YarnCon celebrated its 11th year in Chicago this April 7th and 8th. Last year was my very first YarnCon, and its quickly becoming one of my most looked-forward-to events of the year. I’m not a knitter — a skill I still desperately need to learn — so some of the yarn-y goodness is lost on me, but its one of the few events in the city where I can play with and buy a huge variety of spinning fibers.

This year, I challenged my introverted self to take a class at the con. I signed up for Emily Wohlscheid’s Try Spinning Bouclé class and enjoyed it so much. Bouclé is a loopy, high texture yarn and a technique that I have been hesitant to try on my own. In the 2 hour class, we were able to experiment with a long wool mix, Wensleydale, Teeswater, Suri alpaca, and mohair to create our loopy yarn. I still have a ton of practice to do, but by the end of the class my mohair actually started looking like a true bouclé!

I also was able to take an acid dyeing class after one of my classmates from the spinning class wasn’t able to attend and graciously gave me her ticket. I acid dye my own fiber but I use a wet dye technique and the class was teaching a dry dyeing technique. I walked away disappointed in my yarn (I never use enough dye), but am so glad I tried dry dyeing. I prefer the control wet dyeing gives me, but appreciate the extra prep work it requires. Dry dyeing is quick, easy, and unpredictable which can be fun if that’s what you’re going for.

One other challenge I gave myself this year was to only buy my favorite fibers or fibers I hadn’t tried to spin before. No merino for me. It took a lot of self control not to buy from so many of the amazing vendors there, but I’m proud to say that I did it. I bought myself Targhee (my current favorite and what I think I want to eventually raise); Polwarth (a close second); an interesting blend of Merino, alpaca, camel, and silk; and cotton. This will be my first attempt with plant fibers and I can’t wait to see how it goes.

I love festivals and conferences like this. I get to meet people who share the same fiber interests as I do, talk about different spinning wheels and new models that came out, and see and feel all the interesting things people are doing with fiber. I walk away from YarnCon so inspired, it’s almost enough to last me until next year.