Monday, April 13, 2009

Taking it on the road...

It must be Spring stirring us up, but all of a sudden we're itching to pack up our needles, hooks and yarn (ok, plus a set of spare underwear) and get ourselves to a knitting gathering.

Here are some upcoming events we're excited about:

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, West Friendship, MD, May 2-3. Coming up fast! Generally considered to be among the best of the regional wool festivals, this one has classes on knitting and shepherding (in case you're thinking of raising your own). Lots of family activities makes it good for kids as well as the parents.

Sock Summit 2009, Portland, Oregon, August 6-9. Holy Sock Heels, Batman! This is a MONSTER event that no sock knitter will want to miss. All the biggest names will be there and the classes. Almost 80 classes on every aspect of sock knitting, crocheting and spinning. Plus the instructors are world class: Lucy Neatby, Meg Swanson, Cat Bordhi, and let's not forget Barbara Walker. "How cool would it be," Helen asks, "to take a mosaic knitting class from the woman who (literally) wrote the book?" Barbara's lament: "I wish it were in Portland, Maine!" But we can see she's tempted.

New York Sheep and Wool Festival, Rhinebeck, NY, Oct. 17-18. Aka "Rhinebeck." This festival has become an institution for the yarn-obsessed here in the Northeast. About a three-and-a-half hour drive from Rhode Island, it's do-able in a long day, or you can arrange to stay overnight in the area. Beautiful Hudson River valley surroundings with fall foliage to boot.

Stitches East, Hartford, CT, Oct. 22-25. Stitches East will be held very close by this year, and Fresh Purls will have a booth again. We'll have more information about it as the date approaches.

...and for the fantasists among us, Jane Thornley runs retreats and trips all over the world with a focus on fiber arts. This year she's offering escapes to Ireland and Italy (sorry, you already missed Morocco).

What events are you looking forward to (or dreaming about)? Tell us in the comments.

2 comments:

  1. Hey there! You missed some of the closer ones - specifically the RI Fiber Festival on May 16th at Coggeshall Farm in Bristol. And then there is also the Massachusetts Festival in Cummington on the weekend of May 23-24. And I think the festival in CT is coming up too (possibly April 25th).

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  2. Thanks so much for these updates! I'll put more of the local events in a future blog entry, but for those reading the comments, here's the best link I could find for the event a Coggeshall Farm (which is well worth visiting in its own right): http://www.coggeshallfarm.org/Fiber%20Festival.html. We love an alert reader!

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