Let's Raise A Glass.........

DFW Fiber Fest is twenty-one years old.  People kept joking about how the event is now old enough to drink alcohol.  Often people ask if I thought it would last this long, and I tell them that I knew if it survived the first two years, we would probably make it.  I did NOT expect it to be as large as it is - classes on two floors of the Irving Convention Center, with vendors filling the ground floor, and over 800 unique students.

The four founders, or "emeriti", at dinner last year.
I am holding one of the original shirts we all wore.

This is us around Year 2.  Fourth founder took the photograph.

The four of us had many struggles and tests of faith in those first couple of years, but we persevered and have been grateful to all who came after to serve on the Board and otherwise volunteer.  It's nice to come back as a student - and yes, I do still volunteer, usually on Sunday.

This year I took a number of classes, including one where we used the same plant (madder) and mostly the same dyepot, to achieve a dozen differed shades by using different mordants (or none) and maybe a treatment after dyeing:

I also did a bit of shopping; Day 1 (except the variegated skein, which I brought to try to find a coordinating colour) and Day 3:

Book was free, from a box that the Dallas Public Library
brought of de-accessioned materials.

......although for some reason I cannot find a photograph of my Day 2 acquisitions.  Probably just as well. 

On the way home I added a Vikkel Braid, using the technique I'd learned in one of my classes, to the Convergence Hat I worked on between classes.  The pattern was designed by Alissa Barton many years ago for DFW Fiber Fest and combines crocheting and knitting.  A bit fiddly but a fun result.