Manitoba Fibre Festival Custom Yarn 2023
This year’s custom yarn is a first for the festival - naturally dyed and non-superwash Canadian wool yarn dyed with locally grown flowers! They’ve been dyed by ash alberg of sunflower knit with black knight scabiosa flowers grown and harvested by Jennifer deGroot at Big Oak Farm. Unlike synthetic dyes, natural dyes can’t be perfectly replicated from batch to batch, so ash took advantage of this fact to create a beautiful cool-toned rainbow through exhausting dye pots (aka using them repeatedly to create paler shades while using up all the available dye) and by playing with modifiers (iron and citric acid) to change the water. Black knight scabiosa is an anthocyanin-rich dye plant which means it changes colour easily with changes to pH and mineral content in water. The result? 9 gorgeous batches of Canadian wool yarn ready for your next shawl, sweater, or maybe even temperature blanket project.
About Black Knight Scabiosa
Black knight scabiosa (Scabiosa atropurpurea) has been cultivated in gardens for hundreds of years and is a popular cut flower for bouquets. Its unique shape and dark colour have gained it nicknames like “mourningbride” and “Blackamoor’s Beauty,” but natural dyers might be more familiar with the name “pincushion flower.” Bees and other pollinators adore it, and natural dyers can get teals, blues, purples, and pinks from it just by tweaking the pH and mineral content of their water.
While anthocyanins (the chemicals that give those gorgeous teals) aren’t as colourfast as colourants like indigotin and alizarin, they are very stable on protein fibres like wool when mordanted and cared for properly. Is their colour likely to last for 6000+ years like indigo? No. Will it last for many years if you take care of your projects properly? Absolutely.
About the Yarn
roots fingering has been ash’s most popular yarn for years. Made from Canadian wool sourced from prairie farms (primarily Rambouillet, although occasionally other range wools like Cotswold and Suffolk can make it into a batch), it’s spun at Custom Woolen Mills on Treaty 7 Territory in Alberta. Their turn-of-the-20th-century equipment makes a lofty woolen spun yarn that has great stitch definition and holds its shape fabulously for garments and accessories alike.
ash’s main tip? Use this yarn for anything other than socks. It loves lace and cables equally, and its single ply blooms beautifully whether you knit it up at a loose gauge or use it as a tight weft on your loom. If knitting, you can easily use it for fingering weight and sport weight projects by swapping out your needle size. Just remember to swatch!
A Quick Science Lesson
The primary colours from black knight scabiosa colours come from anthocyanin chemicals, which are sensitive to both the pH and mineral content of water. They are also full of tannins, which help to bond the dyes to fibre, especially with the addition of iron to a dye pot.
When you add something acidic to anthocyanins, they shift to purples, and the addition of iron will “sadden” the neutral teals to a bluer shade. This happens both in AND out of the dye pot - if lemon juice spills onto the teal dye, it will shift it to purple, whereas iron-rich water could take the purple and shift it through to blue.
It’s a delightful and dynamic example of the life that natural dyes have to offer through their whole use, and encourages us to think and act more intentionally with our sustainable slow fashion wardrobes.
How to Care for your Black Knight Scabiosa-Dyed Yarn
Do not expose your naturally dyed items to regular direct sunlight.
Do hand wash them with pH-neutral soaps.
Do knit a swatch and test with your water and soap to see if you need to use a more neutral wash set-up (mineral-rich waters, especially southern Manitoba well water, can shift some dyes).
Do not “set” your dye with vinegar, as this may shift the colour.
If wearing your naturally dyed item directly next to skin where your body exudes more sweat, do not be surprised if the colours shift.
For more information, visit www.ashalberg.com/faq.
One Year, One Outfit
Local Fibre, Local Labour, Local Colour at the Manitoba Fibre Festival
One Year One Outfit is a community-based collection of stories and fibre pieces exploring local material and human resources. Between April 2022 and April 2023 participants spent 12 months growing, designing and constructing wearable items made exclusively from locally sourced materials. From tanned buckskin and handspun wool to local clay buttons and basketry, the One Year One Outfit pieces showcase the abundance of fibre and botanical color available in our local fibreshed, as well as the skills and ingenuity of its makers.
Come to the Manitoba Fibre Festival to view the stunning collection on display Friday, September 8th, 5-9pm and Saturday, September 9th, 10am - 4pm at the Red River Ex.
One Year One Outfit is an ongoing project of the Pembina Fibreshed. Learn more at https://www.pembinafibreshed.com/one-year-one-outfit.
Prairie Alphabet Project
Shelly Nicolle-Phillips is a transplanted Maritimer who has been living in and learning about her Prairie home since she arrived in Regina in 2002.
Drawing on the traditional rug hooking technique from her Island heritage in a unique way, Shelly uses the texture and colours of natural fibres to explore this prairie landscape which has been so foreign to her.
Prairie Alphabet Project
This project began in 2021 and took almost two years to come to life. The inspiration came from a desire to learn more about the native prairie or grasslands ecosystem and the plants and animals that depend on it. Native prairie in Saskatchewan is in a precarious state and needs to be protected. Many birds, plants and animals rely on this ecosystem and as it declines, the risk that we may lose these precious species increases. Grasslands is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world and holds great cultural, spiritual, recreational, environmental and economic significance.
The project consists of 26 separate pieces from A to Z, each one representing a species found in the grasslands ecosystem in Saskatchewan. Each piece was designed and hand crafted by Shelly.
The Manitoba Fibre Festival is thrilled to display the complete Prairie Alphabet Project on September 8 & 9. Come see how many species you can identify! Shelly will be present on Friday night to chat about rug hooking, grasslands, and the therapeutic benefits of craft. On Saturday she is teaching a sold out class for beginners to learn the joys of rug hooking.
Learn more about Shelly and her work on her website, Hooked on the Prairies; and follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
The Prairie Alphabet Project display, and Shelly’s workshop at the Festival, are made possible by support from the Janice Charko Fibre Arts Fund. This fund was established in 2022 when the Festival was given the honour of disbursing and selling Janice’s incredible collection of tools and materials, built up over a lifetime of creative work. The money raised from that sale will be used by the Festival to enrich the local fibre arts community through classes, displays, and special projects.
Donations can be made to the Janice Charko Fibre Arts Fund anytime.
Preserving prairie grasslands:
Learn more here:
What you can do:
Learn more about native prairie and tell others what you learn
Go for a hike in a park or conservation area
Volunteer or donate to an organization that is working to protect native prairie
Plant a native prairie garden
Corporeal Curios - Vendor Feature
Meet Sandy Klowak of Corporeal Curios and her unique handiwork -
I create custom art and keepsakes with human and pet hair, based on the historic craft of Victorian hairwork, which exploded in popularity during the 1800s. Hairwork was used to memorialize the dead as well as to celebrate friendship, romantic bonds and kinship between the living. The techniques I use are historic, but I bring my own modern perspective to this traditional art form.
Hair has the power to immortalize our bodies through art. I’m fascinated by historic artefacts made from organic matter that have survived as tangible strands of history, connecting us directly to the bodily existence of people from the past. And I’m honoured to contribute to continuing that tradition.
I love working with a material as culturally charged as human hair, which holds a uniquely polarizing and conflicting influence. Hair is coveted and worshipped when it appears in socially acceptable places, yet it’s reviled, and considered revolting and even frightening when it shows up somewhere undesirable, or in unsanctioned forms. It evokes strong reactions and invites us to engage with concepts of gender, race, power, control/chaos, and more.
Adding pet hair to my repertoire has allowed me to expand my work to help honour and memorialize four-legged loved ones. I create commissions for my clients from all types of hair.
Paw made from cat hair
Boostani - New Vendor Profile
Boostani works with underprivileged gifted artisans from rural Eastern Kenya to support their endeavor to keep their various crafts alive. Each item is handmade and included are sisal baskets and olive wood utensils. As you purchase Boostani products, not only do you support a family, but are giving back to a village made of diligent artisans. Boostani provides a platform for marginalized yet gifted artisans who weave and handcraft each product making it as unique as you.
Boostani's handmade goods offer more than just a unique addition to your home, through your purchase, a cause is supported, one held dearly in Lois' heart.
Born in the rural town Kitui, Lois watched her grandmother weave baskets, which is a relatively long process from stripping sisal palp, twining the fibers to weaving the baskets, and the idea of Boostani was birthed. The business operates out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Welcome to the Manitoba Fibre Festival, Lois!
Purl & Hank - featured vendor
Purl & Hank is a leather goods company that has captured the hearts of knitters worldwide with its exquisite accessories and notions. Crafted with precision and care, Purl and Hank's leather accessories and notions are a seamless blend of functionality and beauty.
From stitch markers and project bags to shawl belts and slipper soles each item is meticulously designed to elevate the knitting process and bring joy to every stitch.
Purl & Hank will soon be expanding their workshop into a community space, taking their commitment to the crafting community to the next level. It is a natural extension of their values, providing a space where crafters can work together, share ideas, and collaborate on projects, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie.
At the 2023 Manitoba Fibre Festival, Purl & Hank will extend that sense of community and welcome by sponsoring the new Crafters’ Lounge space. Thanks for your support, Crystal!
Custom Yarns
Over the years, the Manitoba Fibre Festival has engaged several local dyers to create a custom yarn for us to sell at the Festival. It’s been a fun way to celebrate local talent. Dyers used the original logo, designed by Gerry Oliver, as colour inspiration, and we really enjoyed seeing the unique interpretations.
“MB Sheep Thrill” yarn by Tammy Ivanco, Manjusha Fibre Arts, 2018
Our first custom yarn, by Hilori Thompson, Hilori’s Magical Yarnorium, 2016
2017 custom yarn by Daria Rakowski, Cloud 9 Fiberworks
“At the Ram’s Head”, self-striping yarn by Allyson Schneider (Dye for Ewe) 2019
Custom yarn is coming back in 2023! This year our dyer is ash alberg, who works exclusively with natural dyes. Ash loves teaching, and we expect the story of this yarn and its colours will be intriguing. Stay tuned for more details!