Over the weekend, we had the great opportunity to participate in the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta that formed to support the local fiber and arts community in San Diego. Me and my twin sister, Nidia, made our debut as Fiber Novation Loops, a farm-to-fashion social enterprise. We shared my NY fiber farm research, the New York Regional Yarn Sourcebook, and our work with local fibers ranging from fashion accessories to fashion designs.
We were also doing spinning and crochet demonstrations throughout the weekend to show fiber artisanship in practice. I was spinning with alpaca fiber sourced from a rescue alpaca farm. Many people stopped by to watch and ask about learning how to spin on a drop spindle, and the difference in spinning alpaca and wool fibers. I later plied the alpaca with navajo churro wool from White Pine Farm. Nidia also worked with the navajo churro wool by plying it with silk remnants. She was crocheting a colorful textile prototype to experiment with LED lights. It was great to showcase our work and expand knowledge about natural fibers to over 100 people that stopped by.
This week was also Spinzilla, a week of spinning fibers to create yarn throughout the world. I spun as part of the San Diego County Spinners Team, and spun with fibers from New York and California. The fiber farms include White Pine Farm, Viriditas Farm, Helder-Herwyck Farm, and Spot Hollow Farm. Fibers that I didn’t get directly from farmers came from people who had a connection to local farms such as Chenango Wool Works that processes many raw fleeces, and LixTiK that is friends with the farmer that has rescue alpacas.
In total I spun 878 yards, that’s 2,634 in Spinzilla yards counting the spinning to create the singles and plying. I used a drop spindle, and also an e-spinner which was very fun to use for the first time! I hope to make more of these yarns to make enough for a honeycomb cowl and beanie.
HELEN TREJO 
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