Monday, August 14, 2006

Stitches Report

What a weekend! We laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats. I've never seen Cats. But I'm sure it's pretty good.

First of all, those damn terrorists picked Stitches Midwest weekend to get caught. It caused a bit of difficulty, but not as much as some people had. My flight was cancelled, so I got in really late, but it was uneventful otherwise. On the way to the hotel I met the owner of The Studio in Kansas City. She was fun to talk to, and she invited us to a party involving chocolates on Friday night.

Thursday night started out well. We were missing a few old friends but we still made some connections.
From left to right - Super Cheap ($14/pound) unidentified-but-who-cares-for-that-price, enough for a sweater; Socks That Rock; and Koigu for a pair of gloves. I was highly over-charged for the Koigu, but they gave me a free tape-measure, and the Super Cheap balanced it out. No worries.

Friday morning we learned that it was much faster to walk from the hotel to the Convention Center via the great outdoors than the inside walk-ways. I also learned how wonderful and in-hotel Starbucks is. She even made me a Caramel Latte, which some Starbucks won't, because it's, like, not on the list. I didn't have any classes on Friday, so it was a big day of shopping. This is the total haul as of the end of Friday.

Saturday I had Bohus Stickning class. (That's "Bow - hoose".) It was fascinating, and Susanna was a wonderful teacher. Most "historical knitting" classes have to do with evolution and influences of different cultures, etc. but this was a style that was created out of thin air in the thirties, and it was exquisite. Also, it wasn't the technique so much as the design. The combination of knit and purl and multi-colored knitting was inspired. I would perhaps like to execute one of these designs, but the yarn is so fine, and it's kind of fiddly. Even though the class was all day, I did manage to make a few purchases at lunch and after class. This is the size of the stash augmentation after Saturday:


Saturday evening we were supposed to meet up with other bloggers. This plan fell through in a big way. It seems the Hyatt had booked a Beatles convention concurrent with Stitches. Much like the knitters, the Beatles conventioneers liked to gather and hang out sharing their interests in the lobby. However, while sitting in a group and knitting generally doesn't bother anyone else, plopping down your guitar, amp, and microphone and singing the most obscure Beatles songs you can think of does. We tried; we sat and knitted for about forty-five minutes, but when no one else showed up, we decided we couldn't take any more of the incessant tamborine-ing and left. Perhaps if it was one big group singing one obscure Beatles song at a time, it would be one thing. But it was one person here, two people there, a love-in over there.

Sunday Suzie had to leave early, but Gwen and I didn't have to leave until early afternoon. We shopped a bit more, snapping up the good deals, and the overlooked treasures. As usual, my plans for the last minute were scrapped at the last minute for a completely new set of plans previously unconsidered. But that's the fun of it. Anyway, we got to see the style preview, which was a new experience. I learned that I'm truly not into fashion, no matter how much I like to dress cute.

Well, it seems that Blogger isn't going to let me document my acquisitions in detail, so I'll have to leave you hanging. Suffice it to say I had to buy a new piece of luggage to bring it all home in:

6 comments:

Earin Marybird said...

Oh, I am having serious yarn envy. Such pretty colors! Your comment about blogger not letting you show your stuff: Did this mean you can't load photos? I've found that if I load all my photos first before I do any text I pretty much can put as many as I like. As soon as I do text though I have "issues".

Unknown said...

I got there, I just got there about 7:30ish or later. I did meet up with friends from home and from Michigan, but we missed you guys! I have to go look at the stash a little closer now. You got gorgeous stuff!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like great fun. I'm hoping to go next year. I really miss the shopping and you, of course!

Tipper said...

Blogger ate my comment!

Matthew and I were there all day on Saturday, and stayed til about 6:30 p.m. I was watching/looking for you, but I guess all of the Beatlefans obscured my vision. (They were pretty distracting, though cute; I sort of wanted to join them, since I've always wanted to attend that convention!)

It sounds like you had a good time at Stitches; I wish I could say the same for myself! :)

Amy said...

Great haul! I wish I could have gone this year. I took the Bohus class last year and really enjoyed it- glad you did too!

JRS said...

That's a lovely haul! I looked for you all on Saturday night too, but didn't see any groups on either floor of the lobby that I thought were the knitbloggers...and the Beatles nuts were driving me crazy too. Between the Beatles songs over the hotel PA, and the various groups with their guitars, I just couldn't take it! Maybe next year.