be held in the Summit Building at the Seattle Convention Center. I am looking forward to attending again!
I had really good intentions of doing regular blog posts. Clearly that didn’t happen. But let me get caught up now.
I spent a good part of last summer cleaning up an antique sock machine I bought off Facebook Marketplace. I was lucky enough to be introduced to some sock machine experts and got all sorts of help.
It took a lot of practice but I can say I have successfully machine knit several pairs of socks! sometimes it takes many tries to get a wearable pair of socks, other times I can crank one out on the first try. There will definitely be a lot of practicing in my future!
My machine is a Steber and it is nearly 100 years old. I found a vintage sewing machine base on Facebook Marketplace and I use it as my work table.
I foresee working through my sock yarn stash a whole lot more quickly now!
Caliope’s Fibre 