Community

My work has been on the cover of Handwoven twice.  I was hoping for a 'hat trick', but the news that F & W, the current owners of Interweave are in Chapter 11 re-structuring has left a lot of people - not just fibre folk - wondering about the future.

As weavers, spinners and knitters, there are already options for publications.  Plyaway for spinners has really come into it's own for information about spinning, and Heddlecraft, Vav, SS&D and Complex Weavers present weaving information.  There are other knitting publications than those published by Interweave.

Eventually things will sort themselves out.  Either some astute fibre supporter will purchase the Interweave 'brand', or small publications will start up to meet the demand.  Or information dissemination will happen more and more on line.

Whatever happens, fibre folk have been and will continue to be a close knit (pun intended) community,.

Having been part of that community since 1974/5 I have watched it go through cycles of interest waxing and waning.

Along the way I have met and been inspired and encouraged by many others as fascinated with fibre and cloth as I am.

One of the delights of working on the ANWG conference is getting to work with some of them.

Some of the instructors I have met in real life and consider them more than colleagues or acquaintances.  Those that I do know are without exception positive, encouraging, have a great sense of humour (they laugh at my puns - what's not to love?)  All of the instructors are well informed about their particular specialty (some have more than one!) and generous in presenting that information to eager students.

Part of getting a conference of this scope formatted/organized is getting people matched up with rooms that fit their needs.  And then some of the offerings are more popular than you expect and in both cases, the two most popular presenters have quickly and graciously agreed to take more than they were scheduled for originally.

We are working on juggling the facilities to make sure that the rooms they will be assigned to will hold more and also have the requirements they need to do their job.

Working with people who are ready, willing and enthusiastic in co-operating to make this event work well?  Priceless.  Beyond rubies.