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Monday, February 27, 2012

Stitches West and Knitting Idols


This past weekend was the annual Stitches West convention in Santa Clara, CA. I’m lucky that this convention takes place in my backyard, and that I’ve been able to attend it for the last three years.  This year was made even more special when I met my knitting idol.

I went with a group of friends who had never been to a knitting event of this size. That’s always exciting because they don’t really understand the intenseness that is Stitches until they really get there.  While they were getting situated when we first arrived, I ran over to say ‘hello’ to another fellow knitter/dancer friend from out of town.  While hanging out with her and waiting for my friends to catch up, I noticed that the booth behind me had Ysolda Teague’s new books.  I had Whimsical Little Knits 3 on my wishlist and was just waiting to see it in person to pick it up.  While I was purchasing it, the lady at the booth said ‘you know Ysolda’s just down in the other aisle right?’  I must have looked completely stunned because she followed up with ‘I’ve mentioned it to a few people and I either get excitement or this look of ‘umm, who?’  I clearly had the former.  

In Ysolda's booth with her incredible knit sweaters
After that, they couldn’t ring me up fast enough.  I hurried over to the next aisle and saw her sitting in her little booth looking as cute as can be.  I went in to have my books signed and tried not to gush too much about how excited I was to see her.  She really is one of the major influences that I had when I first started knitting. Her first two books were my first knitting pattern purchases and inspired me to try new things with knitting.

With Ysolda. Definitely a 'squeeeeee!' moment

After that, I was wandering around Stitches on cloud 9. My ticket had now paid for itself.  Oh sure, I found some other fun things - mainly buttons from my favorite notions booth, Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods.  They always have a gorgeous booth with amazing displays. 

A few pics of some of the amazing items at Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods






I also picked up a new knitting purse from Jordana Paige, who was sharing a booth with the lovely Erin of Bobbin’s Nest.  They had incredible Hazel Knits yarns on display. Unfortunately I’m so stocked up on Hazel Knits yarn that I still haven’t worked my way through.  It’s one of my favorites to work with, but there’s just enough hours in the day!


Gorgeous yarn and knitting from Phydeaux Designs

All in all, another successful year at Stitches! I didn’t buy nearly as much yarn as previous years (only one skein) because really, I’ve got a bit of a yarn stash problem that I’ve got to work through.  But it’s always great to go and get inspired by the incredible vendors.  Maybe I can keep the momentum up to get some needlework done before the 2013 convention?

Ysolda's had a fun photo booth setup
So tell me, do you have a crafty idol that you would love to meet?

3 comments:

  1. Thats such a fun day... oh many of them.. I would love to meet many friends as Mena, Cath, Judy, Meg ..
    Just a quick note as I nominate you for the sunshine award xx

    http://houseofpinheiro.blogspot.com/2012/02/sunshine-award.html

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  2. Looks like a fun time! I've been considering going to Stitches South in March.

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  3. How fun and fabulous! And it's so great that you got to meet your idol!!!!

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