Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
You can unravel a lot of yarns across northern B.C. You can string them together for fun and prizes.
Starting Friday, fibre artists of all sorts - knitters, crocheters, weavers, and more - will be crawling all over the region, getting stamps in their passports and meeting in Prince George for the grand finale on June 4.
"As far as we know, this is the largest yarn crawl in the world, geographically," said Bonne Leiphart, one of the founders of this inaugural event.
If it sounds akin to a boozy bounce from bar to bar, there is some creative connection there.
"There are big yarn events all over the place," said Leiphart.
"My sister lives in Pittsburgh and I've visited her specifically at yarn times, because they are so much fun. In New Zealand they do a tour but it's on a bus. In Pittsburgh it is all done within one easy drive. Darlene (Mulholland, another local yarn aficionado) and I went yarning around Prince George one day, we ended up at the pub at the end, and pretty soon the idea was hatching."
To Houston in the west, to Fort St. John in the north, to Quesnel in the south, with Prince George intersecting these wooly routes, the yarn crawl beckons fibre fans to trek around the region and stop in at the many yarn shops that service the do-it-yourself textile creators.
"We wanted to do more for the shops that allow us to do what we do," said Mulholland.
"This is super exposure for the stores, and for the yarners it is a chance to meet the staff and see all the unique things each one of them has. They all do their own things. This is all about us keeping our purchasing local. If you don't, these stores don't survive. The big companies have no compunction to interact with you personally and meet your personal needs, but the little independents around here - that's all they do, and they can make your projects successful in ways you can't imagine dealing only with the big out-of-town companies."
All the stores in the passport are deliberately located within an easy drive of Prince George.
Mulholland and Leiphart have been to all of them.
"A lot of these stores are low-profile and no two stores carry exactly the same things," said Leiphart.
The yarn crawl is unique, said the two founders, because it was not invented by the stores as a sales tool. The organization is all at their end, the consumer end, so the nine-day relay is all about yarners having fun with the tools of their hobby (or in some cases, at the professional level).
No one needs to buy anything at these yarn stores, just appear and get the stamp. The more you participate, the greater your chances of winning prizes.
It all culminates in the first Fibre Fest on June 4 at the Seniors Activity Centre at 425 Brunswick St. - the place where yarners meet weekly for group projects and fellowship.
Fibre Fest will feature a fashion show, demonstrations of tools and techniques, art, music, door prizes and more.
"We are seeing so much interest in fibre arts right now. It's building and building," said Mulholland, a veteran of the Prince George fibre art community.
"Quilting is making a comeback, home-cooked meals are making a comeback, knitting is making a comeback, all the yarn arts are seeing big interest again."
"It is all a part of the do-it-yourself movement and the local-sourcing movement," said Leiphart.
"People want to know where their food comes from, people want to invest in quality, people want to support their neighbours and have relationships with the people who supply the goods and services of life. Buying factory items off the shelf doesn't always connect you to ethical companies, and you usually don't get exactly what you want. But if someone makes it locally, or you do it yourself, you get what you want and it will usually last a lot longer."
The Yarn Crawl Passport is available to download and print from the event's website (www.playing-with-string.com) or at any of the participating stores.
However, it is not required to obtain any stamps to take in Fibre Fest. It runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and all along this string of ideas, there is no charge to attend.
Mulholland and Leiphart want yarn fans to invest in their art instead.
