FiberCamp! FiberCamp! FiberCamp! … (it’s only a model)

Something Fishy

FiberCamp Boston was this past weekend at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, and even though I was running the registration desk for much of the time, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Attendance was down from what we had hoped — only 64 registered attendees — but this was our first year and the collective experience was overwhelmingly positive. People who have never attended an unconference before were understandably wary of the format, but those who bit the bullet and attended anyway were pleasantly surprised. It came together perfectly, with dynamically updated workshops and presentations offered by the attendees themselves. Of course, I taught two sessions of my double-knitting workshop, somehow managing to get the majority of the material into everyone’s heads in the space of an hour and a quarter.

I taught the first one with a projector and document camera borrowed from work. I hope someone got a photo of that because it must look ridiculous.

I also learned a new cast-on, got to stump the resident expert on unusual knitting styles, and enjoyed delicious lunches at La Casa De Pedro right next door. My wife came the second day and ran a popular workshop called the “Alice Starmore Library” where she just brought in all her old rare un-reprinted Starmore books and let people leaf through them.

Also, we were asked to contribute a handmade fish to a project done by Adrienne Sloane and Jodi Colella where they hung a giant knitted net outside the venue and hung fish all over it. This finally gave me the chance I needed to do Linda Taylor’s felted fish. I don’t know felting well enough to try it on this, so I just knit it on needles two sizes too small and stuffed it without felting. As is characteristic of me, I changed a few things — I double-knit the tail (A+ for theory, C for execution), rolled the “brim” to make lips and sewed the end in to cinch them closed, and gave it duplicate-stitch eyes.

I’m hoping everyone who came this year will bring a friend next year!

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