Stitches redux
Stitches was a lot of fun.
I don't even know how many times I have been to Stitches, and each time is different. I haven't taken any classes in years; while I'm sure that I would learn something in any class I took I have been disappointed in recent years by how few advanced classes there are. I have a limited budget and I'd much rather spend the money on books, tools or yarn. Maybe someday if I'm feeling flushed and I see a class that really strikes my interest I'll take a class again, but not this year (I'd take a good spinning class in a heartbeat, though).
I went by myself on Friday afternoon, after taking the kids to school. I had a tense morning; Buddy woke up feeling crummy and the rash on his face was worse and had appeared to spread to the Hubby's face. I made a same-day appointment at the pediatrician and waited to find out if he had something contagious, which would require him staying home from school. Fortunately he was good to go and I dropped both kids off with a clear conscience.
I was at the Market until just about closing at 6:00. I bought a few things, but didn't go too crazy. Much more fun was seeing people that I knew (and some people that I didn't know!) I ran into an old friend from my days working in the evil corporate world who is a lot of fun and a great knitter and spinner. I saw a friend from the days (pre children) when I used to go to the local spinning guild meetings and we chatted for a while. I stopped by and chatted with Nathania who recognized me from when I visited her store on opening day last summer. I chatted with a lot of vendors who were almost universally gracious and friendly. I wore my Leaf Lace Shawl and made a point of stopping to show the lady at The Yarn Barn who helped me choose the alpaca at last year's show. I talked to Cheryl Oberle for a few minutes, who is a delightful woman, and I stopped and talked to Joan McGowan-Michaels at White Lies Designs about knitting the Shapely Tank for the Knitting Olympics. Everyone was wonderful, with one glaring exception.
I bought two skeins of yarn last year from Tess' Designer Yarns. I used one of the yarns to make a sweater for Buddy, and I enjoyed the yarn and pattern very much, except for the fact that the yarn was heavily perfumed. Several times during knitting I had to put the project aside because the smell was making me feel sick, and the smell stuck around through a number of washings after the sweater was done. I stopped by her booth on Friday to tell her how much I enjoyed the project (which I had forgotten to bring) and I mentioned my issue with the smell of the yarn. Her response? "Well, I don't know what to tell you except don't buy the yarn". She went on to say that everybody else loves the smell and she wasn't going to change what she does because one person complained.
Okay. I'm happy to not buy yarn from her ever again. I didn't expect her to offer to change her business practices just for me, but she was incredibly rude about it, when all I did was comment on a concern. Not a good way to keep customers, at least not me.
To add to a wonderful day, the Hubby was willing to be in charge of the kids for the evening, which left me free to go out to dinner with my old friend and her niece - a grown up dinner out with no kids! It is much easier to eat dinner when you're not trying to help two small people eat their own dinners, in addition to trying to eat your own!
I worked on Saturday, then I went back to Stitches on Sunday, this time with the whole family. I had promised Punkin I would take her, and at the last minute the Hubby was feeling the need to get out of the house so he and Buddy came along. We were there for a couple of hours, which was just long enough for everybody but me to get very squirmy and bored. Punkin didn't like that I didn't get her any yarn, but I pointed out that we had yarn that we bought for her last year that we haven't done anything with yet, which mollified her somewhat.
I've already put away most of the purchases, so you'll have to be content with a photo-free list:
-Knitting for Anarchists by Anna Zilboorg. I took a class with her once and she is a fascinating lady, and I've been meaning to pick up a copy of this book for ages. I realized that if I didn't have a copy and it went out of print I would be pissed off, so I bought a copy.
-one skein of midweight Socks That Rock. I've just read too many good reviews of this yarn, I had to try it for myself.
-one set of Chibi needles in the new smaller size.
-one of the new Clover mini-kacha row counters. The locking mechanism is what sold me on this.
-two skeins of Misti Alpaca lace weight in a beautiful plum color to make the Estonian lace wrap.
-one skein of hand-dyed merino from Lisa Souza to make another Clapotis. (I'm kind of embarrassed about this one, but what the hell. I love the first one I knit but it is very drapey and I want one out of bouncy, sproingy wool. So sue me.)
-a copy of an older Debbie Bliss/Rowan book of designs for children age birth to ten years. Most books of patterns for kids stop at age 4 and Punkin is almost 5. Even though I can and do sometimes design sweaters from scratch, it's nice to have pattern ideas and sometimes I'm just lazy enough to want someone else to do that part of the work.
Now it's back to work on the Shapely Tank. I've been feeling crummy lately, and I don't know whether it's a cold or monster allergies. Either way I don't feel good, and taking care of two small kids when you don't feel good is no fun (I'm almost jealous of people who blog about staying home sick and laying on the sofa watching TV and working on their knitting - it sounds kinda good to me!)
I don't even know how many times I have been to Stitches, and each time is different. I haven't taken any classes in years; while I'm sure that I would learn something in any class I took I have been disappointed in recent years by how few advanced classes there are. I have a limited budget and I'd much rather spend the money on books, tools or yarn. Maybe someday if I'm feeling flushed and I see a class that really strikes my interest I'll take a class again, but not this year (I'd take a good spinning class in a heartbeat, though).
I went by myself on Friday afternoon, after taking the kids to school. I had a tense morning; Buddy woke up feeling crummy and the rash on his face was worse and had appeared to spread to the Hubby's face. I made a same-day appointment at the pediatrician and waited to find out if he had something contagious, which would require him staying home from school. Fortunately he was good to go and I dropped both kids off with a clear conscience.
I was at the Market until just about closing at 6:00. I bought a few things, but didn't go too crazy. Much more fun was seeing people that I knew (and some people that I didn't know!) I ran into an old friend from my days working in the evil corporate world who is a lot of fun and a great knitter and spinner. I saw a friend from the days (pre children) when I used to go to the local spinning guild meetings and we chatted for a while. I stopped by and chatted with Nathania who recognized me from when I visited her store on opening day last summer. I chatted with a lot of vendors who were almost universally gracious and friendly. I wore my Leaf Lace Shawl and made a point of stopping to show the lady at The Yarn Barn who helped me choose the alpaca at last year's show. I talked to Cheryl Oberle for a few minutes, who is a delightful woman, and I stopped and talked to Joan McGowan-Michaels at White Lies Designs about knitting the Shapely Tank for the Knitting Olympics. Everyone was wonderful, with one glaring exception.
I bought two skeins of yarn last year from Tess' Designer Yarns. I used one of the yarns to make a sweater for Buddy, and I enjoyed the yarn and pattern very much, except for the fact that the yarn was heavily perfumed. Several times during knitting I had to put the project aside because the smell was making me feel sick, and the smell stuck around through a number of washings after the sweater was done. I stopped by her booth on Friday to tell her how much I enjoyed the project (which I had forgotten to bring) and I mentioned my issue with the smell of the yarn. Her response? "Well, I don't know what to tell you except don't buy the yarn". She went on to say that everybody else loves the smell and she wasn't going to change what she does because one person complained.
Okay. I'm happy to not buy yarn from her ever again. I didn't expect her to offer to change her business practices just for me, but she was incredibly rude about it, when all I did was comment on a concern. Not a good way to keep customers, at least not me.
To add to a wonderful day, the Hubby was willing to be in charge of the kids for the evening, which left me free to go out to dinner with my old friend and her niece - a grown up dinner out with no kids! It is much easier to eat dinner when you're not trying to help two small people eat their own dinners, in addition to trying to eat your own!
I worked on Saturday, then I went back to Stitches on Sunday, this time with the whole family. I had promised Punkin I would take her, and at the last minute the Hubby was feeling the need to get out of the house so he and Buddy came along. We were there for a couple of hours, which was just long enough for everybody but me to get very squirmy and bored. Punkin didn't like that I didn't get her any yarn, but I pointed out that we had yarn that we bought for her last year that we haven't done anything with yet, which mollified her somewhat.
I've already put away most of the purchases, so you'll have to be content with a photo-free list:
-Knitting for Anarchists by Anna Zilboorg. I took a class with her once and she is a fascinating lady, and I've been meaning to pick up a copy of this book for ages. I realized that if I didn't have a copy and it went out of print I would be pissed off, so I bought a copy.
-one skein of midweight Socks That Rock. I've just read too many good reviews of this yarn, I had to try it for myself.
-one set of Chibi needles in the new smaller size.
-one of the new Clover mini-kacha row counters. The locking mechanism is what sold me on this.
-two skeins of Misti Alpaca lace weight in a beautiful plum color to make the Estonian lace wrap.
-one skein of hand-dyed merino from Lisa Souza to make another Clapotis. (I'm kind of embarrassed about this one, but what the hell. I love the first one I knit but it is very drapey and I want one out of bouncy, sproingy wool. So sue me.)
-a copy of an older Debbie Bliss/Rowan book of designs for children age birth to ten years. Most books of patterns for kids stop at age 4 and Punkin is almost 5. Even though I can and do sometimes design sweaters from scratch, it's nice to have pattern ideas and sometimes I'm just lazy enough to want someone else to do that part of the work.
Now it's back to work on the Shapely Tank. I've been feeling crummy lately, and I don't know whether it's a cold or monster allergies. Either way I don't feel good, and taking care of two small kids when you don't feel good is no fun (I'm almost jealous of people who blog about staying home sick and laying on the sofa watching TV and working on their knitting - it sounds kinda good to me!)
2 Comments:
My Valentine's day row counter is one of the Clover mini-kachas too. No room on it for my "rows finished [idiot]" label, but perhaps I'm getting beyond the need for that.
I've been reading too much Franklin and Yarn Harlot, I think. I'm starting to wonder if I might want to knit lace.
I also went to Stitches West - I am glad you were able to go! It was my frist Stitches event and I spent way too much $$! You are lucky I would never get the husband to go to a knitting event. I might be able to get him in the vicinity if there was a comic book convention next door though.
Post a Comment
<< Home