Fibre Space ~ Day 2!

Hi, Knitters,

Yesterday was simply an excellent day at Fibre Space. This shop is amazing. It is bustling and fun and cool. The staff is wonderful and helpful and smart. I had two jam-packed classes, full to the brim. In the morning Ann Weaver was teaching a sweater class at the same time I was teaching the Build a Toy workshop and it was the start of the local Yarn Crawl. The lines at the register were never-ending. It was a banner day for the shop. 

Click here for the Fibre Space website!

Fibre Space is clearly doing something right. The Old Town Alexandria setting is so charming and old. I love the teaching set up. There are open windows between the teaching room and the shop so you really feel like you are part of the action. 

See that swift in the window between the classroom and shop? That thing never stopped the entire day. I am surprised to see it resting in the photo above. That swift is hooked up to an electric ball winder.

I am so impressed with the owner, Danielle, and her staff. These are some hard working people. If people have images of owning a yarn shop and sitting around and knitting all day they should come to Fibre Space. The staff here never sits down or even stops for a second. They are helping people with their knitting, selecting patterns and yarn with customers, chatting, checking people out with their purchases, cleaning, helping me set up for my workshops, and more.... and they do it all with a smile. 

The first two photos are from my morning class. What enthusiastic toy knitters I had! We had a lot of fun together and the time went so fast. At the beginning of my workshops I always feel like I have so much time but all of a sudden at the end there is so much I want to squeeze in before the students leave me.

The following photos are from my afternoon workshop, Fair Isle Hat. This workshop has become one of my most popular classes wherever I teach. It fills up quickly and sells out it seems wherever I go. I love that because I love color work and I love teaching color work.

My classes pretty much rocked. I had students from past teaching venues show up, which I love, I had students with all levels of experience. Everyone succeeded and hopefully learned a thing or two and seemed to have good time on top of it.

I really love teaching knitting. That's what it boils down to.

Here is the sample table before my Fair Isle Class. I left the toys out just for fun.

Below are photos of my students' work in the color work class. I have to brag for them. They all learned and tried new things. Some were quite nervous at the start but they dug in and really went with the techniques at hand.

Look at these wonderful hats! This was only half way through the class. Much more progress was made by the end of class. A couple of students almost finished their hats. The photos below show some corrugated rib and a left-leaning Latvian Braid.

There were more, I didn't get photos of every hat in the class. Aren't those hats wonderful and inspiring? Thank you, students, for a fantastic day!

This is my beloved Melanie (maashrink on rav). I loved meeting her in person.

We have a thread in our Itty-Bitty Knits forum group on Ravelry called, Itty-Bitty Meet Ups. These meet-ups occur with members from all over the world. We always take photos and share them with our group and then everyone comments. On the left is Greg, knittingdaddy on rav, and Melanie, maashrink on rav. It was so lovely to spend time together in person.

Please come and join our fun-loving group on Ravelry, Itty-Bitty Knits!

One last note, I posted a photo of this sliver fiber for spinning yesterday on Instagram and Facebook, and asked if anyone knew what is was. I got a great response, even Amy Detjen and Clara Parkes responded and said I should get one.

Oh darn, I guess I'll have to bring a braid home with me now.

I'll take more photos from today! I have one more toy-themed workshop this afternoon. I can't wait.

There are not enough stars around for me to give Fibre Space a high enough review on all fronts. I suggest supporting this shop in every way we are able. It is a super vibrant community-based shop that is successful for all of the right reasons.

Click here for Fibre Space!

I'll be back soon with more. I hope you are having a nice weekend, everyone.
best, susie
p.s. I had about a 10 minute break at lunch to walk around in a t-shirt and skirt and soak in some sunshine. It felt so good to be outside without a coat, it just added to my great weekend.

Fibre Space ~ Here we go!

Hi, Knitters,
I want to share the first day of my trip to Fibre Space in Alexandria, Virginia, with you. The travels were good although there was a bit of circling and minor delays due to visibility issues. Nothing major but I had to hightail it to my gate in Detroit because we landed quite a bit later than scheduled. The gates were really far apart but I made it fine.

Click here for the Fibre Space website!

I wore my 15 Colour Rainbow socks, the yarn is by Fab Funky Fibres on Etsy. It was such a gray, overcast and foggy kind of day that the bright socks made me happy.

On the plane I worked on my second sock in Regia Super Jacquard. I made pretty good progress.

 I could not believe how crowded Reagan National Airport was. It was so packed in the gate area when I got off the plane. It was difficult to get into the airport due to the crowding. The whole airport was super crowded. I was glad to get out of there.

During the second leg of my flight (I read during the first flight), I finished the cuff, knit the heel flap, turned the heel and finished the gusset. Now this should go really fast to the toe! I can't wait to wear this pair.

Danielle, the owner of Fibre Space, picked me up in her tiny Mini-Cooper car and I wasn't sure my two bags would fit but they did! She made it work.

 It was close to 60 degrees in Alexandria. I pulled out my spring coat and boy did that feel good. At home in Madison there were snow flurries. I ended up not even needing my coat for the walk to the shop. It was wonderful.

Old Town in Alexandria is so charming. You can walk everywhere. This brick park is right outside of my hotel window. The structure appears to have vines growing all over it which I'm sure in the summer is very beautiful.

I packed up to go to my book signing/meet and greet! I always bring my knitting just in case. Last night though I didn't have much time to knit. The meet and greet was great! I had a steady stream of friendly knitters who purchased and brought their books for me to sign. I loved meeting everyone. Thanks for coming if you were there.

Here are some photos from last night:

Click here for the Fibre Space website. 

You should purchase from this shop. It's a good one to support. The vast array of unique and inspiring yarns is unmatched. Danielle, the owner, has curated an incredible amount of indie and commercial yarns. She is hard working and talented.

There's Danielle working so hard as usual.

Incredible sale bins! That's the signature mannequin. 

Unique spinning fibers.....

This table was filled to twice this size only hours before..... 

A gigantic collection of Brooklyn Tweed....

More unique homespun yarns!

A closer look (it's looking back at you!).

Brooklyn Tweed Loft. I want all of this!

More Plucky!

Skein from Australia! I really want to take some home.

Wall o' needles.

Okay, this Neighborhood Fiber Co. is driving me crazy I love it so much! 

The vibrancy is incredible and rich! This is a local to the shop dyer.

Look at the shelves and shelves of Neighborhood Fiber Co.  Danielle used to work in a different yarn shop with the dyer. She is loyal and supportive.

Spacious and well-organized!

I love the indie and the commercial yarns together. There is something for everyone.

The shop is bubbling over with samples. Isn't this cute? I have no idea what the pattern is called. I'll try to find out today.

I think one of these might come home with me. That is something like 1500 yards. I put my hand in there for scale. It is bigger than my head.

This one is my favorite color.

And maybe one of these for my sock darning.

Love it! Order one from the shop!

And maybe these should come home with me?

I am loving this rustic fiber. 

And maybe this could fit in my suitcase, too? I think I will bring some of this home. I will find out more today about this fiber.

The punch back there was pineapple and ginger! It was sooooo good and cold. I drank it all night at my signing. Ahhh, refreshing!

Ready to go!

Yum!

Maureen, who took classes with me at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC brought her snowman to share with me! She is taking classes all day with me on Saturday. I love repeat students!

My buddy Greg and his beautiful daughter came to visit along with Greg's dad. Greg is a very active member of Itty-Bitty Knits (my forum group on Ravelry.) Greg is taking classes all weekend with me.

These are Greg's knits he brought on my request to share with me! He is such a great knitter, and fairly new, too.

Greg also brought his giraffe from my Not so Itty-Bitty Giraffe class on Craftsy. I love it!

Gotta run to class now! I'll take more photos today to share.

Miss you all! Have a super Saturday.

best, susie