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March 27, 28, 29, 2015 THE WESTIN CONVENTION CENTER PITTSBURGH What’s goin’ on … I got my girl Sarah settled in at Pitt, where she is enjoying classes, studying hard and doing homework. She joined the FSAE Racing Team and the Sailing Club, and is crocheting slippers for everyone on her dorm floor. Pretty well-rounded kid! I miss her dearly, but the Festival prep work is keeping me too busy to fall apart! I am also taking yoga classes at a new studio in Point Breeze, Inner Hearth, where I have tried four classes with four different teachers. These gentle and stimulating classes are a perfect end to my days, just what I need to keep me balanced and even-keeled.
Here are some preliminary Festival plans: On Friday, March 27 (Save the Date!), we’ll kick off the weekend with a “Fabulous Fashion Extravaganza Luncheon,” featuring the Fab 4 (Steven “StevenBe” Berg, Stephen West, Drew “The Crochet Dude” Emborsky and Charles “The Sock King” Gandy) and other special guests. With the latest seasonal wear trends, must-have garments and accessories, this show is sure to be a smashing runway presentation. On Saturday evening, StevenBe will also host his ever-popular PJ Party. We are receiving final class submissions for the Festival. (Yes, I gather them this far in advance.) We’ll have many new teachers and new classes on the schedule for this year, along with many returning favorites. We’ll also have many new vendors in our marketplace. Stay tuned as more details fall into place! With Warm Regards, Barb |
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Showing Pittsburgh our Love of Fiber In addition to the three full days of classes and market, we’ll have a 78-foot Cascading Wall of Yarn Art Installation!
I have completed one of the panels for the yarn art installation, a panel in various shades of white yarns (my continued study in white). More than 75 different yarns were used to create this 46″ x 96″ panel: mohairs, wools, alpacas, natural fibers, acrylics, silks, blends, tweeds, recycled dyed, undyed, lace weight to bulky, novelties and more. We have a wall of 78 feet to display the various yarns, weights, colors, shades and hues for a “shout out” to Pittsburgh that “We Love Yarn!” All in all, one panel has more than 400 individual strands of yarn, making the total installation close to 10,000 strands of yarn! We will gift the installation to the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School (CAPA) after the show, where the students are focusing on weaving this year. We’ll ask them to bring in their finished projects the following year so everyone can see what our installation evolved into. We are inviting you to participate. If you, your group, club, shop or organization would like to be involved in this large yarn art installation, please let us know. No knitting or crochet skills are required; all you need to know how to do is to tie a knot. We can drop off all supplies for you to make a panel to hang at the Festival in March. The first public “tie one on” party will be hosted at the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse on Oct. 10, I Love Yarn Day, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Drop in for a little bit, or spend the whole day helping to create the various panels for the installation (bring your own beverage). The Center is also offering project participants a buy one, get one free yarn purchase all day as an I Love Yarn Day sponsor.
One of the panels has already found a home at Toni Ritchey’s RaggZ Fiber Art in Greensburg, where we spent an afternoon playing on her new FeltLOOM. Barb says, “I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to try out Darn Good Yarn‘s Silk Recycled Chiffon and Recycled Sari Silk Ribbon. The silks worked beautifully on the FeltLOOM, and make a nice trim for some of my planned accessories. Whether making jewelry, garments, patterns, home goods, finished products, or accessories, the fibers and items at Darn Good Yarn are the perfect accompaniment for every knitter, crocheter, weaver, spinner, and crafter.”
Darn Good Yarn Needs Your Vote! Maggie Pozorski, VP of Darn Good Yarn, writes: The Darn Good Yarn office has been buzzing for the last two weeks and now I get to let the cat out of the bag!!! We are planning our first trip to India! We have two main goals in mind, No. 1 we are going to source many new products for Darn Good Yarn in hopes of providing hundreds of more jobs for women in India!!! Right now we support about 300 families in India and Nepal; the goal with this trip is to double that number!!! No 2 we have a goal of bringing a film crew with us to India with the intention to capture the whole story of how Darn Good Yarn is made, from waste to amazing craft supplies. I am not sure if you know but just last year Darn Good Yarn turned over 20,000 pounds of waste fabric into yarn!!!
So we need your help!! We have entered a grant contest to try and fund our trip to India!! To move further in the contest, we really need your vote!!! Here is the link to vote for Darn Good Yarn in the Mission Main Street Grant Contest: https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/14349
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for being part of the Darn Good Yarn family! With every purchase you make you are helping the full circle of craft supplies grow bigger and better, and supporting more and more women!!
September Book Reviews and Sweepstakes How To Knit, Learn the Basic Stitches and Techniques, by Leslie Ann Bestor and How to Crochet, Learn the Basic Stitches and Techniques, by Sara Delaney
 These are the perfect books to get anyone started. If you are a seasoned knitter or crocheter, they may be nice books to pass along to your niece, nephew, daughter, son or grandchildren when you can’t be there to guide them. From simple how-to and easy-to-follow steps to basic cast-ons and cast-offs, the books include increasing and decreasing, how to select needles and yarn, how to change colors, joining and reading patterns.
Studies show that learning a new craft can have many benefits on brain functions. “Crafting is unique in its ability to involve many different areas of your brain. It can work your memory and attention span while involving your visuospatial processing, creative side, and problem-solving abilities,” says Catherine Carey Levisay, a clinical neuropsychologist. The Waldorf School of Pittsburgh includes knitting, crochet and handwork in every grade. With so many arts being excluded from school programs, involving our younger generation in a new craft will make them as smart as we are! 🙂
HOW TO ENTER THE SWEEPSTAKES: Simply send an email (one entry per person per book, please) to pghknitandcrochet@gmail.com by OCT 10, 2014 (I Love Yarn Day!), with either the subject line of “How to Knit” or “How to Crochet.” Please include your name and a phone number where you can be reached. The winner will be drawn randomly from the entries and announced in the next issue of Festival Update.
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