Join Stephen for a colourful presentation of his new shawl designs. He will guide you through his design process and share color advice to help customize your own shawl fabrics. You will see dozens of beautiful samples directly from Stephen's knitting studio in Amsterdam! There will be time for a Q&A, so wear your knits and venture into the woolly world of Westknits!

​LIVE ON ZOOM
Sat, February 26, 2022
​10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST

​The Pandemic has been very difficult for small businesses, some of which were hit quite hard at the very beginning of the pandemic and have since not qualified for government assistance.

Penelope Fibre Arts (owner /operator: Brenda Alexander) in White Rock, BC, which organizes BC's popular annual fibre arts show, Fibres West, was one of them. 2020 would have been the 12th year for this unique event which has over 70 (weaving, spinning, knitting etc.. ) vendors, classes, and free lectures as well as hundreds of excited customers.

On March 13, 2020, when the provincial health officials issued an order to shut down all public events, Fibres West was given ½ hr notice to close their event. Fibres West was ready to open its doors the following morning. The production company had finished setting up all the booths and electrical. Many of the vendors had already finished the set up for their booths.

Due to the timing of the order, the show incurred significant unrecoverable costs, while generating no revenue. The show had to pay the production company for the setup and takedown, and there were many other expenses such as advertising, rentals, and wages for set up crew.

Most of the vendors had kindly put their booth fees forward to 2021, and then 2022, but now with yet another postponement due to Omicron, Fibres West would like to re-imburse these vendors so they can all move forward with a clean financial slate and plan for a successful Fibres West 2023.

We need your help. If you were planning to attend Fibres West in 2020, and/or are planning to attend it in the future, please consider donating $10, $20, or any amount that might fit your budget in these difficult times. If a donation is not possible, please help us by spreading the word. Let’s pull together to save our popular fibre show so that we can greet each other with happy smiles in Spring 2023 when we can all meet again.

www.fibreswest.com

(This fundraiser is organized by Yoriko Oki. The above text is hers.)