The Crawl

This past weekend was The Great Rhody Yarn Crawl.  For three days knitters descended on participating yarn stores in Rhode Island.  The yarn stores offered various sales, promotions and giveaways.  They also collected donations for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Knitters turned out in droves.


The schedule for Sunday included an Indie Fiber Arts Marketplace at Slater Mill.

The location for the marketplace was ideal.

Cotton manufacturing started at Slater Mill during the Industrial Revolution.  The buildings and grounds have been restored and include a museum, education center and community studio space.


Where there is a mill, there is water.

The setting on the Blackstone River is gorgeous.


Local fiber artists gather at Slater Mill.

They have a very active fiber arts community.


The museum has displays and equipment from the days when the mill was operating.

There aren't any smiles on the faces of these mill workers - probably a sign of the times.

The marketplace opened at noon on Sunday.


Dirty Water DyeWorks was one of the vendors.

In addition to the vendors the open space on the second floor included plenty of room for people to sit, knit and spin.  There was also a book signing by Ysolda Teague.


Over the weekend crawlers collected passport stamps from each yarn store they visited.  On Sunday they redeemed their stamps for raffle tickets at the marketplace.  The highlight of the afternoon was the drawing for the prizes.

Beautiful baskets loaded with goodies.


I had a delightful time making new connections and seeing familiar faces.  It was encouraging to see a fiber arts community that is so strong, enthusiastic and supportive.  The organizers did a fantastic job, the location was picturesque and the weather was perfect. Thanks to everyone who made this such an enjoyable event!


Today in Massachusetts we are celebrating Patriot's Day.  This holiday marks the opening battle of the American Revolution and is celebrated with reenactments and parades.  It is also Marathon Monday, the running of the Boston Marathon.  In keeping with tradition the Red Sox will play a morning game at Fenway Park.  After a weekend of work, I'll gladly take a Monday holiday.