Catherine Friend
Catherine Friend

A Farming Author’s First Fiber Event

When Hit by a Farm came out, the whole fiber world wasn’t even on my radar. Well, it was, but in a “those-people-are-sure-weird” sort of way.


That was then, this is now. Yesterday I was part of Lila and Claudine’s Yarn Shop booth at an annual knitting event in the Twin Cities called Yarnover (The yarnover is a knitting stitch, one I actually know how to do.) I had a little table with copies of Sheepish and Hit by a Farm, a few postcards, flyers with an excerpt from Sheepish, and a pen for signing books. I was surrounded by yarn.

When an author does a booksigning at a bookstore, unless she’s J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, she may sell 5-10 books. At a library event, same thing. So when I packed 50 books for this Yarnover thing, I felt stupid. “Who are you kidding, insane woman?”

Ahh, but this was a fiber event. Fiber means yarn, which means wool, which means sheep, which means “we love this!” My buttons that said “get sheepish” were gone in just a few hours. The “get sheepish” bookmarks disappeared soon after that.

By 1 pm I was out of books. Totally. Wow.


Out of books, and out of energy. Partly from talking to people, partly from staring at everyone’s knit shawls, sweaters, etc. and wondering if I could ever do that.

Still, it was a fine day. 

Maybe these fiber people aren’t so weird after all.

9 Responses

  1. That’s fantastic! As a knitter myself I would have told you to bring loads of those books LOL, all us fiber junkies pack the money and leave the kids at home with the hubby and we are looking to do some damage, hahaha! Glad it was a successful event for you!

  2. Holy Successful Event! You should have taken more books. You could have left them out in the car and no one would have ever known if you didn’t end up needing them!

    The question is: Did YOU buy any yarn?? And let’s see it. :o}

  3. Hooray! Yes, many of us knitters love books (and those of us who are actually book-loving librarians love yarn too) so it was an excellent mashup!

    Congrats for such a successful event.

  4. I was very good in the yarn department. One skein from the booth I was in, and one skein from another vendor.

    And Barb, thanks for introducing yourself. It’s wonderful to meet people crazy enough—I mean dedicated enough, sorry—to follow this blog. 🙂

  5. Yes, we fiber people love our fiber and name a book “Sheepish” and if they read your first book, of course you would sell out of them quickly. We take our fiber seriously!

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The Big Pivot

About Me

After twenty-five years on the farm, I’m adjusting to the adventures of city life. Part of that adjustment is figuring out what I want to write about now, since sheep are no longer part of my daily life. I’m challenging myself creatively by painting with pastels and playing the ukelele as I seek my new writing path.

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Catherine Friend is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.