DFW Fiber Fest 2012 Recap.

This past weekend was spent selling my yarns in Grapevine for the annual DFW Fiber Fest. I had never been a vendor at a fiber-specific show before, so I didn't really know what to expect.

 Picture courtesy of Mom

It ended up being a lot of fun! I set up on Thursday, and the vendor hall was open Friday through Sunday. I met a lot of great people, learned a ton of things (both business and knitting-wise) and sold several skeins of yarn. I met Abby Franquemont, who is the author of Respect the Spindle. This is the book that taught me how to spin, so I was very excited to be able to exchange a few words with her. She also told me I had lovely yarns :)

Picture courtesy of Mom

This year, there was a special Friday night event with Mary-Heather and Sarah from Ravelry! It was an interesting talk, and on Saturday when they were walking around the event, they came by my booth and chatted for a bit.

 Picture courtesy of Mom

My mom and brother came to visit on Sunday, and my mom brought her camera to take some pictures of my booth. A lot of yarn was already gone, so it looks a bit empty in these photos, but you can get the general idea.

Picture courtesy of Mom

Me and my brother when he came to visit.

Now, for the acquisitions! I ended up coming home with four skeins of yarn. Two were from Gritty Knits, who was in the booth across from me. I got a skein from Western Sky Knits, who was the booth next to me. That skein is going to eventually become a Hitchhiker Shawl. The last skein was actually purchased by my mom. We found The Fiber Lady's booth, which was nothing but bamboo and bamboo blends. My mom can't wear animal fibers, so she picked out a skein of lace-weight for me to make a shawl for her.

There was one other purchase from Two If By Hand, but that is not in my possession yet. My mom let me pick out some spinning fiber for my birthday (which is a month and a half away), so I'll post pictures when I get it!

Etsy Denton Handmade Harvest!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of vending at the Etsy Denton Handmade Harvest! It was a wonderful show overall and a great show for me as well! I met so many fun people and got to talk to people passionate about yarn like me.

My space before setting up.

I am 99% positive I took a picture of my booth set-up, but it isn't with the rest of my pictures! Oh well. I brought all of my organic and recycled yarns, as well as a skein for me to play with. I decided I wanted to knit myself a pair of socks with my Fullmetal colorway, and I figured it might be a good idea to be knitting with my own yarn :)

I was pretty good about not spending money at this show. I had been considering picking up some Christmas presents, but I decided against it at this show. Maybe if I make it over to Etsy Dallas in a couple of weeks I'll pick some presents up.

I ended up coming out of there with some mineral foundation and eyeshadow from the lovely Sarah at Simplicity Cosmetics. I haven't worn make-up in years (excluding Halloween), but I decided I wanted to wear a little bit on my wedding day at least. Sarah's products came highly recommended by my friend/bridesmaid/fellow Etsy seller Rachel, so I decided to go ahead and get some. I wanted to try it out when I got home, but I can't find my brushes! I wonder if I even still have them...

The other bit of swag I came home with was an Itty Kitty from my friend Amanda at Little Fun Co. I got a Fun Bun from her a year ago, and when she came out with a line of kitties, I had to have one too. We traded this kitty for a skein of my Sakura yarn, and I can't wait to see what she weaves with it.

This kitty does not have a name yet! Help!

I started a sock based on the pattern I used to do my sister's birthday socks (pictures tomorrow), but I think I'm going to change the toe and heel from the original pattern. It's a very basic ribbed sock, so not a big deal to modify. Check out how the colorway ended up working on this pattern:

Diagonal lines! Weeee! But now I have to put the sock on hold while I finish up some school projects. Oh December 17th, you cannot come soon enough.