Stitches Midwest!
What a great day! For the third year in a row, Linda and I went to Stitches Midwest. Three years ago, Linda mentioned it to me - quite tentatively . . . "I know you're not really knitting anymore . . . but there is this yarn market . . . and you probably don't want to go . . . but I thought I would check with you . . ." To her surprise, I said something along the lines of, "Yes, I'd like to go, that sounds like big fun." So, off we went. True, I hadn't been knitting for some time. I had been living in Southern California, and, let's face it, who wants to sit around with a pile of wool on your lap, when the temps are in the three figures, knitting a sweater you're never going to wear because it's NEVER COLD there?!
Anyway - we went, and I came home with yarn for three projects - NONE of which were actually made. I used some of the yarn, but not for what it was intended, and some of it I didn't use for a year - it took me a little while to get back in the swing of things, which I clearly have ;-) Probably the most exciting thing I got that first year was the Bloomsbury Jacket from Cheryl Oberle. I didn't start it for nearly a year - it was well worth the wait. Anyway - I digress.
We arrived there this morning shortly after the market opened and figured out our plan of action. It can get quite crowded on Saturday. There were a couple of times when I needed to step out of a particularly crowded booth, but, on the whole, it was, as it has been in years past, BIG FUN! Interestingly enough, this year, there was some sort of Wizards gaming/comic book convention in the downstairs hall at the convention center - made for a very odd mix of people walking through the parking lot, that's for sure :-D
The new Knitter's Travel Guide is there, that large blue blob is the aforementioned Primero, and the champagne colored shiny stuff in the plastic bag, is 8 oz of 50/50 cashmere/silk top. Oh, it's so soft I can hardly stand it! There is also a nostepinne there in the middle, and braid of roving that Linda gave me today (another bit of her fiber stash that she acquired when she thought she would be spinning). Thank you, Linda!
The only thing not in the photo that I got was a wonderful, handmade basket with a wooden divider in it - perfect for keeping yarn and needles in one place in my sunroom :-)
I also signed up for a class this year - "How to Teach How to Knit." I have taught a number of people how to knit and am currently working with some of the "church ladies" and teaching some of them how to knit to be able to make prayer shawls, but I thought I could pick up some tips. It was only an hour class, and it went very quickly. The class was taught by Beth Whiteside, of See Jane Knit, and I enjoyed it very much - I discovered that I have been intuitively doing some of what Beth advocates as teaching methods, but I certainly learned some new things. Let's hope I can put some of what I learned to good use. :-)
We actually left this year before they shut off the lights and tossed us out. We made our way to the car and headed home - with a stop off for ice cream. This is actually pretty funny, because neither of us really like ice cream all that much. We saw soft-serve at Stitches and thought about it all afternoon - we were destined for dairy! I headed home not too long after.
Like I said earlier, what a great day!
Anyway - we went, and I came home with yarn for three projects - NONE of which were actually made. I used some of the yarn, but not for what it was intended, and some of it I didn't use for a year - it took me a little while to get back in the swing of things, which I clearly have ;-) Probably the most exciting thing I got that first year was the Bloomsbury Jacket from Cheryl Oberle. I didn't start it for nearly a year - it was well worth the wait. Anyway - I digress.
We arrived there this morning shortly after the market opened and figured out our plan of action. It can get quite crowded on Saturday. There were a couple of times when I needed to step out of a particularly crowded booth, but, on the whole, it was, as it has been in years past, BIG FUN! Interestingly enough, this year, there was some sort of Wizards gaming/comic book convention in the downstairs hall at the convention center - made for a very odd mix of people walking through the parking lot, that's for sure :-D
The new Knitter's Travel Guide is there, that large blue blob is the aforementioned Primero, and the champagne colored shiny stuff in the plastic bag, is 8 oz of 50/50 cashmere/silk top. Oh, it's so soft I can hardly stand it! There is also a nostepinne there in the middle, and braid of roving that Linda gave me today (another bit of her fiber stash that she acquired when she thought she would be spinning). Thank you, Linda!
The only thing not in the photo that I got was a wonderful, handmade basket with a wooden divider in it - perfect for keeping yarn and needles in one place in my sunroom :-)
I also signed up for a class this year - "How to Teach How to Knit." I have taught a number of people how to knit and am currently working with some of the "church ladies" and teaching some of them how to knit to be able to make prayer shawls, but I thought I could pick up some tips. It was only an hour class, and it went very quickly. The class was taught by Beth Whiteside, of See Jane Knit, and I enjoyed it very much - I discovered that I have been intuitively doing some of what Beth advocates as teaching methods, but I certainly learned some new things. Let's hope I can put some of what I learned to good use. :-)
We actually left this year before they shut off the lights and tossed us out. We made our way to the car and headed home - with a stop off for ice cream. This is actually pretty funny, because neither of us really like ice cream all that much. We saw soft-serve at Stitches and thought about it all afternoon - we were destined for dairy! I headed home not too long after.
Like I said earlier, what a great day!
Comments
I had a great time this year. I did a little too much damage to the pocketbook but it is only once a year and next month is my birthday.