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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stitches West Recap

I go to very few conferences and conventions during the year. Maybe it's due to past jobs where I was required to attend 'x' many a year, but very few catch my eye or my interest.  Stitches is the exception.  I have this bookmarked on my calendar a year in advance.  Ever since I took up knitting last year, I've been hooked on Stitches.

My Stitches stash
Lucky for me, Stitches West takes place in my neck of the woods.  This year my friend Jonelle was flying in from Seattle to join me for the convention.  We set a game plan, picked out suppliers that interested us, and determined our budgets (well, more like the 'would be nice to stay under this amount' budget).  When the Saturday of Stitches arrived, I picked her up from the airport and setout for the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Wonderful shawl pattern and print-outs from Never Not Knitting
Never Not Knitting's booth

Stitches didn't disappoint.  Surprisingly though, the majority of my early purchases were not of actual fibers, but of knitting accessories.  Maybe it's because I'm more experienced and know what sort of items I was looking for... or because my yarn stash is already out of control... but during the beginning of our Stitches trip, I focused on accessories. 

Some awesome felting from Ellen's Wooly Wonders

Some of the fun things I picked up:

From Slipped Stitch Studios: A project pattern protector case in an adorable hedgehog print.  Also, some great pattern magnets to help me keep track of my progress within a pattern.  This booth also had some great project bags and buttons.  It was also PACKED!  I was fighting for a spot within the booth to check out their adorable goods.  The good news is: they have an Etsy shop!  I'm bookmarking this shop for gifts for the knitters in my life.


Wool Candy makes me weak in the knees.  I love their yarns! Even better, a designer I've been drooling over on Ravelry and Etsy, Phydeaux Designs, was working in their booth.  I picked up a copy of the Asterisque Cowl pattern and have bookmarked the Regalia cowl for a later purchase... I think it will be perfect for some knitwear to go with my Spring Palette challenge.

One of the walls in the Wool Candy booth.

I picked up bits and bobs from a few other booths at Stitches, including some Malabrigo and Tosh yarn from ImagiKnit's booth, but my favorite of all of the booths had no yarn relation at all.  Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods was a huge booth filled with vintage buttons, ribbons, trims, lace and more.  I don't remember seeing them at Stitches last year but they couldn't be missed this time.  Their booth was beautiful! Everything was broken into a color story and contained perfect bits of accents to use for all of my crafty projects.  I picked up some buttons that I used on my Sencha blouse, and some cupcake ribbon to include in some of my creations. I thought it would be a nice label substitute until I take the time to actually make some of my own.






Now Stitches wouldn't be complete without the pre-Stitches parties.  Some of my LYS' had them, including Bobbin's Nest which carries my all-time favorite yarn, Three Irish Girls.  I swung by the Thursday before Stitches to enjoy the new releases of TIG and Hazel Knits, and picked up their new cowl pattern from Rocket Boy Knits, the Chirality Cowl.  I've already started knitting it in my new Hazel Knits sock yarn.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks so much for bringing me to Stitches West this year! Not to be missed. Had a fabulous time with you attempting to stay under-budget. Your pictures turned out fabulous! And yes ... I sniff yarn.

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