The cool autumn air on Saturday would have led most people to reach for a sweatshirt before stepping outside.
But for many who attended Frederick FiberFest, the weather presented an opportunity to show off elaborate projects they had been working on for months.
Across the Frederick Fairgrounds, people could be seen wearing sweaters, shawls, tote bags, hats, gloves and other garments painstakingly woven, knitted, crocheted or stitched together, either by the wearer themselves or by one of the artisans selling items at the event.
“That’s the great thing about fiber festivals,” said Megan Webster of Catonsville, who was wearing a handmade purple and orange shawl with a matching witch’s hat. “You get to wear your stuff around people who will really appreciate it.”
Frederick FiberFest is organized by The Frederick News-Post and held twice a year — once in October and once in April.
Roughly 2,000 people pre-registered to attend Saturday’s event, which featured more than 130 vendors, organizer Samantha Bangh said.
Many of the vendors at the event sold products directly related to the fiber arts, including unspun fiber, spun and dyed yarn, finished projects such as rugs and plush toys, and crafting tools such as pin cushions and wooden looms.
Vendors also sold other products sourced from fiber animals, including cosmetics made from the milk of sheep and goats.
Louise Fleischman of Greenfield Acres Farm in Tuscarora stocked her booth on Saturday with products made from her herd of 19 alpacas.
Unlike sheep wool, Fleischman said, alpaca fibers are hollow. This trait leads to garments that are lighter and more breathable than garments made of other natural fibers, she said.
Fleischman’s inventory on Saturday included rovings — or unspun bundles of fiber — skeins of yarn, knitted scarves and hats, handmade shawl pins, Christmas ornaments filled with alpaca fiber, dryer balls and felted soaps.
Felted soaps are bars of soap that have been coated with animal fibers, which work to exfoliate the skin and make the soap last longer, Fleischman said.
Once the soap has been used up, the fibers left behind can be used as scrubbers for household cleaning.
Fleischman said she started raising alpacas a decade ago, when she learned that a local farmer was selling their herd of 13. She went to check out the animals and “instantly fell in love.”
Naveed Malik, who owns a family farm with his wife in Howard County, said they started with a small homestead including chickens, turkeys and honeybees. Since 2018, they have also been raising a flock of Coopworth and Gotland sheep.
Malik said he was inspired to pursue farming by watching his grandparents, aunts and uncles in Pakistan raise animals. He later worked as an agriculture extension volunteer with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia.
Even with his background, Malik said, it took years of work to get to the point of being able to stock a small stall at Frederick FiberFest.
A shortage of local fiber mills and people who are qualified to shear sheep makes it difficult for family farms like theirs to stay viable in the wool business.
As an example, Malik pointed to a stack of wool socks that took upwards of three years to create. The wool from his flock went through a mill in upstate New York and a knitter in Colorado before making it back to Maryland.
“It’s very unique,” Malik said. “We’re basically living a farm lifestyle, but with manufacturing added into it.”
While many who attended Frederick FiberFest on Saturday were already well-established in the fiber arts, others were just starting out.
Danielle Ginsburg of Rockville attended the event with her 17-year-old daughter Isabel Ginsburg, who said she is taking a fashion class in school and is considering a major in fashion design when she goes to college.
Danielle Ginsburg said she is impressed by her daughter, who has already made several corsets by hand and is in the process of learning to crochet. She said this was their first time at Frederick FiberFest, but that they would be keeping an eye out for the next one.
“There’s so much creativity in this room,” Danielle Ginsburg said.
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