PEI Fibre Festival

The PEI Fibre Festival returns this year from October 23–25 at the Delta Hotel in Charlottetown. This festival was created to support the Island’s wool industry and the craftspeople that work with wool and fibres through knitting, crocheting, felting, rug hooking and more.

Marketplace vendors are once again presenting a large array of fibre-related products with wools from various animals, many hand-dyed with natural products, tools of the trade and more.

A highlight of the festival is the inclusion of over fifty workshops by local and international instructors. Of note is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, also known as the Yarn Harlot. Stephanie is from Toronto and has written eight books on knitting. She has been described as a knitting humourist, and says: “I believe knitting is a transformative and intriguing act that can change the life and brain of the person doing it, and that knitting is a perfect metaphor for life and insight into some better ways through it.”

Of note this year are several crochet instructors including Bonnie Barker of Bonnie Bay Crochet fame on YouTube. Close to 300,000 subscribers have benefited from her expertise. She has been crocheting for more than 50 years and is best known for her Aran Isle/Celtic cable crochet techniques. 

Christopher Walker & Jamie Godin of Cabin Boy Knits will present a lecture on Early Canadian dyeing techniques used by Indigenous peoples and European settlers, and they will also be a vendor in the Marketplace.

Local instructors include felting artist Lisa Freeman, spinner Simone Van Iderstine, knitter and designer Cheryl Wartman as well as embroidery artist Rebecca MacDonald.

Rounding out the program are two farm tours and a social event presenting a slice of Island history and culture. The Irish Scots, along with storyteller Alan Buchanan and two world champion dancers from Havenwood Dance Studio will be sharing their entertaining and informative show 150 Years of Island Music with festival participants.

The festival is open to the public and tickets are on sale now for the Marketplace, workshops, and all events. For updates, subscribe to the newsletter, follow the festival on FB, or visit peifibrefestival.com.