You can find many ways to join in this celebration of your fiber passion. Classes at your local yarn store, the Valley Fiber Arts Retreat and Yarn Expo III are just some of the many places and events that support your fiber addiction in Alaska.

Fiber addicts all over the country are joining in the fun of knitting and crochet and discovering that this passion draws like-minded individuals together. In fact, it seems to shrink the globe. Two talented women in Virginia have also discovered this truth.

Fiber friends Sandra Bennett and Leslie Shelor have added another venue where you can "meet" women who share your love for fiber, weaving, knitting and crochet. It's a virtual venue. They have joined their skills to create a bimonthly online e-magazine, or e-zine, called Fiber Femmes.

Two years ago Bennett came up with the name Fiber Femmes for a women's fiber group she was in. Her long-standing friendship with Shelor, a computer wiz, and the research she had done about online magazines helped them find a way to support women who are involved in the traditional fiber arts. Both knew that in Appalachia, where they live, women are often isolated without a place to gather for support and to share their skills and passion for these arts. They also felt that an online magazine about women who shared these passions could unite women everywhere and offer much-needed support. This past summer Fiber Femmes was born.

Dedicated to women who are involved in all things fiber -- from animals to the end product -- this e-zine celebrates "Great Women Building a Gracious World." The goal is to help women understand how interconnected they are throughout the entire process of getting the fiber from the sheep to the artisan. The variety of articles, patterns, contests, photo galleries and personal stories has a bit of something for almost everyone. A blog spot offers a means to share your work on a project while you learn about projects other women are creating. There is also a community calendar of fiber events all over the U.S.

Bennett is an eighth-generation shepherdess who continues the tradition at Thistle Cove Farm in Tazewell County, Va., where she lives with her husband in an antebellum farmhouse. A writer, photographer, consultant, speaker, designer and knitter, Bennett has grown up in Appalachia. She shared her philosophies about the fiber industry with me recently. Her view is that she is "another nameless brick in the long path where many people have gone before ... so that we have the opportunity to do this for leisure activity."

Bennett holds a graduate degree in recreation, parks and tourism, with an emphasis on geriatrics, and teaches at Concorde University. She lectures all over the world and helps other landowners turn their land into sustainable, more lucrative farms.

Shelor is the computer talent behind the magazine's online presence. She holds a business degree and runs a retail shop where she deals in books and antiques. Her love of German Angora rabbits, which she breeds at Greenberry House in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, has spurred her to spin and dye yarn. Shelor spins four or more hours a day and demonstrates spinning at local craft fairs. A talented knitting and crochet designer, Shelor features some of her own patterns in Fiber Femmes.

Shelor's vision of the magazine is "to get it out there," creating support for everyone, not just headliners in the fiber field. She hopes one day to take this e-zine to the printed media.

You can read the current issue of Fiber Femmes and subscribe at www.fiberfemmes.com . Check it out and get to know your female fiber friends. You are a part of a much larger community.

Catherine Hollingsworth, interior designer, artist and professional knitter, has lived in Alaska for 17 years. A past president of Knitters of the North, she currently designs knitwear patterns for publication. To reach her, e-mail twosticks@adnmail.com .

VALLEY FIBER ARTS RETREAT sponsored by Valley Fiber Arts Guild, 5 p.m. Friday- 3 p.m. Sunday, Meier Lake Retreat Center off Mile 6.8 Wasilla-Fishook Road, Wasilla. Cost: $70 including potluck meal. For information call Sarah Robicheaux at 1-907-338-8516. YARN EXPO III sponsored by Alaska State Yarn Council, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Hotel Captain Cook, Fourth Avenue and K Street. Pre-registration and cost for classes at www.alaskayarncouncil.org . Vendor market 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Oct. 1. $5 admission. For more information call 1-907-277-YARN or e-mail INFO@alaskayarncouncil.org .

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Want to know what's happening in the arts scene? Check out our Arts 06-07 season guide. Get the scoop on dance, music, theater, visual arts and more.

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