Fibretron! And some rest and repair to follow …
Hello Yarn Lover,
Well, here we are with less than a week to go until Fibretron. Yes folks, Fibretron is this Saturday 25 July, 10am - 4pm at the Mystery Creek Event Centre, 125 Mystery Creek Road, Hamilton.
We especially love being a vendor at Fibretron as it has a fantastic vibe - a lovely open area which allows for a larger stand, a great mix of vendors, and overall a feeling of less frenzy with more time to talk to customers, to ooh and aah over what you are wearing, and join in the excitement of what you have planned. If you haven’t been before, I would encourage you to come along - and if you have, well you know exactly what I mean!
But, as usual before a yarn show, there has been a flurry of activity here - a lot of reskeining, twisting, labelling, bag making, and the latest new sample knit is currently blocking to be ready to bring on Saturday.
So if you’re coming to Fibretron, here’s a wee sneak peek at what we will be bringing. If you’re not coming, please scroll past to read some important news about Mrs Peacock (that’s me) taking a short break from dyeing.
Now, without further ado, what are our special colourways for Fibretron this year?
First up is WAITING FOR THE SUN.
This colour combo seems just right for this time of year - cool, deeper colours with a little bit of a punchy green, reminding us that Spring will eventually arrive. Of course we will have matching Petites for heels and toes - PERSEPHONE, BACCHUS and SWEET DREAMS are our recommendations.
And following on with our winter theme is A WINTER’S TALE.
I’ve been keen to dye up this colour combination for a while now - a twist on our popular BARE WINTER but this time containing a stripe with splotches of blues, greys and browns, reminiscent of bare branches silhouetted against a winter’s sky (something I often see on my walks right now). These dappled stripes are great fun to knit up and watch the random patterning appear. We think this would be great for socks for that deserving dad, partner, son, or work colleague in your life. Our suggested Petites are SKYLARK, TIDAL and IGNEOUS.
And now onto the variegated colourways new for Fibretron …
It’s always exciting to see what appears when creating a colourway by floating a good number of different dyes across the yarn. Sometimes the results are ho-hum, but other times the end product is just what was intended - which is the case with ATMOSPHERE! Lots of soft, pretty colours melding here and perfect for teaming with our tonal colourways in the Stillness Collection*.
And on the topic of tonal colourways, HARMONY is a new soft pink joining the Stillness Collection, seen below with another new variegated colourway, CHINA ROSE. If pink is your thing, we hope these are to your liking!
* The undyed stock of our lovely Serpentine yarn (twist on twist merino) in the Stillness Collection is coming to an end with less than 5kg of each of the 4ply and DK bases. Since it is uncertain whether we can find a good replacement, if this yarn is one of your favourites, you might like to keep this in mind when shopping at Fibretron.
Now, for our lovers of neutral tones, we have HOMEWARD BOUND - earthy browns and greys, with a few speckles, inspired by travels along country roads that eventually lead us home. Perfect for an understated pair of socks or a shawlette.
DUSTY TRAILS is also new, but slightly lighter and with cooler tones.
And then we got a little less serious and came up with PRISM …
Inspired by refracted light seen through a prism, we think this would make a fun pair of socks. In terms of contrast Petites - well the world’s your oyster here!
And another new self-striping colourway is MOROCCAN SANDS - just a colour combo that we loved and wanted to showcase, but this one is in strictly limited quantities.
While we will have sweater quantities of yarn available, this time around with our new colourways, we have gone for more variety and slightly smaller quantities. So if one of these highlighted new yarns appeals, don’t leave it too late to visit our stand.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that our bird-themed project bags are back! In limited quantities though, because I always leave it to the last minute to sew these up …
Now that we’ve shown you the new things we will be bringing, here are the details you need to know for Saturday:
Fibretron is in the Bledisloe Building, Gate 3, Mystery Creek Event Centre, 125 Mystery Creek Road, Hamilton
our stand is bang-smack in the middle this year - see the layout at the end of the newsletter
Fibretron runs from 10am until 4pm
come prepared with an idea of the yarn quantities you need, patterns in mind, or bring yarn you’d like to colour-match
we will have EFTPOS available, along with credit facilities (for a small surcharge) but cash is a good idea for traders that don’t have electronic facilities. The nearest ATM is a 10 minute drive away!
wear an item made with our yarn, show it off to us, and get 10% off your purchase
coffee and food trucks will be there to keep your energy tanks full. Please note that food is not allowed in the trading area and we would also request you keep coffee away from the stands - last year a coffee cup accident unfortunately wiped out a dozen of our skeins!
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, again we would like to acknowledge that many of us are finding the current financial crisis a little difficult right now. Maybe a sweater quantity of yarn is not an option this time, but perhaps a single skein for a pair of socks or a shawlette would be a good reminder of Fibretron 2026. We have several samples to show what you can do with just one skein.
But even if your budget is non-existent, coming along might just be the encouragement and joy you need right now. Enjoy the panorama of colour, take a look at and gain inspiration from the samples there, compliment the knitwear you see others wearing, and be complimented in turn. But mostly, just enjoy the camaraderie of fellow creatives and be inspired by all the creativity around.
Now to change tack and talk about our shop …
Once we are back from Fibretron and the remaining yarn is loaded into the shop, I will be taking a break from dyeing new yarn to give some time and energy to address a few niggling health issues. I am anticipating this will be around 3 - 4 months. I’m sure you can appreciate that running a small business does not allow for much downtime for either the body or the brain. And as my body is an integral part of the hand-dyeing “machinery”, I’d like to give it some rest and repair so it can keep working and not end with a major machinery malfunction!
So what will this actually mean?
our shop will still be open and you can order any of the yarn in stock and it will be shipped in the usual time-frame
there will not be any new yarn appearing in the shop until later in the year
we are still available by email or Etsy messages to answer any questions
we will also be enjoying less time on social media, but please continue to tag us in your posts and we will do our best to respond - we always love to see what you create!
we’ll let everyone know when we are back to “normal transmission”, via a newsletter and social media posts
Socktober? Well, no special colourways this year but maybe it would be a good time for a sale …
Having said all that, it goes without saying how much we appreciate you as customers as there would be no Mrs Peacock Yarns at all without you!
So, in the meantime, we’d love to see you at Fibretron this year if you can make it. Please come by our stand and say “hello” - we love seeing you all in person.
Until then,
Yours in yarn, Mrs Peacock
