knitting – Page 3 – Felting and Fiber Studio

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, August 1-3, 2014

August 10, 2014 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 19 comments

by Guest Artist/Author Cathy Wycliff (Luvswool)

We, Marilyn (Pandagirl) and I (Luvswool), had never attended a “fiber fair,” so there were expectations and then the reality of the Fair. We had planned for many months to attend the annual Fair and met there early Friday morning with great anticipation. The advance program showed photos of sheep, fiber, workshops, art exhibits, bags of fleece, etc., and the Fair delivered all of that except for the sheep. One of the organizers explained to me that August is too hot for sheep, and I guess that makes sense. So, the only live animals were a lonely llama and a couple of angora rabbits. Still, it was an enjoyable experience.

The Fair has been held for 8 years in Grayslake, IL, a far northwestern town in the extended Chicago metro area, and it’s a Fair that celebrates the work of many hands. We saw spinners, felters, and knitters demonstrating their crafts, and there were many workshops offered during the 3-day fair. There were a couple of folk singers and a few food vendors outdoors, but everything else was contained in an air-conditioned building. The majority of the indoor vendors were geared towards knitters, with many beautiful displays of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarns and goods. Neither Marilyn nor I are knitters, so we headed first for a walk around to scope out the lot.

First stop was the Art Exhibit, which displayed fine fiber art–among them, my own display of five fiber wall-hangings. There were other fiber wall hangings, sculptures and “vintage” handbags (crafted from vintage patterns but otherwise entirely new).

(Cathy had a very prominent display! It was the first thing to see on our way in. Very exciting! — Marilyn)

Next up were the vendors, which included some crazy rag rugs, lots of beautiful yarn and bags of alpaca fleece. There were also felted hats and you’ll notice I didn’t snap pics of the roving, since I was busy buying it. Marilyn and I purchased some fibers we have not previously felted with–including Navajo churro, 100% Organic Polwarth, white Falkland and I bought some black Blue Faced Leicester with silk. Since there was so much yarn, I did pick up some white wool boucle for embellishment, as well as silk hankies, which I have never used.

As we neared the end, we were able to view the judging of alpaca and llama fleece. Two judges followed a quality control checklist and had to concur on all points.

Then it was goodbye to Princess Athena, the lonely llama, and our day at the Fair came to an end. We would love to attend another fair, but next time would like to see sheep–sheep-shearing, sheep-judging, sheep fleeces, border collies herding sheep, etc. Maybe there’s a trip to New Zealand in our future!

The Results are in…

June 7, 2014 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 16 comments

In an effort to evaluate our marketing plan and see if we were meeting our Felt and Fiber Forum Members needs, we conducted a member and guest survey May 20 though 27.

Overall, the results were good in terms of the satisfaction of our members. There are a few things we will be working on to make some improvements to enhance the site and information available to members.

Our first question was “What Brought you to the Felt and Fiber Studio forum/Blog?” Since we are an online community, it was important to know how people find us.

I added invitation to the list on the graph because several comments we had included that as an option we hadn’t offered on the questionnaire.

For those members who found us on an online search, half of the respondents chose “wet felting” as their search criteria, 25% “fiber,” and 25% used “needle felting.” Other comments included — felting, fibre, fleece, and wool roving.

93% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the interaction on the forum. Sometimes was the response for 7%. The comments for “Why not” were, “I don’t feel I have much to contribute to the conversations, but find them interesting” and “I check in occasionally, but not regularly.”

Me knitting mbers (79%) feel valued. 65% feel their interests are well represented. Friendly and helpful members rated 93%. Comments requested more information on spinning, weaving, crochet, etc.

One of the most interesting answers for me was the activities members are looking for on the forum.

Comments included “Mixed media is more interesting to me,” and “online classes.”

Participation would be higher if we were able to give our members more time. 100% of the respondents checked this off. What this tells me is that those regular members somehow make time to visit, while others pop in occasionally when they have a few minutes time available. Giveaways and classes were also considerations at 8% each. “A larger membership with increased posts would naturally prompt me to respond more frequently” was a surprising comment for this question. We’d love to have more members participate, if only we could find a way to give them more time!

92% of Forum members also subscribe to the Blog. Again time was mentioned in the comments as to why members did not belong to both.

One of the reasons I wanted to do the survey was to see how we could get our members to help us increase our membership and participation. Here were the results:

Again there is that power of “word of mouth.”

I was also curious how people felt about the lack of advertising since we make an effort to keep the site uncluttered and supportive of the purpose of the forum without compromising the integrity of the site. 71% liked not having advertising. 29% had no opinion. However, the comments were revealing — quality fiber related vendors would be welcome. Others commented that the sponsorship banner was a good idea.

What does all this mean?

Generally, it means for those members who responded, The Felt & Fiber Studio Forum/Blog is doing a good job as a friendly place to share most things fiber enthusiasts care about. The information gives us a few directions to improve or make changes that would benefit our members and, hopefully, engage our current members to help attract new members and other ways such as Search Engine Optimization clues to drive more online traffic our way.

Can we improve? Of course! There are things we will be doing in the future to offer more of what our members want to see and do. In addition, we will provide some material to promote the forum for anyone who wants to help.

In the mean time, keep telling your friends about us and come by often to share what you’ve been working on with us, offer some tips or let us know how we’re doing.

Our thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey!

We hope to see you all on the Forum soon! http://feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com

Visit to Waldron Grove Alpaca Farm

May 12, 2014 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 14 comments

Last weekend, I took a little ride to the Waldron Grove Alpaca Farm in Campton Hills, Illinois for their annual Open House and Art Sale. The two day event featured their 30 Suri alpacas and an array of handmade items for sale and demonstrations by five featured artists.

The farm is owned by Susan and Ron Waldron since 2003. Susan is an oil painter and felter. She combines needle and wet felting using her Suri Alpaca fleece exclusively for her designs. She and Ron also specialize in alpaca farm start ups.

The alpacas are a little shy so they kept to themselves, but it was fun watching them in the field. Susan had two wonderful weather days for the event. (Lately, our weather has been very iffy.) A little windy but sunny and warm.

The garage was filled with wonderful art pieces for sale. While I was there I was able to watch a spinning and drop spindle demonstration by Laurie McGee who is a dyer, spinner, weaver and knitter. She also makes custom yarn, hand combed tops and gives spinning lessons.

There were many of Susan’s oil paintings, tapestries, silk scarves, shawls, silk coverups and clothing beautifully displayed around the area. She also sells alpaca needle felting kits featuring alpacas, irises, and other flowers. You can learn more about Waldron Grove at www.susanwaldronart.com

LuAnn Toborg and Anita Riemer were manning the cash register while I was there and I had an opportunity to talk to both of them.

LuAnn specializes in hand dyeing yarn with natural plants, berries and flowers.

Anita creates dyed yarn with acid dyes and makes cowls, scarves, hats, felted wallets, jewelry and baby blankets.

While I was there, Susan demonstrated needle felting and hand carding for her guests. She’s modeling a wool jacket she embellished with alpaca.

Of course, I bought some alpaca to play with. I also arranged to come back to take a lesson on using the needle felting machine.

It was a fun afternoon talking with fellow felters and artists and perusing all the wonderful works of art available for sale.

What special events have you attended recently? Remember, if you have a project or event you’d like to blog about, please contact one of the moderators and let us know.

I had a Bad Cold

March 5, 2014 Shepherdessann Comments 23 comments

While I was sick I didn’t do any felting. I just didn’t have the energy. I have been knitting and reading cheesy books.

This is the knitting:

It is a shawl. I have been knitting it on and off for a year. I am a slow knitter. I got the idea at an “Art in the Park” event. Someone had a bunch of similar ones for sale. You knit, knit knit and every so far you add in two fancy yarns. I am not sure how long it should be. I think I will make it really long so I can throw it over my shoulder. That might take another couple of years.

The other thing I did was reach some “bad” novels. You know the guilty pleasure kind. They are the Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels. They are not deep reading but they are great fun to read. I read 8 in the last 2 weeks.

I am feeling much better now and hope to get back to some felting soon.