Archives for posts with tag: Fiber Festival
Final preparations for MDSW are underway!
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I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but did you realize that it’s August already?! According to my calender I have just shy of seven weeks to prepare for the first fall fiber festival of the 2012 season…
Pardon my drive by post, but I have some dyeing to do!!
October 2012
NYS Sheep & Wool Festival
Date: Saturday, October 20th & Sunday, October 21st
Time: 9:00 – 6:00 / 10:00 – 5:00
Location: Dutchess County Fairgrounds
Address: 6550 Spring Brook Avenue – Rhinebeck, New York 12572
Website: NYS State Sheep & Wool Festival
Booth location: Building C – Booth C38 & C39
November 2012
The Fiber Festival of New England
Date: Saturday, November 3rd & Sunday, November 4th
Time: 9:00 – 5:00 / 9:00 – 3:00
Location: Eastern States Exposition
Address: 875 Memorial Ave, West Springfield, MA 01089
Website: The Fiber Festival of New England @ The Big E
Booth location: Booth 231-W
Lesson Learned!!
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I would like to share a very important lesson to all aspiring indie dyers:
When you are wait-listed for a fiber festival – prepare as if though you were accepted – you never know when the call of acceptance will come!!
THE New England Fiber Festival aka NEFF was wonderful!
Only in it’s second year the festival is really taking root and has developed a fabulous vendor list. Even with the power outages that plagued the area, close to 200 vendors were on site!
Held inside at the Eastern States Exposition Center the climate controlled festival really was a delightful way to end the festival season!
SO delightful that I have already reserved my booth for next year!
The dates: November 3rd & 4th 2012
Booth location: 231-West
In case you did not already hear, please allow me to share some exciting last minute news. At 4:54pm this evening Into The Whirled was officially pulled from the waiting list and added as a vendor at The Fiber Festival of New England at The Big E on November 5th & 6th!!
Lets see how much one woman can accomplish in 48 hours, shall we?
Date: Saturday, November 5th & Sunday, November 6th
Time: 9:00 – 5:00 / 9:00 – 3:00
Booth location: Booth 231-W
Location: Eastern States Exposition
Address: 875 Memorial Ave, West Springfield, MA 01089
Website: The Fiber Festival of New England @ The Big E
Some social networking links for the curious:
Ravelry Group
Facebook Group
So. Um. YEA! The festival was over a week ago and I still owe y’all a blog entry. My apologies on the delay! I promise, my excuse is a really good one – from the moment I pulled into the driveway (which in and of itself was a tremendous feat (I will explain further, I promise)) I have not stopped working! Between the October installment of the Into The Whirled Fiber Club and last minute preparations for the NYS sheep & Wool Festival, it has been a whirlwind of fiber dyeing madness!!
Last weekend was spectacular! But then again – how could anyone ever really complain about spending a weekend devoted to fiber? Seriously?!
Before typing another word, I simply must say Thank You again to everyone who stopped in, said Hi, gave me hugs, showed me finished projects, offered to watch the booth so I could take a break, brought me yummy snacks & fabulous handcrafted presents, and supported this crazy little endeavor I have chosen to call my “career”. Thank You. I count myself among the blessed, you folks mean the world to me!!
Onto my promised tale…
With production rolling along and as the inventory collection grew – one thing became very clear – my little mini-SUV was no longer capable of hauling the new display system, inventory, luggage and one human – let alone two. The solution? A cargo trailer!!
Not only was this the first time I was attending SAFF as a vendor, but this was the first time I would be piloting the trailer ALONE! I will admit the nerves were a little frayed at first, but like everything – practice makes perfect. Well sorta…
Driving = easy.
Going forward = fabulous.
Hitching = sorta easy.
Unhitching = easy peasy.
Backing up = not so easy, actually really freaking challenging!
Thankfully I was able to avoid all backing up situations until I returned home on Sunday night. Safely at home, in the middle of the night, I was able to devote a great deal of time to truly comprehending how to back a single axle trailer into the driveway. After 20 minutes of Jackknifing the trailer I finally grasped how to maneuver the darn thing!
Funny, in the year of numerous “firsts” – learning how to pilot a cargo trailer was not something I ever imagined. Nor did I imagine it would prove to be such a momentous accomplishment. But then again, I never imagined that I would be doing half the things I am doing today.
Rambling aside – time to share some pictures!!
Being one of the first to arrive on the grounds does have a certain charm. This is what Building 12 looked like on Friday around 10:30am.
Booth assembled, trailer unpacked and ready to setup the display!
Chaos before Calm
Open and ready for business!!
Now imagine this…
This booth size was 10 x 10.
In two weekends ITW will be at the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY - Building C – Booth 38 & 39.
Booth size? 11 x 30.
Crazy? I know!! Awesome? I know! That being said I need to step away from the keyboard and get back to the studio!!
With a ToDo list growing by the minute I must admit I almost took the easy road when I considered calling this a Wordless Wednesday post – but if I say nothing else I simply MUST say Thank You to all who attended the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair this past Memorial Day weekend. Simply stated – the weekend was AWESOME.
It was an honor and privilege to meet so many amazing people…
Thank you for your enthusiasm and support!!
Cummington marked my first – ever – solo two day festival. Actually, three days if you count the 6 hours spent constructing the booth on Friday afternoon. A detail that in my mind is pretty fantastic. This weekend marked the beginning of a what I expect to be a very long, and exciting, full time career on the Festival circuit!!
OH and before I move onto the eye candy – I would also like to thank the podcasters and bloggers who shared their adventures from this past weekend! You might want to have your blog reader ready to accept some new fabulous fiber feeds…
Knit 1 Heart Too – The 2011 MA Sheep & Wool Episode & Discombobulated
Project: Stash – I shouldn’t have…
A sampling of the pictures from the festival…
Oh it was a very rainy day!!
All week emails sailed back and forth between co-vendors and potential visitors. Weather reports were shared on a daily basis. Would it rain or would the powers that be take mercy on the collection of vendors destined to stand in a field on April 23rd? With no rain date scheduled it was almost pre-determined to be a wash out…
But was it?! Yes, the fields were rain soaked swampland. Yes, more then half the vendors scheduled to show canceled. Yes, more then one car got stuck in the mud. And YES, the day was a HUGE success!!
Please allow me to Thank each and every person who found their way to the Chancellor’s Sheep & Wool Showcase. It was cold and rainy and muddy but you awesome people found it in your hearts to pull on your wellies, gather the umbrellas and don your finest rain gear…
On behalf of every vendor in attendance – Thank You.
I learned a lot of things on Saturday. Perhaps the greatest lesson learned was that there is nothing like the comfort of a wool lined cubicle in the middle of a rain storm to entice folks to linger and chat!
…until the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck NY!! And thanks to some planning ITW fiber will be available at the Ulster County Handspinners Guild booth in barn 39!! Just a hint of what you might find:
Show/Festival: NYS Sheep & Wool Festival
Dates: 10/16 & 10/17
Directions: HERE
Booth Location: 39 A, B with the Ulster County Handspinners
See you next weekend! OH and just a reminder – the guild does not accept credit cards. Cash and checks are accepted!