Confluences

One of the fun things about conferences is being able to connect with other like minded people.

As a co-host of this event, it has been fun watching the delight of friends catching sight of each other, the hugs, the laughter.  It has also been fun watching people get introduced to people they may have heard of, but never met in real life.  The connections that people are making, some of which will no doubt carry on with the assistance of the internet.

There has been much to inspire already, and the best thing about all of this?  Is that people are enjoying themselves.  They are sharing their love of textiles/fibre with others who completely understand it, even if they might not work with exactly the same methods.  It's all fibre.  It's all making.  It's about creativity.  It's about making connections.  The experience of attending a conference is just the tip of the iceberg - it's all that follows that becomes important.  Many things coming together.  The confluence of meeting people, discovering resources that were previously unknown.  The interchange of ideas and concepts, directions that may have not been known before, and now are.

Personally I've already made a few connections, things that will inform my practice going forward.  Opportunities that I hadn't known were there.  The gift of friendship from acquaintances.  A deepening of a relationship that was unexpected.  But welcome.

I am excited to see where a new loom, new yarns, new directions will take me going forward.

Conferences.  Confluences.  If you've never been to one, try to go and see where the journey takes you.