The Warren County Fiber Artists held their annual Kinzua Knit-Away on April 6 and 7 at the First United Methodist Church in Warren. The Knit-Away is an opportunity for fiber artists to take classes to improve their craft and to visit vendors that have yarn and accessories for the craft. Fiber Artists love to work with fiber through knitting, crochet, weaving, felting spinning, etc. Many fiber artists love raising alpaca and sheep and working with the fiber from the very beginning to the finished product.

Those people that attended the Friday evening lecture enjoyed listening to Cathy Briscoe from Shrewsbury, Pa who is a designer and fiber arts expert, talk about Yarn Substitution. The group enjoyed an array of cupcakes during the presentation organized by Coralee Wenzel of the Warren County Fiber Artists.

On Saturday, April 7, 61 participants enjoyed the choice of eleven different classes in knitting, crochet, weaving and felting.

Instructors for the day were Cathey Briscoe with a class on knitting with beads; Lois Crozier from Little Bear Creek Alpacas; Pam Mahan with a class on the applications for an I-Cord; Debbie Penley presented a class on creating a fox using the needle felting technique; Linda Voss Plummer held a class on making a dog coat and talked about homespun yarn; Barb Tracey taught the skill of short rows, Angie Tracey did a class of crochet for beginners, and Taryn Barnett from the Yarn Vault in Meadville taught a class on Mosaic knitting and other techniques.

A lunch of homemade soup, fruit and a sandwich was provided by volunteers from the First United Methodist Church with the profits going to a youth project. This is the fifth year that the First United Methodist Church has hosted this event. After lunch, participants enjoyed the Vendor Market place where they enjoyed seeing the latest yarns and accessories from eight vendors, including TurtleMade by Jen Kemery an online dyed yarn Etsy store; Cala Lily Yan Shop in Lakewood, NY; Little Bear Creek Alpaca in Kane; Alpaca Creations from Emporium sells online at Etsy; The Yarn Vault is located in the Downtown Mall in Meadville; Knit Kits to Go is located in the Antique Mall in Bradford; Siliano Designs is located here in Warren making beautiful yarn bowls; and Linda Mason Designs from Youngsville works with fiber and jewelry and sells as craft shows.

Next year’s event is already scheduled for April 5 and 6, 2019. More information will be available in January at KinzuaKnitAway.com.