Fiber Fusion Northwest, now in its third year, will be held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe Oct. 19-20, for anyone interested in all types of natural fibers, yarns, and fiber arts.

The event, sponsored by North Sound Alpaca Association, of Stanwood, is open to the public and free of charge. Over 60 vendors with be featured showcasing a variety of products for the fiber artist and enthusiast, as well as ongoing free demonstrations and an educational exhibit featuring local animal breeders with live fiber producing animals.

“We have a gold mine of local talent in the many various aspects of the fiber arts arena,” said Lisa Lewis, of Sauked in Farm in Concrete, and member of North Sound Alpaca Association. “It would take pages to list them all, but to highlight a few, we have nationally renowned instructors who live in our region such as Sarah Anderson and Amelia Garripoli. We have brick and mortar stores which have been serving the fiber arts community for many years such as Northwest Handspun Yarns in Bellingham and The Weaving Works in Seattle.”

She added the founders of the four-state group called Northwest Regional Spinners Association and other local weaving guilds.  “We have multi-generational goat and sheep farms like The Pines in Maple Valley. I believe Washington state ranks second in the nation for the highest alpaca population so we have an abundance of successful alpaca breeders,” Lewis said. “We also have many local family-owned mini-mills to process our fiber into fabulous yarns and rovings for us such as Superior Fibers in Edmonds and Evergreen Fleece Processing in Woodinville.”

A variety of classes and workshops include spinning, knitting, felting, fleece preparation, and more are listed online.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, an evening dinner seminar with Amelia Garripoli  includes “Spinning Blends: The Long & Short of It.” Fiber like wool, silk, angora, and alpaca each has its own traits. Amelia highlights how to combine and spin them. A simple buffet dinner is provided.

Fiber Fusion Northwest is excited to include a Wool and Mohair Show, as well as an Alpaca Fleece Show Youth Division, in the fleece judging.  Judged by Amy Wolf, fleece registration is open until Oct. 9.

Lewis said the show has grown a lot since 2010. “That first year, we held an alpaca fleece judging, the second year we added a mohair fleece  judging, and this year we’ve grown to include fleece judging for all sheep breeds as well as an alpaca fleece judging youth division,” she said.

People can submit their fiber arts and handcrafted yarns to the Fiber Contest, and The “People’s Choice” Photo Contest lets photographers submit pictures of farm, fiber arts, or critters. In addition, a Used Equipment Sale includes spinning wheels, spindles, carders, looms, swifts, knitting needles, and crochet hooks, and pattern books. Items for sale are to be brought in early Saturday morning.

Lewis agreed more and more people are interested in fiber. “Of course, knitting has been surging in popularity nationwide over the last few years. This has resulted in an explosion of the varieties of yarns available consisting of everything from organic cotton to fibers from bison and yak! Interest continues to grow in all of the traditional fiber arts such as weaving, spinning, and felting.”

For more information, visit www.FiberFusion.Net, contact Lisa Lewis or LeeAnna Jorgenson at (360) 391-7308 or (360) 678-0481 or email info@fiberfusion.net. Follow the Fiber Fusion Northwest Facebook page for more information. The North Sound Alpaca Association was created in 2008 and includes alpaca owners and breeders in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, San Juan, and Snohomish. More information about the group can be found at www.NorthSoundAlpacas.org.

Classes offered

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

Nuno Felt a Gypsy Vest

Fourteen Fringes

Spinning Beehives, Cocoons & Variations

Crochet with Roving

Drafting Therapy for Spinning

Beginning Spindle Spinning

Icicle Scarf – a Lesson in Tailspinning

Nuno Felted Scarf

Chain Ply for Spinning

Spindle Roadshow

Quick & Easy What-Not Basket

Spinning a Sound Wave

Hooks for Sticks

Felted Soap

Prepare a Fleece for Spinning

A Special Evening Dinner Seminar with Amelia Garripoli – Spinning Blends: The Long & Short of It

SUNDAY, OCT. 20

Spinning with Coils, Pigtails, & Beads

Drum Carding A to Z (Let’s Get Batty!)

Locker Hooking

Beginning Spinning on a Drop Spindle

Beginning Wheel Spinning

Make this! My First Garment: The Wrap Front Cardi

Spinning Bubble Crepe Yarn

Cloud Spinning – Fiber Processing with Almost No Tools

Spice Up Your Corespinning

Knitting from Silk Hankies

Introduction to Wet Felting

Participating Vendors

Over 60 vendors will be on site, including some local businesses:

Alpacas from MaRS, Snohomish:

Alpaca yarn, alpaca felted items, hand-knit items, alpaca rovings, batts, and needle felted pins. www.alpacasfrommars.com

Blackberry Hill Farm, Granite Falls: Icelandic and British breed sheep fleece and fleece products, roving, lopi, worsted and handspun yarns, spinning and felting supplies, handmade shawls and accessories, fiber arts and spinning lessons.

www.blackberryhillfarm.net

Casa de Arboles, Monroe: Felted outer garments and housewares. www.casadearboles.com

Dave Yocom’s Wood Creations, Everett: Wood yarn bowls, yarn buddies, and wood bowls.

www.dywoodcreations.com

Evergreen Fleece Processing, LLC, Maltby: Carding to batt or roving of most natural fibers. www.evergreenfleeceprocessing.com

Fricke Enterprises, Granite Falls:

Carding, spinning and winding equipment.  Manufacturers of drum carders, hand carders, spinning wheels, ball winders, skein winders, and more. www.fricke-fiber-tools.com

Graydown Alpacas & Whoamule Shetland Sheep, Mount Vernon:

Raw fiber, rovings, yarn, hand knit items, imported alpaca products, sheep roving blends, raw fiber, and shearing service from Graydown Alpacas.

Huckleberry Knits, Bellingham:

Hand-dyed yarn and spinning fiber.

www.huckleberryknits.com

Jorstad Creek: Locally sourced fibers spun into yarn or processed for handspinning, yarns hand dyed, patterns and kits for knitting.

www.jorstadcreek.com

Pronkin’ Pastures Alpaca Ranch, Greenbank: Hand-spun and mill-spun yarn and roving. www.PronkinPastures.com

Rain City Fiber Arts, Snohomish

raincityfiberarts@gmail.com

www.raincityfiberarts.com

Spinnindipity Fibers, Bellingham

Spinning fiber, batts, notions, finished items, and cashmere.

spinnindipity@gmail.com

Superior Fibers, Edmonds

Yarn, roving, batts. Custom fiber processing. www.superior-fibers.com

Published in the October 2013 issue of Grow Northwest