Stitches
Stitches West…Day Two!
We started the day off slow. No getting there when the show opened…we took our time. As long as we were there by noon to get in line for the meet ‘n greet at the Purlescence booth, we were golden. Emily and I wanted to stop by and say “hi” to The Knitmore Girls!
Gi Gi, Me, Emily and Jasmin. Woohoo!
What? That’s right! I’m wearing my February Lady Sweater. I had to wear something I knit. It was very hot in there though, so I spent most of the day NOT wearing it.
A Stashymama sighting!
It is sort of becoming my modus operandi to have Day One be the freak-out fest, while having Day Two be much more relaxed.
The nice thing about Saturday was that we totally got to take our time doing whatever we wanted. I spent the day looking for yarn, but to be honest, I mostly bought fiber. I had gotten one ball of yarn in the scarf kit I purchased and that was the ONLY YARN I BOUGHT THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. Yes, you heard me right. On the other hand, I did buy just over a pound of fiber…but we will get to the fiber porn next post.
I have to say, during my leisurely stroll around the convention center, my favorite booth was the ArtFibers booth. They had this cool thing called a “yarn tasting” and they were giving everyone one free sample of yarn to swatch. This was exciting because I have been looking for a nice summer yarn that isn’t cotton and is something that doesn’t have mohair. Mohair=itchfest. Then…I fell in love.
Kanji...where have you been all my life?
I asked for a sample and spent the rest of my stroll down the next two aisles swatching it. Yes, I can walk and knit at the same time…
My talent...in action!
As a matter of fact, to attempt and showcase how supremely talented I am, not only did I walk and knit at the same time…I knit on needles that already had another project on them. Yup, that’s how I roll.
After a trip ’round the place, we headed to the bar for some rest/knitting time where we did some show and tell. Ang and Vilma bought some fabulous pyrex needles that we all admired.
Glass knitting needles...
Sensing a trend?
Emily, me and Suzanne
After spending the evening hanging out in the bar, we decided to venture out in search of food.
Dinner!
I can’t remember the name of this place, but they had really good steak salad.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel where I did a little bit of knitting and then passed out…with my glasses on…and I slept that way all night.
Stitches…Finally!
I made it, I finally made it!
Sure, I left at 6-something in the morning…picked up the ladies…and commenced driving. We made a few stops, including a little detour at Pyramid Lake.
Something happened here...
Kids, this is where we learned that, no matter how much Dramamine you consume, coffee and oranges just don’t mix.
We got to Santa Clara sometime after 2 p.m. We checked in and headed to a local restaurant to meet up with a friend of mine for lunch. He’s super cool and the girls love him ’cause he knows how to have a good time with a bunch of knitters. We were having an awesome time hanging out, but we needed to get back! We hadn’t walked the floor yet and it was getting late.
Here is where the insanity begins. We hit the convention center at 4 p.m. and the showroom closed at 5 p.m. I learned a valuable lesson in the last hour of Stitches on Friday. No matter how much I seem to think it is a “good idea”, not taking any knitting with you to a knitting convention is just plain dumb.
So I spent that hour running from booth to booth in search of a project. At what seemed like the very last moment before closing, I found two projects. I picked up a scarf kit and some fiber and a spindle.
With “the crazy” apparently haven taken over my brain, we headed to the bar for some knitting.
Time for a break...
We met some nice ladies in the hotel lobby.
Apparently this is my "crazy face".
So my girl Emily helped with some yarn ballin’ and I was able to start knitting my scarf. It was still early so we headed to Sunnyvale for some grub.
Holy crap! That yarn is shiny!
I had a Mexican Hot Chocolate. No it doesn’t have alcohol in it. It IS tasty though.
Me and Emily
The ladies!
Once dinner was done and we got back to the hotel, we had some show and tell.
Shawls!
And Suzanne had made me a project bag using one of the skull buttons I purchased on etsy for my sweater. Too cute! Once she starts selling these I am gonna totally pimp her out here ’cause she’s got skillz!
The perfect project bag for me to use while I walk and knit on the floor Saturday!
It was a long day, so I headed to bed to get myself prepared for Saturday…
The dash to get ready for Stitches West!
This seems like the longest day ever! My last day of work before my Stitches West trip.
The game plan...so far...
I’ve printed out my coupons, map of the show floor, started making a list of things I am looking for… and most importantly…
I got my February Lady finished!!! Thank God, I feel like I got something accomplished. Especially since I haven’t gone to the bank, filled up my gas tank, bought snacks and water, packed…or even figured out what I am knitting while I am there. I am NOT bringing Lucy (my spinning wheel) or any yarn with me. I am, however, bringing all of my needles and notions and my laptop. I am just gonna wing it as far as my knitting is concerned…
So, I will actually try to sleep tonight, with visions of yarn and fiber dancing in my head…’cause I need to be out of the house by 6 a.m.
Yeah, wish me luck. I’ll be picking up some Starbucks…
Someone’s been a busy girl!
The slippery slope of my latest crafting phase started like this…
A Special Order...
My sister-in-law works for an entertainment union that…oh screw it, I’m not using names…the girl works for Screen Actors Guild and needed some fancy jewelry for the latest SAG Awards. I made this. It is a crappy photo, I know, but they turned out really pretty.
Stitch Markers Galore!
While I have been in my whole “trying to make lemonade” phase, I’ve decided to start getting my act together and start selling stuff. I haven’t gotten all of my photographs taken and color corrected yet, but for a girl who works a full time gig *and* has preschool aged twins, I think I am making pretty decent progress.
I am also attempting to get a little knitting done. While waiting to get the Manos I ordered for my Clasica Coat, I broke down cast on a new sweater. I had some Asland Trends Invernal in my stash to knit February Lady so I started it. It’ll be freakin’ awesome and so far it seems like a pretty quick knit. I anticipate I will have it done in time to wear to Stitches West.
Coming along nicely...
The buttons will definitely make this sweater extra awesome. I got them from happysilence on etsy.
A Non-Knitterly Christmas?
I can’t say this Christmas was about the knitting. I did make some sort of promise to myself at some point that I wouldn’t be knitting any Christmas gifts. Just put a cute little face in front of me asking nicely and I turn into a puddle of goo and will agree to anything.
How can you say "no" to this?
So the kids loved their hats….but why not? They picked everything out, down to the style and mommy whipped them right up. They were even done *before* Christmas! Holy crap, I made a deadline! Goooooooo ME!
So…I thought I was a pretty good girl this year…
I didn’t get any yarn…..
No needles……
No notions…..
No fiber-y batts of fluffy goodness….
But I did get an interesting present this year…
Huh?
A Snuggie? What?! Say it…..I know I did. WTF, right? Everyone I know is aware that I am ready to lead the charge in the “Anti-Snuggie” campaign. I mean, not only does it scream “I’m ready for the Kool-Aid now”…it isn’t made of natural stuff. I mean, this thing is quite literally, plastic. What?! No wool? No Alpaca? Not even cotton? ::faints::
So I sliced open the box and looked inside….
Awwwwww...
I got money for Stitches West in February. Yay!!!
Oh, and I got the Snuggie too. ::rolls eyes::
Best weekend ever!! Part Two
So, Saturday we got up bright and early and just kinda did not a whole hell of a lot. We had all decided that we could do things at a slower pace since we had done one full round on Friday. Um….I didn’t really realize what kind of yarn induced haze I was in on Day One, but boy did I see a whole boatload of stuff I didn’t see before!
I got to the marketplace sometime around lunchtime and it was packed. Thank goodness for twitter. At some point not too long after we hit the Brooks Farm Booth, we got separated. It wasn’t a bad thing, but I am the only one in our little group that does the spinning thing. That is when I tracked down the ladies of The Fiber Collective via Twitter.
I met up with Bellatrix at the Carolina Homespun booth. We tried to track down Dr. Gemma from the CogKNITive podcast, but she was lost in a sea for fiber (later to find out she found someone to show her how to draft). So Bellatrix and I headed over to the Purlescence booth where we got the chance to meet with Jasmin and GiGi of the Knitmore Girl’s Podcast. We grabbed some goodies bags and tried to reach Gemma again. Time to move.
This is where my day got interesting…Bellatrix and I, the ladies of The Fiber Collective, and Dr. Gemma all converged on the Carolina Homespun booth. It was fun to watch Dr. Gemma try out all of the wheels. She showed enormous restraint in not purchasing, because she sure had me wanting to buy another wheel (which would have broken my budget)!
Dr. Gemma on the Majacraft
Stash Acquisition, Day 2
Christmas Balls Herringbone Rib Socks
Best weekend ever!! Part One
Except for when I got married….oh and that weekend I had the kids….sorry honey!
Seriously though, this weekend was amazing!
It started off bright and early on Friday morning. Good thing I am morning person (I mean, what mom of toddlers isn’t?). I left the house at 6-something in the morning…which is still even pretty early for me, and headed to the lot to pick up Parcae. We stopped for Starbucks and to pick up a few snacks. After that we headed to NoHo and Sherman Oaks to pick up Camille and Ang. We were off and running by 7:20 am.
The drive went by incredibly fast. We saw a lot of cows and that made me happy. It is so nice to get out of the city!! We also stopped to have lunch with a friend of mine. It was a really good trip.
Stitches West! We're finally here!
We got to the Hilton Santa Clara sometime between 2 and 3. I really don’t know when. We checked in fast and didn’t even try to unload our stuff out of the car…just headed straight across the street to the convention center. We walked into the marketplace and it was sensory overload. To be honest, I don’t remember much after that. I do remember walking around with Camille and thinking that she had tremendous restraint. It apparently rubbed off on me, because I only really shopped from my list.
Acquired stash, Day 1
First stop for shopping was Creative Dyed, where I got 12oz. of bluey-green seawool for spinning. Thank goodness Purlescence had spinning stuff…that is where I got my Schacht hand carders. My final purchase of the day was at the Habu booth. I was in search of the Kusha Kusha scarf pattern which I found there. They look like that had already run out of some of their stainless steel/wool yarn colors, so I decided to take a chance. I got the light lavender stainless steel yarn to mix with a dark brown wool. I think it will tone down the lavender. I also picked up a cone of this gorgeous burgundy lace-weight yarn that had shiny bits of a greenish color in it. So pretty!
We left before the close of market and had a few drinks at the bar to unwind and try and remember what we seen. I had a whole new game plan for the next day.
They ordered me a Bailey's and Coffee. Yum!
Later on that evening, while we were knitting, I got a text from the ladies back at Friday Night Knitting. Myrna was there and she was knitting up some of the handspun I had made for her Secret Santa gift in December.
I think I meant for it to stripe like that....
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