Fiberside Chats - Caroline Sommerfeld - Ancient Arts Fibres

These one-time zoom events are held each week with some of the top designers, dyers and other creators throughout the knitting community! Get a special back-stage pass to learn about each person's creative process, latest projects and inspirations. Each session will have time for Q&A, feature giveaways and other fun surprises. 

 This is a Live One Time Zoom Event on Sunday October 22nd at 1pm Eastern, 12pm Central, 11am Mountain, 10am Pacific. 

Yarn! Making the world a better place with Caroline Sommerfeld

The wool trade and the production of yarn go back thousands of years but how do they actually work today? The creation of yarn is an international endeavor, and in this talk we will go behind the scenes, including the who, what, where, when, and why of how wool and other fibres get from the sheep and the land to end up in your yarn. A great deal of planning and preparation goes into creating the yarns we know, and love, and this talk will shed light on the choices and partnerships that go into the process, whether it is local or a commercial yarn.
Equally important is what a yarn is made from! The most used and most popular wool is Merino, but what about the more than 1000 other breeds of sheep raised today? Heritage breeds and sustainable fibres are important genetic resources who come with rich histories and cultural connections. Many heritage breeds are endangered, so we’ll explore some of what makes them important and what they can bring to our beloved yarns. In the process we will see how we as knitters, crocheters, weavers (and more) can change the world for the better!

Bio: Caroline has always been fascinated by fibres and yarn and demanded to learn to knit when she was four, which kicked off a lifelong passion for all things knitting and yarn! Knitting was quickly followed by embroidery, crochet, hand dyeing, rug hooking, tatting, bobbin lace and later spinning and weaving. Spinning brought with it the opportunity to learn more about the properties of fibres and yarn design and learning to spin launched thirty years of intensive study about fibre and how yarn is made, a study that goes on to this day. As a hand spinner she has worked with well over 100 breeds of wool from all over the world and has greatly enjoyed researching the history of sheep and spinning technology through the centuries.

Caroline is the founder and creative director of Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts where she uses her passion and deep knowledge of fibre to design the custom yarns and colour ways sold by her company. The company focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly, and heritage fibres and practices to create purpose driven yarns, designed to provide the best experience possible while at the same time promoting these values. Caroline also works as a knit designer, appearing in various publications including Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, and Wool Studio, and is also published through Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Caroline is an avid fibre artist who incorporates stories into all her work and loves nothing more than to share her passion for fibres, yarn, history, and knitting with other people through teaching!

How it works:

Register to attend one of the fiberside chats on our website. You will recieve a zoom link to join the chat the evening before the event begins and a reminder email 1 hour before the event start-time. Fiber chats last approximately 1 hour each.

Note: Registration closes 8 hrs before the event. If you register the same day, you will recieve your link just before the event begins so be sure to check your email and contact us if you haven't gotten the invite within an hour of the event.

Cancellations: 

Please note that Fiberside Chats are non-refundable so double check you will be able to attend before registering for a chat.