It was SO much fun! The only knitting event I’ve been to that is similar is the Maryland Sheep and Wool earlier this year. I enjoyed both of them for different reasons. Stitches had mostly retail establishments. Lots of yarn, but mainly by brands you’ve already heard of — tons of Koigu, Lorna’s Laces, Cascade, Rowan, Regia, Schaefer, etc. Really beautiful yarn. It was nice to see so many hand dyeds too because they’re so hard to pick out online. By comparison, MDS&W had mostly smaller companies — many I’d never heard of beforehand. Still beautiful stuff though.
My favorite booth by far was Tess’ Designer Yarns. She got THE booth this year – smack dab in front of the entrance. Her booth was constantly full.
I also visited my two LYS’ booths — Rosie’s and Sophie’s. And even though I’m there practically every other week I bought something from both of them!
I ran into Ronnie (whom I just met last week) and I finally got to meet Leigh and Carrie. Christy and I ate lunch with them.
Another fun part – I got to meet Debbie Stoller and see a pre-release copy of Stitch n Bitch nation. I’m happy to report Kim’s design is beautiful! I am SO SO happy for her to have one of her designs published after only learning to knit less than two years ago. It’s a gorgeous design and I can honestly see many people knitting it. It’s perfect for the demographic of the book.
yes I’m purposely being vague about what the design is. I don’t want to spoil Kim’s surprise when it finally does come out
Debbie mentioned that she’s working on a third SnB book, which will be closer to the first. I took that to mean it would be geared more at beginners.
People watching
Knitters are weird. OK, not all knitters. I’m normal. Christy’s normal. Leigh, Carrie, Ronnie – normal. So what’s with all the knitter weirdness? People — entrelac should be used sparingly. And never around your whole body. Particularly if you’re not Kate Moss thin. And don’t think that your 5 foot long crocheted chenile poncho is cool just because people stop to stare at you. You’re weird. Like take a picture and bring it home to prove that it exists weird. And then I got sexually assaulted by a woman in line at the Mannings. At least a half dozen times. Why did you find it necessary to repeatedly touch my breasts? One time I can forgive. Twice, you’re annoying but I’ll let it go. Three times? What’s with that? I finally had to stand with my arms crossed in front of me. And what’s with the old lady manning one of the booths in a purple batik outfit and PURPLE HAIR. Yes, purple hair. I’m not sure if it was overdyed or spray painted but it was purple. Not old lady tinge of blue gray hair. Purple.
Enough already, where’s the yarn?
Here’s what I got:
In the upper left are 3 shades of Reynolds Alpaca Regal to make some kind of stripey scarf. To the right of that are 2 hanks of Koigu in a red and purple mix (socks? gloves?). And in the upper right are 2 hanks from Tess’. The red/orange/yellow is her sock yarn and the pastel one is a 50% silk 50% wool yarn for a scarf for my mom. The silk makes the yarn is so nice to touch – I keep petting it!
The bottom row is all sock yarn. The purple/gold is Steinbach Wolle, the a red variegated Regia for a textured sock (maybe this one), and two colors of Sockotta because Christy said they were nice and cooler than the all wool socks. Paul has already laid claim on the white/grey/blue colorway.
The only one that’s missing is the Schaefer Anne that I bought. I already wound it up and started playing with it. More on that tomorrow.
There was only one thing I wanted that I didn’t get — Regia Mini Ringel. Christy and I scoured each booth with Regia but it seemed only the weird colors were left other than red/orange stripes. And you all know I don’t need any more reg/orange colored yarn!
Diet of another sort
I’m putting myself on a yarn diet until Thanksgiving. God that sounds like an eternity. The only exception is if I need to buy something for a Christmas gift. I have way too much stash and I need to get through some of it. I’ve been considering eBaying some of it because there’s just no way I’ll go through all this yarn! Have any of you had success in eBaying stash yarn? They’re all good quality yarns that have been well kept.
Check out the Curmudgeon’s gallery of ghastlies. She posted a picture of the purple lady.
Does anyone know if she always has purple hair and if she always wears purple clothing? I couldn’t help but think that perhaps purple is her “fall” hair, red or green might be her “holiday” hair, a pastel for spring, etc.? Either way, she definitely was a stand out for my weekend, too!
Ahahahaha! Half the fun of Stitches East (in the past) for me is seeing what people actually knit and wear. I am always shocked and tickled by it. Takes all kinds, no?
So glad you got to finally meet Carrie. She told me you were “normal” also. : )
I sold stash on EBay with great success. For Pattern books I used buy it now and they went right out the door.
It was great to meet you and Christy. Thanks for giving me the “normal” seal of approval. hahaha…
and Darn it–I missed that purple lady!
LOL – sounds like Stitches was great (depsite the weird and, er, “grabby” people!
I’ve sold stash on eBay many a time – always with good results – lots of knitters out there looking for good stuff. I’ll be ebaying shortly, myself, when I can get a minute to post the items!
That Regia tone on tone red is neat – is that a new yarn?
And you are so lucky to have seen the SnB Nation preview copy!!! I’m guessing that since I’m still on her email list my design wasn’t cut…I hope…I can’t wait to see it!
Jody, terrific haul. I was quite impressed with the Tess Yarns at MD. I have a skein of the silk/wool for my MIL. Heading over to Marilyn’s site to see the purple haired feeler upper.
Yes, yes, do see the curmugeon’s site. Here’s a link
http://www.knittingcurmudgeon.com/
It appears that the purple haired vendor was admired by all :o)
Is it possible the purple-haired lady was Lucy Neatby? She did a weekend of workshops for our guild, and when she arrived, she had short purple hair, purple striped socks, and one pink boot and one blue boot. Or something like that. I don’t remember exactly. I do know her boots were two different colors. She was dressed rather creatively the whole time she was here. But she sure knew her knitting!
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