The Iowa Federation of Handweavers and Spinners of Iowa

This Saturday almost 90 people attended the biannual gathering of the Iowa Federation of Handweavers and Spinners. It was a great day, a little dreary outside, but inside, the sun was shining and folks were having a grand time. Whether if was coffee and kolaches, spinning with friends, learning something new, or shopping the vendors, there was definitely something for everyone.










There were classes teaching spinning with beads, knitting with unspun fleece, blending fibers, knit one below, ply split braiding, weaving snowflakes and hearts, knotted table mats. It was standing room only for the class, "making use of specialty yarns" or what I like to call it "How to use your yarn stash". Guess what that says about the lot of us?



There were demonstrations of ply split braiding, of Navajo plying, ply on the fly and spinning tweed.










Of course, there were the vendors, not that any of us spend any money in fiber.



Popular Choice, the exhibit of our members work which allows the members to select a winner among the entries. Whether its homespun skeins, knitting with homespun, weaving with homespun, weaving with commercial fiber, Handfelted, the entries were sheer proof of the vast array of talent that pervades this group.







This is a group which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. One of our more experienced members, a mere spunky 94 years and a member for probably all of those 50 years, cut the cake and shared her wisdom.



And to top off the day, each participant took home one of these lovely bookmarks. Each woven by a member of the host guild, Craft Guild of Iowa City.







Makes ya just wanta weave/spin/knit something incredible.

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