Sunday, February 24, 2008

Stitches Hangover

This is my fifth year attending Stitches. Every other year, I've taken classes as well as go to the Marketplace. There are so many things that I've learned that I haven't had the opportunity to apply, plus, I've bought a ton of books this year, so I decided to just do the marketplace.

Between joining a knit night, discovering the "online" community of knitting, and the buzz of Ravelry, it was a very different experience this year. I went with friends (thanks Leslie and Lisa for the carpooling, so much nicer!), and joined my wonderful pal Liz in the shopping as in years before. For the first year since attending, I had a clue about what is new and interesting.

But the other reality is that I also already own a ton of yarn. My stash is bigger than ever, and I have two great sweaters in my cue for spring/summer, a plentiful amount of sock yarn, etc. The only thing I truly needed were a closure of some kind for my Juliaca cardigan, which was blocked and all but done.

So I enabled my friend Liz (knitcrazy) who bought tons at really great prices. My only fiber purchase was a couple of skeins of Colrain at WEBS because I wanted to test it out with a hat for the Christian Seamens groups.

High and first on the list was checking out the Ravelry booth. Casey, despite being on the third day, was gracious in letting us take our picture with him in front of the Ravatars banner:

ravelry at Stitches west 2008

Ravelry with friends

And lunchtime was the time to check in with other Knit Nighters, including Lindsay, Judy and Alison, who shared their experiences as well:

Knit Night at Stitches West 2008 2

And I did find the perfect buttons, thanks to shopping with Liz, who wisely said, "Hey , there are button here, why don't you check it out?" I found the perfect buttons from South Africa. I've sewn on the button (one for now) and it is perfect! Photo to come when I can get someone to take my photo while wearing the sweater.

Today? I'm swatching for the sweaters that come next, and playing with the Colrain. Perfect timing for a stormy day with plenty of TV time thanks to the Oscars!

1 comment:

Alison said...

Stitches! Disneyland for knitters and major sensory overload.