All of us who knit, crochet, spin, or otherwise participate in fiber crafts and fiber arts benefit from community, whether virtual or in person. And I think as we’re in We learn new skills from and are inspired by the works of those around us. My knitting skills got a significant jump start because I was already part of a meetup at a local yarn store and I wouldn’t even know drop spindles were a thing unless without attending a fiber festival. So a couple things on building and supporting community today:
BIPOC in Fiber
When BIPOC in Fiber did a Crowdfunder to gather funding for their soon to launch website to support the BIPOC community, I chipped in because I thought it was important. Supporting a larger organization dedicated to helping the broader community seemed as important as supporting BIPOC business more directly. Afterall, I’m only going to buy from the designers, dyers, etc… who produce things to my taste. But the website will support a much wider range of BIPOC businesses. I’ll be honest, when I donated I didn’t pay a ton of attention to the rewards attache to the tier. I was impressed by the design of the digital badge I received a little while ago, but I’d totally forgotten there was more to come until the package arrived in the mail in a fabulously orange envelope:
The rewards are… well, actually pretty cool. I’m vaguely aware that pins are a “thing” in the fiber community, but this is the first one I’ve ever obtained and contrary to anything I would have expected of myself… I’ve already put it on a project bag. And the post cards are really sharp looking, though as of yet I have no idea when or how I’ll use them.
YarnCanada Giveaway
YarnCanada has partnered with Bernat Yarn and Patons Yarn to give 12 individuals and groups in Canada and the US a total of $2000 worth of yarn to use towards their good works. They are accepting applications through January 7, 2020.
So, if you use your knitting or crochet for good works, it might be worth applying. It seems like a cool way for a yarn business to support the people who use their craft to support their community.
More details as well as contact info for YarnCanada are on their website. I’ve never personally ordered from them, but the facebook reviews are generally positive which is why I’m comfortable sharing the giveaway information.
Sharing knowledge
Today, I also did my own little bit of more direct in person community building. I’m part of a yarn craft meetup that gathers biweekly at a restaurant or cafe space in town. We all get to chat and see what others are doing. Normally, my contributions are somewhat limited by my extremely limited German. Most members are German and most of the conversation is understandably in German, though most weeks a couple are there who speak English to varying degrees.
Anyway, during the last meeting one woman was particularly interested in the drop spindle I was using, so today I brought along a couple extra spindles good for starting on and some Shetland top I keep around for sharing with others. I showed her the basics of drafting, how twist moves and how to get started with park and draft. She spent over an hour working away and produced a nice little bit of starter yarn. Each time I am able to spend time teaching one person, I come away with a better understanding of how to teach it to the next person. While I certainly hope she enjoyed it enough to continue, just knowing I had the opportunity to share something I enjoy so much with another person, so that they can make that choice to keep at it or not, added to my day.
I also love that using a spindle for hand spinning makes it so approachable. I can throw a couple in my bag along with some wool to let somebody try it out, and if they are hooked, they aren’t left trying to figure out how to save up hundreds of dollars to buy a wheel.
How do you contribute to your fiber community?