Everything's Bigger in Texas

Last weekend was my first trip to Texas. It was a privilege to teach at the Dallas Fort-Worth Fiber Festival.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know I love fiber festivals, even when I'm not teaching at them. Festival. Go! See! It has been a few years since we had STITCHES South or Georgia FiberFest, although we do have Georgia Mountain Needle Arts Festival. There are still several festivals in North Carolina, including Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (coming up in October), Carolina Fiber Fest (March), and Blue Ridge Fiber Fest (June) as well as retreats such as Kanuga Knitting and Quilting (January) and Unwind (April). If you live in Georgia but don't want to drive to a festival, I suggest you fly to Texas. Here's why.

• The board that organizes DFW FiberFest is fantastic! They are friendly, generous, competent, enthusiastic, and completely committed to the goal of advancing the fiber arts. They take care of their vendors, their students, and their teachers.
  
• ATL is a hub airport for Southwest and Delta. DAL is a hub for Southwest. DFW is a hub for American. You can find competitive pricing on airfare between Atlanta and the Dallas Fort-Worth area.
• There are two hotels across the street from the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, plus others nearby. The Texican Court is directly west across Las Colinas Boulevard, if you want a very Texas experience. There's also a Westin across Promenade Parkway to the south. And there's a Holiday Inn Express to the northeast. You have options.
  
• The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory is a short walk down the street. There you will find more than 20 restaurants. Food! More food!
• The festival strives for a range of classes in knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and other fiber arts. There's new stuff to learn. Many of these teachers are not necessarily in the southeast, meaning you won't encounter them at SAFF. 
  
• About 75% of the vendors in the market are people who don't travel to SAFF or Maryland Sheep and Wool. My experience from The National Needlearts Association show in 2018 still holds true. If you are on the east side of the Mississippi river, I am likely to know you from SAFF or MD. If you are on the west side of the Mississippi river, I don't know you, even if you have beautiful goods. For an Atlantan, this means the DFW market is one booth after another of shiny pretty new!
• This is a warm-weather fiber show. The days I was there, the temperature was around 95°F/35°F. The vendors were selling yarn for socks and shawls. Not that there is anything wrong with an Icelandic sweater or a Fair Isle sweater in traditional Shetland wool; merely someone who lives in Georgia or Texas maybe doesn't have much opportunity to wear one? This is an excellent opportunity for stash enhancement if you live in a three-season environment.

Overall, this was a delightful festival. They even yarn bombed the convention center! Yup, everything's bigger in Texas.