Big and Small

I like Gwen's ideas about the relative benefits and drawbacks of larger and smaller venues. All of her observations are right on. It is definitely something I thought about in Atlanta. For me, one of the obvious benefits was teaching my last class of 6 students in a gorgeous, deluxe boardroom with a trey ceiling; beautiful moldings and mirrors on the walls; a crystal chandelier; individual, leather, executive-style chairs for each student and glass pitchers of ice water on the table to fill our crystal glasses. Nice!

The Magnolia Room at the Renaissance Waverly at Stitches South

Seriously, while I do like being able to give more individual attention, I do find that smaller classes at a big venue like Stitches seem to have less chatter and interaction from the students, so there is less peer learning going on. Peer learning and neighbors helping neighbors are things I really welcome and even encourage in my classes. I have no illusions that I have the only and best solution to every knitting problem. I love it when I go around the room to help and a student reports that the person next to them got them to their A-HA moment. I am just a facilitator-the energy and the dynamics of each group of students keep teaching fresh and exciting. For this reason, I usually never have any sensation of boredom or that I'm teaching the same things over and over again.

On the other hand, smaller classes allow me more time to cover things in greater depth. The whole pace of the class is slightly slowed and relaxed. If someone asks a tangential question, I feel comfortable going off in new and off-the-handout directions. That is really fun.

In the end, I am glad there is variety in the available venues for learning our craft: big conventions and small, intimate retreats all have their place. As Gwen said, I invite you to get investigate the options and take a class or just go to a fiber gathering. Meet your fellow knitters and enjoy the fact that you belong to a tribe of wonderful, intelligent, curious people who value learning and growth.

Some for you to consider, if not this year then next year or the year after that are:

Black Sheep Gathering
Sock Summit
The TKGA Knit and Crochet Shows
Michigan Fiber Festival
Stitches Midwest
Rhinebeck (the nickname for The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival)
Stitches East
Meg Swansen's Knitting Camps and Workshops
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
All sorts of Crafty Cruises

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, but it will get you started exploring the wonderful world of fiber learning. As those cruise commercials say, "GET OUT THERE!"

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Is Bigger Better?

Kellie and I recently returned from Atlanta where we both were teaching at the first Stitches South knitting convention. As a first time event, it was very well attended. However, we have gotten used to the large number of knitters that attend the Stitches events and so by comparison, this event seemed a little small. But bigger is not always better! Here are a couple of my observations why sometimes a slightly smaller event might be better:

• Classes will generally have fewer students resulting in more personalized attention
• The market is less crowded making it easier to see what is available in EVERY booth
• Less folks at the big events thus increasing your chances at winning one of the door prizes

Even so, there are advantages to the larger events as well:

• The class list is significantly larger so there is a higher probability you can find the topic that you want at a time that is convenient
• More vendors in the market result in a wider variety of choice including vendors that may travel from some distance
  
• With more attendees walking around, the variety of garments (being worn) increases dramatically making every day a kind of a fashion show

So is bigger better? I think they all have pluses and minuses. And for me, I like being at all of them whether I am there as a teacher or as an attendee. If you have not ever attended a knitting convention or fiber festival, you should try it out. The season is upon us and I expect you will find it to be an experience you will want to repeat!

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