Knitting and crochet are key elements of the festival, but treasurer Shelly McSweyn said she hopes it will embrace all disciplines. “We want it for everybody, weavers, spinners and crocheters,” she said.

Linda Granfors has a simple explanation for her fiber arts preference.

“I like bright colors!”

She knits in the Fair Isle style, a process that uses different colored wools on the same row to create pleasing creations. “I like it because it is interesting and intricate and I can make my own patterns,” she added.

It is named for one of the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland and has a long tradition for sweater designs in Great Britain.

“She mixes them very well,” said Shelly McSweyn, a fellow knitter, who calls Granfors “the queen of color.”

The two have worked together on a small committee to organize the Columbia Pacific Fiber Arts Association’s festival. It will be held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Long Beach Elementary School in Long Beach, Washington.

It is the third such event. The first was held in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed such gatherings; it resumed last year, revitalized by a $4,000 grant from the city of Long Beach.

There are double the number of classes from last year.

Topics divide into four disciplines: knitting, crocheting, needle felting and spinning. Knitting includes socks, mittens and gloves, a hat in the round, and mitered squares. Crochet styles include mosaic and granny squares, plus beginning and advanced Amigurumi, a Japanese style of stuffed yarn creatures.

“We strive to get better as each year passes,” said McSweyn, the group’s treasurer.

Some 15 vendors will be on hand, including Cydne Pidgeon from Siren of the Skeins, Cindy Johnson from Zen Fibre and Cheryl Mansfield from Ten O’Clock Farms, who attended both prior festivals and five repeat vendors from last year.

Also returning is Angela Rogers from Cedar Creek Alpacas Boutique and Fiber Studio at Cook, Washington, in the Columbia Gorge, who was at the inaugural event.

“These vendors are bringing many different types of fiber — wool, alpaca, cotton, and many blends of fibers,” said Diane Seifert, the group’s secretary. “Many are showcasing their hand-dyed, hand-spun yarns, kits for knitting and crocheting items with the pattern and yarn included; fleeces from their own flocks, roving for spinning in the most beautiful colors, and weaving, knitting, and crocheting supplies. All types of fiber artists should be able to find something they can’t live without — beginners to the most experienced.”

There will be a “spinners’ corner,’ area artists will sell handcrafted items in the festival shop and there will be food available in the cafeteria.

McSweyn said maintaining the tradition of communal artistry is an important part of the festival. “We want people to knit together and crochet, and have people sit down and talk about what they just saw. We want them to have fun — and be together.”

Evie Rissman enjoys that concept, having learned as a girl, but joined a knitting group much later in life. “I do socks and baby booties with my grandma’s pattern. I knitted my first when I was eight or so. I didn’t get to go and swim in the pool unless I got some rows done.”

All the group members like to create handmade individual gifts for loved ones — mainly knitting or crocheting. “I give away a lot of things,” said Granfors, who moved to the Long Beach Peninsula from Kirkland in 2017. “I like getting compliments from people.”

Not all are experts. Rita Murphy learned to knit squares in her teenage years; in adult life, she claims to have spent two years on a knitted cap, though now is more comfortable having completed a basket and a scarf. “I strive to start and finish,” she joked.

Columbia Pacific Fiber Arts Festival

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Long Beach Elementary School, 400 Washington Ave., Long Beach

Free admission and parking

www.columbiapacificfiberarts.com

To volunteer or learn more, email colpacassociation@gmail.com