Knitters love them and we all miss them. Thanks to the pandemic this year, all spring festivals were cancelled and there is a chance that there will be no fall events either. Bummer. Some festivals, like Maryland Sheep and Wool, went online which was fun for vendors and customers alike, but of course nothing can beat the real thing.

It is never too early to start enjoying yarn.

People attend fiber festivals to feel and touch yarn (before buying), to get inspired, and to take classes. Equally as a vendor, I enjoy meeting customers in person, talking knitting, and seeing knitted shawls and cardigans in person. I get a lot of inspirations for knitting projects as well as new colorways at shows.

But fiber shows are also a lot of work. Read on to find out what it takes to be a vendor and what kind of preparation goes on behind the scenes. Also, we hear from a non-knitter who accompanies his knitting spouse to a fiber festival.

What it takes to be a vendor

For most festivals sign-ups and registrations happen a year in advance. Some shows are juried and the competition is fierce; some large and commercially organized shows appear to be less lenient whom they accept as vendors as long as one writes a large check. Larger isn’t necessarily better and I prefer mid-size shows that offer a good selection of vendors to attract a sizable crowd yet are small enough to not be overwhelming. I usually vend at a dozen festivals per year, focusing on East coast states that are in driving distance from Virginia. I have attended long distance events in Texas, Colorado, and California, which were fun and a good experience, but having to ship and fly adds a level of complexity that is not feasible every year.

Once shows and hotels are booked and confirmed, the actual getting-ready work starts about a week before departure. Now it is a matter of designing the booth lay out and starting to pack whatever needs packing. The basic table and wall configuration is set, but I need to decide which yarns and colors to take. Which ones are new? Which ones have been popular? For which ones do I have sample shawls? Car as well as booth space is limited, so this step requires careful planning. Having the right colors, and the right amount of each, is crucial. If I don’t have it available at the show, I can’t sell it!

Once all baskets and bags have been packed, and the house looks like warehouse-central, it is time to fit everything in the car. Some shows offer table rentals (Yes!) while other events require for me to pack everything. In any event, the car will be stuffed to the gills – hopefully to be lighter on the way home.

Booth Set-Up

Set-up at the festival is a daunting task. Vendors are asked to unload the car completely, park it off site, and then set up. Now I am looking at a mountain of tables, gridwalls, lights, baskets, bags, mannequins, hangers, yarns and shawls that somehow need to be arranged to form a functional and pleasing booth. Yes, this sounds as exhausting as it is. Booth set-up can take anywhere from 3 – 6 hours and is always full of surprises no matter how often I have done a particular show. It has happened to many a vendor to have to run out to Lowe’s to buy extra tables, tarps, lights, etc.

Luckily, somehow, the job tends to get done, more or less perfect and it is time to find one’s hotel, organize dinner, prepare a take-along-lunch for tomorrow’s show, catch up with emails, and get some rest. Tomorrow morning will be here soon and with it: show time!!

Show Time

The day of the festival is very exciting. The booth is all set-up and looking pretty (I think), I am as ready as I am going to get, and customers are at the gate waiting for the official opening. Hoorah!!

Many knitters come with knitting friends, others come with spouses and children. Whoever you are, we vendors love to see you and talk to you. Yes, we like to sell you yarn, but it is the human connection that makes all the prep and work worthwhile. Thank you for coming!!

And I also like to thank the non-knitting friends and spouses who humor as knitters to get our fiber fix. Here is a perspective written by an accompanying spouse. Enjoy!

The Knitters’ Paradise is Purgatory for the Rest of Us.

If the beer was good, ….. but it isn’t.

If the sandwiches were good, but they ain't.

If there was somewhere to sit and dose …. like a sitting room for men to play chess, or (let’s think France) an area of hard sand and a set of BOULES or PETANQUE …. or just an area for rolling skittles or throwing horseshoes would be an improvement …. it would be nice. It would give us a break from balls of yarn.

So we turn up because we are kind. We are the Designated Driver, and also the Designated Donkey brought to carry the purchases. We are also quite often the Designated supplier of cash to buy yarn, and the Designated designer of new closet space for storing new yarn that will not fit into the previously-designated yarn storage area.

Occasionally we receive a pair of socks as a reward. Usually these are a birthday present, when we might rather have been offered a new limousine car or a pair of gardening gloves. But no one has worked out how to knit a pair of gardening gloves. Leather doesn’t knit very easily.

One woman (admittedly a sales person with gorgeous yarn colors) told me that her house was so full of yarn that her husband was reduced to the kitchen, bedroom and a window where he is allowed to read. To reach the kitchen from his window, he has to walk sideways like a crab. “He doesn’t need more space than that” she told me with a charming smile.

So her husband is probably glad to come to a place with fields where he can walk normally, forwards, towards the bar.

No really, there are sheep dog trials to enjoy, sheep shearing events to admire, people selling grilled Road-Kill for us to eat. Really and Truly, a Fiber Festival is a man’s dream, the very best way to spend a weekend.