Last weekend, I was lucky enough to get to Stitches, my first real fiber show. I have never been able to go, and always wanted to. This year, the stars aligned, and Kelly and I were able to get away for a weekend.
We got there Friday afternoon, a few hours before the market closed.
We didn't know exactly where the stitches events were being held, so when we got to the conference center, we parked where we thought it was. We found the Waverly hotel, and knew that was where we had to go to register. Unfortunately, it was down a steep little hill from where we were parked. A little hill that was covered in slippery pine nettles. We looked for a path down, and found what we thought was one. I nearly killed myself on the way down.
First, we made a beeline for
Sanguine Gryphon, as we had planned ahead of time. I've been lusting after Bugga for a while now. So, headed straight to their booth. It was easy to find, it was the one with the ren faire tent. I kept myself to two skeins here:
Skinny Bugga in Cowkiller. This picture does not do it justice.
Bugga in Tulip Tree Beauty
Absolutely gorgeous. Once I was able to take my eyes off the yarn, I noticed the outfits. The ladies in that booth were wearing ren faire dresses. The best by far, though, was the Steam Punk/Ren Faire outfit. A corset, goggles, and a belt with throwing knives and bullets. This chick is dangerous. I think that may be the best outfit I've ever seen anywhere, ever. Seriously. I wanted sooo bad to get a picture, but sadly, no pictures in the market.
We pulled ourselves away, and stumbled across
the Big Sock. It was hard to miss. I'd heard about this, but couldn't picture the size until I saw it in person. We took a few minutes to work on it
It is like an iceberg. What you see on top of the table is just a small part of the whole thing. It nearly went to the ground. It is also much bigger around than the entire table. And this is just one piece of the leg. I have no idea how they are going to work the logistics of heel and toe shaping.
We walked around some more. I saw
Rachel Herron, the author of How to Knit a Love Song. You may have heard her interviews on Knitmore Girls and Knitcast. I had, and her book is on my list. I gushed a little, and she was so nice, we chatted for a few minutes. I bought the book there, because I had been planning on getting it anyways, and come on, how often do you get to buy a book from the person who wrote it?
We walked around the market until it closed that night. Kelly bought this really cool lint roller system, she can get cat hair off of her ceiling now. I got more compliments on my Han Shot First shirt than ever, which was the comfy shirt I picked out for the ride up.
We made our way back towards the parking lot, only to find a nice little staircase between where we had been parked and the hotel.
We came down the hill on the left side, completely missing the staircase to the right. It doesn't look so scary there.
Anyways, we headed to the hotel, managed to get lost looking for a restaurant for dinner (Google maps fail!) then gave up and ate at one we passed.
We headed back to the Waverly for the pajama party. Since the Star Wars tshirt had been so popular, I decided to wear that instead of the nice plain shirt I had planned under my Swallowtail shawl.
I look awful in that picture. That's what I get for trying to be funny and pose.
At the pajama party, we met up with the awesome trio of
PicnicKnits, ContinentalKim, and
KBelle. The party was riot. They started the trivia with a Princess Bride quote, and the yarn fumes must have gotten to me, because I got way too excited, and think I shouted something like "I will own this!" If you've spent more than 2 seconds with me, you know this is completely out of character. Then, I didn't own it, but Corrina did, which made me proud.
There were some other contests, too. There was one for knitted slippers, which had some really cute felted flip flops. I see a KAL in the future. The wackiest pajamas contest was fun, too. The Ravelry crew was called upon to judge. Well, poor Casey was called on to judge a pajama contest of mostly middle aged and older women, and he wisely called the rest of his crew up to assist. That should be a Sam Adams commercial. Always a good choice.
I was slightly dazzled by the knit-celebrities from Ravelry. Not as dazzled as some. There were some Wayne's World style "We're not worthy" tributes, but I'm sure that happens a lot. They were very nice.
After a fun night, of swatching to find the perfect pattern for my Hanks yarn, and chatting, with candy bars but absolutely no smartfood popcorn despite the rumors, we called it a night, because Saturday was the big day.
On the ride home, I only got us on the freeway when we weren't supposed to be once. There was an Orlando style trick of putting up a concrete barrier between lanes with no warning. Kelly and I laughed so hard we cried at all the funny things that had happed so far.
That's where I'll leave it for now. Tomorrow, more on Stitches.
