From April 20th to 22nd, the 7th Congresso Brasileiro de Tricô (Brazilian Knitting Convention) happened in Curitiba, in the south of Brazil. The event is a knitting festival that brings together people from cities all over the country. According to the coordinator, India Sarti, the 2023 event gathered around 150 people, including workshop participants and teachers, visitors, exhibitors, and staff.
The event had 12 workshops with interesting subjects such as steeking, Irish knitting, Russian charts, and inlay knitting. All but two of them were sold out. The classes were given by important names of Brazilian knitting—Felipe Cavalheiro, Iris Alessi, Lisi Margaux, Giovana Chassot, and Marcos Filho. I attended an excellent class by Felipe about Ganseys, where he showed his deep knowledge of the subject.
During the day, there was a small fair with four exhibitors—As Mariposas, Tricô 10, Liane Rossi, and Fios da Fazenda, who also sponsor the event. In the evening, sponsors Círculo and Linhas Corrente had runway shows with designs created with their latest yarn releases. There were also two lectures—one of them with an osteopath that gave knitters tips on how to avoid pain and injuries.
Although the whole event was a success, in my opinion, the best part about it was meeting people and making new friends. During those days, I had the opportunity of getting to know in person people I had only talked with online and seeing some of them wear pieces they knit from my patterns. As a designer, there is no greater happiness than that!
A bit of history…
Congresso Brasileiro de Tricô is organized by the members of a knitting group called “Tricota Curitiba.” The group joined together participants of email lists called "Montricot” and "Crazy Knitting Ladies.” In 2009, India Sarti decided to bring these virtual friendships to real life and started organizing meetings so that they could get to know each other in person.
In 2011, as more people joined the group, they started having monthly workshops and meetings at a shopping mall's food court in Curitiba. The group still meets every month to knit together, chit-chat, teach and learn more about knitting.
However, they wished to be joined by knitters from other parts of Brazil, not only Curitiba. So they set up big meetings in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and then the idea of a festival came about. As India told me: “At our meeting in Rio, I suggested we should organize a knitting festival. Most people liked the idea, but no one carried it through. So, I decided to do it myself. And then many members of our group decided to take part in organizing the event." That's how the Congresso Brasileiro de Tricô was born in 2012. With the exception of the second edition, the event has been held in the city of Curitiba.
The next one will probably happen in 2025. Don't miss it!
