It’s Been a Time!

Whew! What a whirlwind the past five days have been!

First of all, I have to say a huge kudos to everyone behind the scenes at Fiberworld 2020. They pulled off something absolutely new, something that didn’t exist at the beginning of quarantine, in a ridiculously short amount of time and with a ridiculously small staff. Well done, all!

Sure, there were some technological issues, mostly having to do with Zoom, Google, and Safari having different levels of security that didn’t quite get along with each other. But by the second day of the festival workarounds had been made (mostly, I believe, by that small staff staying up most of the night) and people for the most part didn’t let those technological glitches get in the way of the fun.

And what fun it was! While I spent the bulk of my time teaching and presenting, I found time to tune into the opening ceremonies, a panel on domesticity and gender; TWO pajama parties; a pet fashion show, bits of a yarn crawl; trivia; knit-ins, and a poetry reading about the experience of being black in today’s America.

One of the things that made this show special was the leeway that vendors, presenters, and attendees had to gather in designated lounges and to organize our own “mini events” during the show. This show came closer than any other virtual event I’ve attended to capturing the magic of being there in person. There may not have been hallway conversations, but there were lounge conversations, and hanging out in people’s booths, and plenty of opportunities to meet new people and spend some time together casually.

The parts of the show I’m really going to treasure, though, were the parts I got to spend with my students. We may not have been together in the same room, but I could see them and hear them, and we even worked out ways for them to show me when they got stuck learning a new technique. I was able to feel connected, even though in reality we were vastly different places (as far away as Australia!).

Thanks to everyone who came to my classes, or said hi, or invited me to your booth, or followed me on Instagram, or emailed me afterward to let me know you enjoyed our time together. I did, too.