The Vancouver Fibre Arts Fest 2013 had a wonderful gallery for the attendee’s.  Show and tell your object and then your piece could go into the gallery for the other attendee’s to vote on.  The ballots were done well with places for each skill, ie, spinning, weaving, knitting machine and hand quilting etc.  There was just one category missing.  Best In Show.

There was one piece at the “Show and Tell” and in the gallery that I really thought deserved greater recognition than the other pieces.  I am sure that not everyone would agree with me and others would have had differing opinions but it would have been interesting to see what the attendee’s thought was best.

OK – it might have been a little bit like a popularity contest.

Here is my vote for the “Best In Show”.

Vyvyan Dorsett is a weaver from Quadra Island and she participated in the Show and Tell and submitted her pieces for the Gallery.  Vyvyan, hand-spins, hand-dyes and then weaves her pieces.  They are beautiful.  She has a couple of pieces available for sale as a fund raiser for the Sierra Club.

Vyvyan had a few of her woven pieces in the show and they were gorgeous.  What Vyvyan also brought was a piece that she had hand-spun and then knit.  I was blown away by this piece.  I wanted to make it best in knitting as well as the spinning.  It was in the spinning category only and I could not add it to the knitting category.  And I really wanted to make it best in knitting as well.

Vyvyan had recently purchased a Russian Spindle and had immediately spun up some lace weight silk/cashmere blend – enough for a small stole – probably about 1000 yds.  Vyvyan then knit a Orenburg style lace stole with her hand-spun.  The yarn was left natural as most Orenburg shawls are natural.  The shawl was stunning.  It was simply called Russian Spindle.

“Russian Spindle” Deserved Best In Show.  In my opinion.  It was to my mind the best in two of the nominated skills and I have the knitting skills and experience to back up my opinion of the knitting skill involved in the creation of the piece.  And as it took first place in the Spinning section, others shared my opinion of the skill involved in the spinning!

At any rate everything entered was beautiful.  Each was created with great craftsmanship and oftentimes great love.  The stories behind each piece were heartwarming and a vivid reminder of why we do what we do!

The results from the Peoples Choice Gallery at Vancouver Island Fibre Fest were released yesterday.  Thank-you to everyone who participated and then voted.  My shawl “Tourmaline” was voted best in the Knitting Category.

Happy Crafting

Lynette