Yesterday ModeKnit Yarn was at the Fall Fiber Fest, and we had an exceptional time!
This is a lovely MN-centric fiber show in Hopkins, at the Eisenhower Center, and I just love it! We visited last year as customers (and came away with some beautiful yarn and books!) but this year we applied and were accepted as vendors, YAY!
And I was exhausted. Worn out, hurting, totally wrung out. But I tried to own it, I accepted that it was because I’d spent two long days in the dye room, and worked hard not to see my physical weakness as an indication on my worth.
Sometimes it takes a few days to bring my energy levels back to normal. Mentally, this admission is great progress for me.
Kathleen and I have centered this year of our business on developing our Fiber Show “chops”. Indy Yarn Dyers have a few options to grow their business; some choose to focus on wholesale to yarn shops, some choose to focus on online sales, some do clubs and some do fiber shows.
In truth, just about everyone does a combination of these, and we’re no exception.
But I’d be lying if I said that Kathleen and I don’t enjoy the Yarn Festivals a bit more than the other segments of our business. I think the reason is twofold: it allows us to personally interact with our customers, which both of us love SO much! And it allows Kathleen and I to spend time together, and at the heart of our business is the fact that we ARE good friends. So we love the festivals! And we love a road trip!
This was a local show, which meant that Kathleen leapt out of bed before 4am, packed up her truck, then zoomed over to my house to pick me up and we were over to the venue by a bit after seven am. Where she got the energy, I don’t know! I was dragging my sorry tail all day! Thank heaven lovely Karen Ryan showed up and helped us set up our booth, she was an angel!
The two days leading up to the festival I’d been dying a HUGE amount of yarn (40+ skeins a day) so I understand my exhaustion, but I still felt a trifle guilty sitting in the booth most of the time (perhaps the guilt was because I cadged the chair from the knitting guild? Don’t tell them…)
I was given pain pills when I first was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, but I’ve really struggled NOT to take them. As a matter of fact, I still have the same bottle I was given several years ago (probably time to get that refilled) because I generally only take them on high pain days – which tend to be Festival days – like yesterday! And allow me to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the relief for a few hours.
Because the weather’s been so mild this November, I’ve been able to ride my bike a nice amount each day, and that’s really helped with my pain. When I think of where I was a year ago (still fighting shingles) I feel like the luckiest person alive!
I just released a new pattern, one that I’m REALLY excited about! I love working garter mitered squares, so when I was inspired by the beautiful Brahmin (or “Owl”) Moth, I thought mitering was the way to go!
The design has had three major iterations, there’s been a LOT of knitting to get to the final version of this shawl. I had samples knit in two additional colorways, the final garment should take approx 100g of each of three colors in fingering weight yarn. Of course, I feel our ModeWerk Fingering is the most beautiful yarn you could use!
The pattern’s been tech edited, and it’s up for sale at Ravelry and over at ModeKnit Yarn. One caveat to mention is that the final “V” shape that joins the two ‘wings’ is slightly different in the final pattern than it appears in two of the samples.*
Over at ModeKnit Yarn we have a kit ready for you to order, just let us know what three colors you’d like to use, and well put them together for you!
(*I altered the original text so that no Color B is used in that part, which could raise the amount of Color B required over 100g)
Hi Annie – my mom and I saw you at the festival (I was wearing the central park hoodie, and mom swooned over your newly dyed yarn sample so much that you took pity on her and let her buy it). It was such a pleasure to see in person your phenomenal colors, and to talk with you briefly. You are such a vibrant and personable woman. I’m sorry to hear that you were suffering, but I wanted to tell you that it did not show a bit. I’m guessing that was your goal, so I wanted to reassure you that in my opinion you most certainly achieved it. I can’t wait to knit with the yarn I purchased from you, and I’ll make sure to send you guys a picture when it’s done!
Hi Annie-Hope you feel better soon. Sometimes pain killers are the first step to restful repair for the body.
I tried the links to the moth pattern a few times without success. They took me straight to checkout. I want to see the description page.
You are not your fibro. In fact, you are not your body. Feel well whenever you can.