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Interview with Alissa Barton

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Alissa Barton, aka the Knitting Fairy, is a familiar face at DFW Fiber Fest.  She’s either taught or been a vendor at each of our events.  She’s a treasured member of our DFW fiber community, and we’re glad to have her back again.  Last summer Alissa opened her own yarn store in Grand Prairie - it’s a wonderful store.  If you’re in the area, I highly recommend you check it out!   This year Alissa is teaching Knit Smarter and she will have a booth in our vendor hall.

DFWFF: How did you get started teaching?
Alissa: I started teaching knitting while I was still in High School.  Friends wanted to learn and I knew how. I started teaching professionally in 1990 and have taught at various yarn shops over the years.

DFWFF: What inspires you most?
Alissa: My students! They have the greatest ideas and keep me coming back for more. After that I would say yarn.  The possibilities in a skein of yarn are endless.  I love to pick up the needles and just start knitting until an idea develops.

DFWFF: What project are you most excited about right now?
Alissa: I have opened my own shop! Picking new yarns, seeing new ideas - it’s all still like a dream.

DFWFF: Have you been to the DFW Metroplex before?  If yes, what did you like most about our area?  If not, what are you looking forward to most?
Alissa: I have lived here since 1987. I am looking forward to spending time with yarny-folk at FiberFest.  I always leave exhausted but totally energized at the same time.

We’re looking forward to seeing all the goodies Alissa will have in her booth.  She’s bringing in some extra special items just for DFW Fiber Fest, so be sure to visit her booth!

Did you miss a previous teacher interview?

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Teacher Interview: Sony Hartley

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Sony is half of the a vendor team Knitting Lagniappe, a past and current vendor for DFW Fiber Fest.  She’s always smiling and gracious, and her booth is full of beautiful and interesting pieces of use-able art.  This is Sony’s first year teaching for us, and we’re glad to have her!   Sony will be teaching 911: Knitter’s Help (already sold out!) and Tips and Tricks.  We hope you enjoy reading Sony’s interview!

DFWFF: How would you describe your work?

Sony: My knitting is relaxed, carefree. I’ve tried intricate, detailed and it’s not me. I really admire it but like the more laid back styles, like my life. My pottery also, is easy going, often functional, but still incorporating the unusual. I love to include bits of nature in my work and mix things that most people wouldn”t think to put  together. I do this both in my fiber work and my pottery (even in my cooking).

DFWFF: What inspires you most?

Sony: Nature is truly my biggest inspiration.  When I ‘m choosing yarns to knit, pots to design, or painting, I tend to draw from nature more than anything, especially water and forest themes. I love combining blues and greens with a touch of fun thrown in. Often you will see a dragon fly in my work. I’ve been fascinated with them since a child.  Leaves and trees are also in much of my work, either as a design or in color combinations. As an artist I love lots of color but that doesn’t mean it has to be bright and bold all the time. There is such a deep beauty in subtle , soft colors that melt into each other , like a sunset over the water, changing from red/orange to deep purple and blue.

DFWFF: What project are you most excited about right now?

Sony: I’m knitting/designing a scarf with a horizontal leaf design during my “knitting” time and am working on some sake sets for an upcoming show. Along with this, I’m busy making lots of new yarn bowls and cups for our show. Can’t wait to share them with everyone. We will also have some new buttons, some new patterns and even some fun gift/kit items. All of these have Misty and I very excited about this next show. Somewhere in my free time I’m writing my “Tips n Tricks” booklet. We will have this for sale in our Knitting Lagniappe booth and will be free for anyone taking the class.

DFWFF: Have you been to the DFW Metroplex before?  If yes, what did  you like most about our area?  If not, what are you looking forward to  most?

Sony: We come to DFW  fairly often  - how could we not with 4 beautiful granddaughters up there. That is what we love the most about Dallas and what we always look forward to on the drive north. Of course we love our daughter and son-in-law too!.  Dallas does have lots of other good memories for us - we sailed in a college regatta up there for LSU “a few years ago”, and have relatives up there as well. Having the DFW Fiber Fest to come to is like icing on the cake for me.

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Interview with Cindy Telisak

Sunday, February 27th, 2011

Cindy Telisak is the owner of Jacob’s Reward Farm, home to the South’s first fiber CSA.  I’ve known of Cindy for a couple of years, but I’ve really started to get to know Cindy and her farm this last year.  She hosts a fiber get together every third and fourth Saturdays in her Little Red Barn. I’ve attended a few of the fourth Saturdays and it’s always a good time.  Everybody is working on something different - spinning, knitting, crochet, weaving - and the conversation and creativity boost is a balm to our over scheduled lives.  On top of this, Cindy will gladly give you a tour of her farm.  You’ll meet sheep, chickens, alpacas, and livestock guardian dogs.  In fact, Cindy has just taken ownership of two adorable puppy LGDs.  You can read all about them on her blog.

cindy-sharetheharvest

Cindy is teaching Take Charge of Your Yarn: Make it Yourself, an intro to drop spindling, and Unique Yarns with Art Techniques, making art yarn with a spinning wheel.

DFWFF: How did you get started teaching?
Cindy: I have taught many things throughout my life, depending on my current passion.  For several years I was a certified natural childbirth teacher, and I enjoyed the privilege of helping couples bring their children into the world.  Whatever I love, I love to teach.  This past year, I was very excited to teach over a hundred people to spin on a drop spindle, and a dozen people to knit, at the studio (the Little Red Barn) at the farm.  I love the challenge of coming up with just the right way to explain a concept so that the learner catches on and succeeds.  Our farm hosts quite a few homeschool groups, scout troops, and interested families, and I get to teach them about farm life and the fiber process from hoof-to-hat, so to speak.  I love to see their faces light up!

DFWFF: What inspires you most?
Cindy: I’m inspired by the idea that spinning, knitting, crocheting, and returning to a lifestyle closer to our raw natural resources, can help bring people together into meaningful community.  There is something very powerful about cutting out a lot of extraneous middle-men and connecting hands and fiber, hands and simple tools, hands and dirt, and hearts and hearts.  I love how friendships and bonds grow in the fiber community.

DFWFF: What project are you most excited about right now?
Cindy: The Fiber CSA at our farm has exceeded all my expectations and continues to grow.  The support, fun, camaraderie, generosity, artistic inspiration and synergy will change your life if you hang around long enough.  This growing group of fiber friends humbles and inspires me every day.  They are welcoming and joyful.  It’s an honor to get to nurture it along.  The fiber is important, and a common thread in our community life, but it’s the people who keep the heart beating.

DFWFF: Have you been to the DFW Metroplex before?  If yes, what did you like most about our area?  If not, what are you looking forward to most?
Cindy: I have lived in the northeast DFW area for the past 20+ years.  For a girl who moved around with a military family growing up, this is a big change and I have loved the opportunity to finally put down roots.  I love being an adopted Texan, except in the worst of the hot summer!  My city of Parker, TX is famous as the home of Southfork Ranch, of “Dallas” fame, so we get our share of tourists out seeing the sights.

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Extra Spots Available in Sold Out Classes!

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

Good News! We are pleased to announce that we have been able to add space in each of Anne Hanson’s classes during Fiber Fest. At the same time, an additional spot has opened up in the Tunisian Crochet Basics class. If you were unable to get into a class that was sold out, we have a very limited number of spaces available. For the time being, each of these additional class spaces must be registered and paid for through our PayPal registration system. First come, first served!

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Interview with Robyn Chachula

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

This week’s interview is with one of our featured national teachers, Robyn Chachula.  I identify with Robyn a lot.  No, I’m not a crochet designer and teacher, but we are both first time moms with children about the same age - at or around 18 months.  While I struggle with juggling time for my husband, son, and getting DFW Fiber Fest going, Robyn is doing the same, only she’s teaching AND writing several books at the same time.  I marvel at how she makes it work.

Robyn Chachula is the author of Baby Blueprint Crochet and Blueprint Crochet from Interweave Press.  She also designs for magazines such as, Interweave Crochet and Crochet Today; and yarn companies such as Bijou Basin Ranch and Mission Falls.  You can catch Robyn as a crochet expert on Knit and Crochet Now on PBS.  For DFW Fiber Fest, Robyn is teaching four classes over two days:  Crochet from the Toe Up, Crochet Like a Pro, Beyond the Afghan, and Crochet Jewelry.

DFWFF: How would you describe your work?
Robyn: My winding path to my crochet career began as most, not in the industry. Prior to writing and designing full-time, I was a professional structural engineer with a specialty in historic preservation and renovation.   So my old job may seem like a far cry from crochet fashion design, but for me, they are one in the same. They both use my ability to take a big project and break it down into little items that I can understand, then piece them back together for the overall big picture. My old career also has helped me become fluent in crochet symbols which you see in most of my patterns. My crochet designs fall in the space between the Catwalk and the Target shelves. I design for the intermediate crocheter that is ready to take the next step in their craft, but are not so complex that they will fail.

DFWFF: What inspires you most?
Robyn: I am inspired by everything around my daughter, from her toys to the leaves changing on our walks to her mood. For example in my new book, Baby Blueprint Crochet, I knew I wanted to make a mobile for it.  After my daughter was born, for whatever reason she just loved elephants.  So instead of the bird mobile I was planning, I changed it into elephants for her.  In terms of my fashion design, I am much more focused on wearabilty now.  I rarely will do anything anymore that can’t be tossed in the wash or thrown on quickly while running out the door.  Funny how kids can change the way you look at the world.  I will say though the hardest thing is trying to remember what I was inspired by so that when I have time to act on it I still remember.

DFWFF: What project are you most excited about right now?
Robyn: I am currently writing two very different books as once at the moment, and I am completely obsessed with them.  Luckily the one common thing they have is encompassing lots of fun techniques from cables to Tunisian, lace to beading, and color work to motifs.  I guess the main thing I am loving is getting to research these techniques in depth and envisioning what new project I am going to use them on.

DFWFF: Have you been to the DFW Metroplex before?  If yes, what did you like most about our area?  If not, what are you looking forward to most?
Robyn: I have not been to Dallas, except for flying through doing a connecting flight.  I thought the airport was great, so I can’t wait to actually get to see the city this time!  As with all cities, I am really looking forward to eating.  I love sampling the local cuisine, and can’t wait to eat everything from tex-mex to steaks!

DFWFF: I personally wish I had time to take all her classes and it goes without saying that I’m really looking forward to meeting her in April. Oh, and I just noticed on Robyn’s blog that Crochet Today and Jimmy Beans Wool have teamed up to give 5 lucky winners enough yarn to make her vest on the cover of Crochet Today.  Go enter!

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