Artists celebrate hand crafts at annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Crochet superstar Toni Lipsey chats with fans while signing autographs at the Creative Arts Festival in Green Tree Aug. 25. Lipsey’s first book, The Tunisian Crochet Handbook, hit shelves last year, and the full-time artist teaches classes online.
Soap sacks crafted by S.A.C.K. founder Stacy Wiener and Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival attendees will be donated to Pittsburgh-area organizations, for distribution to those in need. Wiener said food stamps do not cover toiletries, a fact that inspired her to start her nonprofit in 2017.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Stacy Wiener, founder of S.A.C.K., knits soap sacks with volunteers at the Creative Arts Festival. Since the foundation’s inception in 2017, more than 250,000 handcrafted, soap-filled sacks have been donated globally to those in need.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Toni Lipsey chats with fans during a book signing at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Joyce Tsambarlis, of Whitehall, prepares yarn for use during the annual Creative Arts Festival last week. Tsambarlis represented Project Linus, which donates blankets to emergency services and children in need, alongside other volunteers at the event.
Gillian Noga, 7, explores the Yarns Bits and Bobs yarn truck during the annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Thursday. Noga, of Elizabeth, attended the event with her 9-year-old sister, Gwyneth Noga, and their mother, Jennifer Noga.
The nonprofit S.A.C.K. collected soap sacks, for donation to Pittsburgh-area organizations, at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. S.A.C.K. founder Stacy Wiener was on-site to chat with folks about her foundation, which provides soap to those in need around the world.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Nadia Frock, left, and Shauna Barnes, both of Pittsburgh, browse wares at the Ursula’s Alcove booth during the annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival.
Linda Listing, who runs Ursula's Alcove in Canonsburg, hand-dyes yarn using natural ingredients, like lemon balm and tarragon grown in her garden.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Linda Listing weaves while shoppers browse a selection of her hand-dyed yarns at the Ursula’s Alcove booth during the annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Fest. Listing, of Canonsburg, attended the festival for the first time this year.
Festival-goers get a peek into what yarn hand-dyed by Keri Fosbrink could be by browsing the owner of Youghiogheny Yarn's selection of wool blends and handmade wares. Fosbrink enjoys connecting with customers and teaching classes at her studio in Connellsville.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Keri Fosbrink, of Youghiogheny Yarns, crochets before a selection of her hand-dyed yarns at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. Fosbrink said meeting other artists and discussing works in progress is the highlight of the event.
Tools for knitting, along with a work in progress, is displayed by Knitting Notions at the annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival.
Fiber artists drank in colorful hand-dyed yarns, clacked knitting needles and leafed through quilting patterns during the annual Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival, held Aug. 25 through 27 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Green Tree.
For nearly two decades, the festival has brought professionals and enthusiasts from across the country to Pittsburgh to celebrate the fiber arts. This year is Laura Regan’s second running the event, after purchasing the fest from Barbara Grossman in 2020.
When the pandemic hit, Grossman decided to retire, after 17 years spearheading the festival. Regan, who for years served as a knit, crochet and indie dye vendor and teacher at the Creative Arts Fest, couldn’t let the festival taper off like a ball of yarn’s frizzy end.
“There are a lot of … sheep and wool fests in Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York. There was nothing in this area, and it’s a really huge crochet market,” said Regan. “I just didn’t want to see it leave. I just think our industry as a whole would have had a gap. I didn’t want the fiber community to miss out on having this festival.”
The greater fiber arts community turned out en masse. Folks from as far as Kentucky and beyond, and as near as Canonsburg, set up shop and chatted with other vendors and attendees about their wares and experiences creating with yarn.
“I didn’t expect this to be so – it’s amazing. Nirvana,” said Linda Listing, who hand dyes yarn and creates works of art from her studio, Ursula’s Alcove, in Canonsburg.
Listing’s passion for fiber arts was sparked years ago, when she served as an assistant naturalist.
“We were teaching kids how to do natural dyes. I was like, I could do this,” she said.
So she did. Though she’s been a fiber artist – hand dying yarn with natural ingredients like tarragon and lemon balm from her garden – for about 20 years, this was her first Creative Arts Fest.
“I just didn’t know this was here,” she said, surveying the scene. “Weaving is my passion. I’m hoping to tempt people into some weaving.”
Folks weaved in and out of the Yarns Bits and Bobs truck, a Pittsburgh-area yarn truck (think food trucks filled instead with soft skeins of colorful material) that made its festival debut alongside Yarnbyrds.
Fewer than 20 yarn trucks exist nationwide.
“North of Pittsburgh, there isn’t anywhere to buy yarn,” said YBB owner Julie Pasquarelli. “I want to fill that need.”
Yarns Bits and Bobs parks at various locations north of the Steel City, selling commercial fibers from the shop on wheels.
While festival-goers ogled wares outdoors, Keri Fosbrink stood inside, crocheting at her booth while folks browsed her display of yarns in varying degrees of softness.
“I do all the dying. Every skein that’s here with me is dyed by me. I’m a one-woman show,” said Fosbrink, whose husband encouraged her to open Youghiogheny Yarns in Connellsville nearly seven years ago.
While Fosbrink’s business is a solo show, the artist enjoys hosting classes in her studio and connecting with other fiber enthusiasts at shows and festivals (this was her sixth time at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Fest).
It’s “the people,” Fosbrink said. “The face-to-face interaction, being able to talk to them, discuss their projects.”
Conversations – sharing stories and knowledge and patterns – is the thread that ties vendors, teachers and attendees together.
Tony Lipsey, a rising crochet star who earned her fiber arts crown when her first book, The Tunisian Crochet Handbook: A Beginner’s Guide, hit shelves in November 2021, graciously chatted, signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans.
“I learned from my mom back when I was a teen,” said Lipsey, whose mother, Gwen Jones (“I’m a proud mom,” Jones smiled) attended the fest, too. “In my early 20s I just needed a hobby. I picked crochet up again and never really stopped.”
Lipsey founded TL Yarn Crafts in 2013, and her online classes, patterns and apparel grew. In 2017, the effervescent Lipsey left her day job for a career in crochet.
“It’s a great time to be a crafter,” she said. “The pandemic slowed us down. 2020 was a very exciting year to be a crocheter. It’s … become a very creative process again.”
Creativity abounded at the S.A.C.K. (Supporting A Community with Kindness) table, where the nonprofit’s founder Stacy Wiener knitted alongside festival volunteers and attendees.
S.A.C.K. donates soap, wrapped in hand-crocheted or knitted soap sacks, to local food pantries, homeless shelters, veterans clinics and other social service agencies. Since its establishment in 2017, Wiener estimates more than 250,000 soap sacks have been donated globally.
“We’re all about dignity,” said Wiener, noting food stamps do not cover the cost of toiletries. “The need is there, regardless of where people are located. We have volunteers all over the world.”
And the fiber arts exist the world over. Folks from different cities and states gathered in classrooms to expound upon their skills. Classes included everything from traditional knitting and crocheting to color theory, English paper piercing and wine glass painting.
“We have polymer clay, we have weaving, macrame,” said Regan. “Usually an artist kind of puts their fingers in a little bit of everything. So this festival offers, from a class perspective, a lot more.”
There’s a lot more to come, too. The next Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival is already scheduled for August 2023, at the same location.
Until then, vendors, teachers and fiber artists will be honing and expanding their crafts, and encourage anyone with a desire to “make” to pick up some yarn and needles and start creating.