How’s your Yarn Fu?

It’s just one week to go to the Textilpiazza Festival in Liestal, near Basel. This will be the first yarny event I’m attending in Switzerland – so I’m excited, and all the more so since I will be teaching! 

In my (free!) workshop from 12 to 3pm, I’ll be teaching knitters and crocheters how to choose yarn for their projects, considering the characteristics of different fibres and yarn constructions, and how they will affect the finished item. We’ll also talk about the delights and challenges of working with variegated yarns.

This is such a fascinating subject to me. My own yarn preferences have changed so much over the past decade or so, as I’ve learned more and more, and my approach to choosing yarn has evolved accordingly. There is such a wealth of information available these days, yet it can be hard to know where to start. I can’t wait to teach this class and get more crafters excited about breaking out of their comfort zones.

It’s also just wonderful to think of being at a textile festival again. While in London, I think I’d started to take these events for granted. I certainly took for granted being able to spend time with people who identified as capital-K Knitters: people for whom playing with yarn was more than just a pastime, but an identity. I have no doubt that Switzerland has plenty of these Knitters, too, but so far I haven’t seen as many events, opportunities for Knitters to gather and feed on each other’s passion. (Wow. Does that sound creepy.) Of course, being at home with a baby hasn’t exactly helped. And on the plus side? Plenty of actual yarn shops per capita! My impression is that knitting is a bit more normal here (I’ve seen far more knitting in public), and perhaps as a direct result, there’s less of that sense of bonding between Knitters, less need for tribal gatherings.

On a purely personal level, though, I do kind of need them. So here’s looking forward to Textilpiazza!