Fun at Stitches West 2014

Our annual trek to Santa Clara for the Stitches West convention was a wonderful way to spend a day off, surrounded by friends and thousands of wonderful yarn-loving people. The Convention Center was awash in color and textures and I have not seen it this packed since the first year I attended with E___.

We took the day off to go to the Marketplace on the first day it opened, and perhaps next year we will go on Sunday instead. It was tricky to get around with the hordes of shoppers, and there were more booths here this time than in any time I have ever attended. We were there the entire day and closed the place down and still had barely enough time to stop at all the booths.

E___ and her sister J_____ and A____ filled our bags with snacks and treats and started working in a logical grid pattern to see every nook and cranny. This was helpful because we all have varying interests in things and some of us would linger longer at a booth than others so it was easier to find our group when we scattered. Plus E___ wearing a hot pick backpack was so clever, we could always spot her and A___’s newly purple hair!

First off, I made a new friend, Johan. He’s all mine, ladies, don’t you love the Norwegian knitting advertisements?

 
I fell in love with the soft hues and the pattern for this shawl that took only 600 yards of worsted weight alpaca. Alpaca became the theme of the day, if I fell in love with something, it was alpaca! Seems like there was a lot of alpaca here this year, replacing kid mohair as my yarn of addiction.

 
One skein was around $70, a theme for the day also. Seemed like all the great yarn was around $70, with the average sock yarn climbing to $35. In past years the sock yarn average was $25.

 
This is a bear rug, knitted. Isn’t he adorable? We all wanted to hug him. A lady saw me taking his picture and started to clown around putting her hand in his mouth, then his teeth fell out! I was laughing so hard I missed that picture of her trying to fit the teeth back in without the vendor noticing, and while we were screaming, “The bear is eating her!!”

 
Now isn’t this a clever idea, iron on patches in cashmere for your sweaters and jackets that get holes. The moth shaped patches were hilarious I thought. The vendor had some really cute plain knit sweaters using the patches as decor, they were gorgeous!

 
This booth had one of the prettiest displays we saw the entire day. Their hexagonal knitting needles felt really good in the hand but sadly the joins to the cables had a gap and I just hate it when your yarn gets stuck on the joins, it’s like a log jam or Los Angeles traffic, something to avoid. I continued on in my search for size 3 and 4 circular needles for the Viajante shawl that I will be starting soon.

 
I bought this pattern, it calls for $90 worth of alpaca so perhaps some day I will get the yarn.

 
These little felted birdhouses were just so cute, I wonder if the birds up at my mom’s place would be enticed to nest in them? Has anyone used them? They are cute enough just for decor I suppose.

 
These made me want to get clogs, meet the socks named Fang.

 
Love this booth with the felted flowers, every year we stop to admire them. It would be fun to have these at home but imagine having to dust them.

 
Move over food trucks, the next big craze will be yarn trucks! What a darling idea.

 
One of the patterns from the Yarnover truck, such pretty lace.

 
I know it is rude but I had to Keneer this shot of this marvelous lady knitting on size 1000 needles. They were impressive, and that she carried them around with her all day was even more impressive.

 
Later in the day the knitted bear rug became easier to see. Or did he eat all of that yarn? No one is talking.

 
We eventually stopped for lunch and an “ankle break” aka a rest break for The Crankle. A___ spotted these slutty nachos being sold, for $8! They were so massive and the cute young man serving us gave us each a pint of sour cream *each*.

We staggered away in a nacho coma for about an hour but it was worth it.

I also made spiced pecans for snacks and they kept us alive while we waited in line for about 30 minutes for our food. Here they are, sauteeing in butter and sugar about an hour before we left for Stitches. The recipe is here.

 
I love owls and so does my mom and this booth that had felted projects and crewel work caught my eye.

I purchased a darling kit for crewel work, since I needed some needles and canvas and an embroidery hoop. There was also a really cute book of crewel patters that I had to get, perhaps I shall cheat on embroidery a bit and use up the gorgeous Persian wools I have from petit point needlepoint for crewel projects.

 
Such a pretty leaf pattern on this sweater. Last year I purchased from this same book a pretty shawl pattern with leaves like this around the border. I realized that I could use the knitted on border to make a sweater or any scarf with these kinds of leaves.

 
It’s the Shirley Temple sheep, check out those bodacious ringlets!

 
I almost fell to the floor looking at the beautiful Quince yarns, look at these hues and they all feel so divine.

 
This was another gorgeous table-full of fun.

 
Hi Kira!

I had to go and get a hug, and to check out her designs. I love her patterns and her eye for detail and fit is amazing. Kira K was a mentor to me when I first started knitting, she worked at the original Artfibers location and a lunchtime I would go there and buy obscene quantities of gorgeous yarns and then ask her what I should try making as a beginning knitter. She encouraged me to knit lace and helped me interpret difficult bits as I went along. She was so kind and encouraging and I can’t thank her enough for helping boost my confidence as a beginner. Love her!

 
Yes, Virginia, unicorns exist.

 
This booth had the cutest whimsical patterns, I started singing, “I’d like to be, under the sea….” when I saw these. No otters though, darn it all.

 
In case you have a black thumb you can knit your own garden, with cacti and succulents even. I thought the lizard was a nice touch.

 
There is a trend I’ve been seeing for the past few years for yarn bowls, instead of using a ziplock ghetto bag like I do most of the time. This gentleman takes the yarn bowl to the ultimate level in lathed burlwood bowls. I just want one for my coffee table, yarn or no.

 
This vendor wins for best table decor, and the yarns were gorgeous to the hand. Turns out I know the owner’s sister, a friend of my sisterfriend L___! Many hugs were shared at this booth.

 
Meet Thor, the largest skein winder ever… and Thor’s new owner B___ is a member of LSG and totally lovely.

 
I told you in my last post that I planned to buy out every stitch marker in the place, and if a booth had stitch markers, I bought some there! Sadly, they were sold out of the owl stitch markers but I got two chickens that are jingle bells! So adorable but I am not sure how annoying they will be to use, stay tuned on that.

 
The knitted lace guild’s table was fascinating, check out this display of tools from the old days, aka the 1980’s.

 
This is the godfather of lace, I really wanted to meet him but he had hordes of ladies around him at all times. Love his hat too.

 
Coco Knits had the cutest felted planters this year, sadly they were not for sale, we all wanted one though (hint hint, Coco Knits people, next year, better have these for sale!)

 
There were a lot of non-fiber vendors here this year, tons of knitting themed jewelry, scarf pins, buttons, baskets and the like, and these shaker boxes. The gentleman behind the table was finishing a box while we watched. The scent of sanded wood was lovely. I long to have an entire tower of them like the one in the corner, can you imagine the cost?

 
Doesn’t this look like an armadillo? Sleeping in pretty pottery yarn bowls. Some of the bowls at this booth had lids, which was quite clever, it keeps the ball of yarn from leaping out and hiding under the coffee table when you pull its tail.

 
I don’t know who he is but his fascinator is fascinating.

 
Please look at this closely. On size 19 needles this lady is knitting a rug. Yes, a rug, and it’s out of pure alpaca. I couldn’t stand it. I had to touch it. I had to walk on them, sadly though I didn’t feel up to taking off my shoes. Some of the booths had these lovely gel pads to stand on, the same kind that cooks use to cushion their feet from hours of standing on concrete floors. I love those gel pads. But the alpaca scattered throughout this booth were 10 times cushier than the gel pads. Can you imagine having an alpaca rug at home in the kitchen?

Everyone has to do something crazy at Stitches West, and this was my crazy. I forked out $70 and bought the yarn to make a rug. The skein was so large I just carried it around like a pet dog. People were stopping me and asking me about it, the yarn looks like a giant skein of dreadlocks, like I had scalped Bob Marley alpaca style. It was incredible. I started calling the skein Rover (aka roving, get it??!!) and it is a great way to meet people. I should have bought two skeins, one just for conversation purposes. I imagine putting it in one of those nylon dog carriers and taking it everywhere. This is where I realized I was getting very fatigued.

 
Anyone up for a giant grab bin of Noro and Poems yarn? This lovely gal had to climb in there to help out the shoppers lest the fall in reaching for bags of deals.

 
I bought this shawl pattern too, it’s called Flame and knit out of, take a guess, it’s not alpaca. It’s quivut! One of the most expensive yarns on the planet this scarf was so divine to touch, it was almost x-rated. The quivut blend required for this shawl would run over $110 for the project. But what a shawl… A girl can dream. And the available colors were stunning.

 
These socks were so clever, do you recognize what this is?

The yarn in this booth, the Verdant Griffon, was divine, the rich hues of their dyes glimmered like jewels. I am going to make these socks someday but not in parchment colors, in something jazzy. Have you guessed yet? It is the first lines of Beowolf in the original language. I adore them.

 
If you were a yarn, what kind would you be? Well, the answer for myself is obvious, and here is proof.

 
One of our last finds of the night was the magic Painfree Pillow booth. We were resting our feet and having an ankle break around 2 pm, drinking tea and generally looking and feeling exhausted. I remarked I wish they had massage chairs there, or those vibrating foot things, A___ suggested. A woman walking by whipped her head over and almost shouted, “You have to go the magic Painfree pillow booth, it’s amazing!!”. We giggled, thinking there were magic pain filled pillow somewhere in the world too, and then promptly forgot about it. Later, when we walked by the booth we were cajoled to sit by the hunky young men working there. What a clever staffing choice, by the way. The Painfree pillow vibrates when you put weight on it, battery operated, with 4 different vibration patterns that cycle through for 12 minutes. Oh my, my feet and lower back were in heaven and sitting there for 12 minutes really did give me enough of a boost to go on. A___ and I both bought these pillows and for the rest of the weekend my feet were so happy. I can’t wait to get home tonight and am seriously thinking of getting one for the office. Magic.

 
As we left for the day we realized that Tess was missing from the show this year. It is probably a good thing as I had already gone over my budget for the day. I got some great sock yarn from Miss Babs, and a huge cake of yarn from her for a Viajante, 1750 yards for $75. I also found some darling heather-flecked sock yarn that will make a shawl, and the kind ladies at that booth gave me a link to the pattern for it as well. Of course I found a ton of stitch markers, which I sorely needed for the Event Horizon shawl. I will share photos of these finds as I use them.

 
Meanwhile, we left the conference, actually they asked us to leave because we were there past closing time. We entered into the twilight hour and it was about 67 degrees outside, shirt sleeve weather and palm trees. I love California winters on the Peninsula!

 
We headed North to San Mateo to stop for dinner at a Japanese Izakaya and it was fine, it wasn’t ramen but everyplace was mobbed. Who would have thought that San Mateo was the epicenter of dining on a Friday evening? It was good to get home and use my vibrating pillow and to examine all of the cards and photos I took, and admire my new yarn and patters. It was a wonderful day and I am looking forward to starting my new projects.

 

 

 

Make Your Own Market Bags

Suddenly bored with my möbius cowl and not interested in knitting socks just now, I remembered I have long wanted to knit myself a market bag.

Years ago I made a bunch of these Monteagle Bags  by Ann Hahn Buechner after reading about them in a blog in 2008 but I never got around to making one for me.

The yarn is a lovely Egyptian plant cotton (or papyrus) yarn from our local treasure, Artfibers, called Kite. It’s very sturdy and yet soft to the touch. This is important as you don’t want your precious vegetables to be scratched up by hard fibers or an uncomfortable strap digging into your shoulder.

I knit and try to think about something else. I am worried about my family, I’m worried about my upcoming test results, I’m worried about work and about everything, life feels quite upsetting. Knitting stitches that look like macramé requires concentration. It does help to focus on these finicky stitches. I breathe and relax and watch the funky stitches form under my hands.

Sitting at my kitchen table sipping Cafe du Monde cafe au lait and watching some wonderful British cooking shows with one eye on the screen is quite the pleasant and low key afternoon. I’m too sunburned from my day in the sun yesterday to go out so with the window open and the lovely warm breeze coming in off the fire escape I am quite happy with my perch up in the Roost.

I finished this bag and used it at the market Saturday. It was a gorgeous foggy then sunny day and my bag was fantastic.

I should have taken a picture of it laden with all the vegetables I bought that day, it swelled and stretched and yet kept everything in great shape and it was comfortable and stylish.

In hindsight I will add more rows of the lower row of tighter stitches, perhaps triple what the pattern calls for, to allow for smaller objects to stay tucked in more securely during shopping.    I made some pattern notes on my project page on Ravelry about the bottom and cast on and my pattern modifications.   Perhaps I should cast on another bag!

Stitches West and a Gentle Return to Knitting

A weekend ago or so was Stitches West, the giant yarn, fiber and notions conference at the Santa Clara Convention Center. For quite a few years I have been attending with E___, my friend and knitting mentor (and also my fellow baseball buddy), and lately with my artist and crochet sisterfriend L____ and A____ have been joining us for shopping and ramen afterwards.

This was my first real weekend post flu and post ankle surgery where I felt almost like a normal person. Walking and standing is still cranky but we scheduled lots of tea breaks and the gals brought lots of snacks to keep our energy from flagging.
(tiny chocolate mushroom cookies!)

This year the convention center seemed rather quiet, we went on a Sunday, which is the last day of the conference and perhaps people were done for it but the crowd was thin and the shopping was even thinner. It might be a sign of the tightened economy, or perhaps because it was nice weather out but there wasn’t much going on that day. We all were on tight budgets and that never helps with shopping, but we enjoyed being able to visit every booth and have time for breaks.

E____ and I both found some great sock yarn for the San Francisco Giants games, a cutely dyed sock yarn from Miss Babs in a colorway called Pumpkin Apocalypse. E___ might be making a shawlette but I am going to make socks.

There was a very pretty pattern for a Cedar Leaf Shawlette in a green silk and wool blend but sadly there was no yarn anywhere within the convention center that was right weight with a little silk in it and in the right verdant green. I will need about two to three skeins to make the shawl and will save this pattern for when the budget allows more yarn shopping.

We spotted a simple sweater by Olga Jazzy, the Sakasama Jacket. I would like to try this pattern since I have boatloads of kid mohair but the booth was out of the pattern. I can get it online however.

At another stall was selling mink yarn in jewel-toned colors at mink-like prices, but ooh, so very soft and lovely. All animal fiber yarn is from animals where they are either shorn or combed for their hair/fur, how does one shear a squirmy mink? It doesn’t bear thinking about overmuch.

This stall also had a sample scarf by Alchemy using their paper yarn which is surprisingly soft after washing. The scarf is combined with Alchemy kid mohair yarn that I’m obsessed about but the scarf is felted or washed vigorously after knitting to shrink the mohair part. I’ve seen it before at the Interweave Knitlab marketplace. I am still tempted to try this someday. The coir palate is pretty on me and they have a longish bolero which would be very nice to wear over all my inevitable black wardrobe pieces.

(the ubiquitous Feather and Fan pattern again!)

It was always great fun to see Tina Whitmore of KnitWhits and I snatched up a ball of her Freia ombré yarn that changes from a deep grey-black to an Aegean teal. Tina explained it was a new color direction for her ombré yarns. She had only made a little for the New York show she attended and they were snapped up, I wish I could have seen all the colors she had made! Hopefully, in future, she will make more. The winking green-blue eye for this yarn really called to me and I couldn’t wait to make something with it.

(the hue of the grey truly is much darker than captured here)

We putzed around for a little while longer and then went out for dinner at Ramen Club. This is the second best ramen I’ve found in the Bay Area.
(tonkotsu ramen, a bowl of heaven

It was a lovely, full day!

The moment I got home I pulled out my two purchases plus the pretty pattern and I did not resist the incredible urge to start knitting.

Happily a quick search on Ravelry led me to the adorable Elk Tooth pattern by Caitlin ffrench. The talented knittingnurse on Ravelry had made up this pattern in Freia yarn in the same weight and a slight modification to use up one ball of yarn. I am about halfway done now and simply love the look and feel of this yarn. I can’t wait to wear this scarf.

Knitter and Spinner Tweet-up

One of the joys of Twitter is the ability to reach people who have interests in common with your own.  It is fascinating  to chat with people from all across the nation, and planet, on everything under the sun – politics, religion, food, knitting – you name it, we talk about it.

This Saturday we arranged a tweet-up (a meeting of Twitter users) to say hello to Chris aka @VTknitboy who is visiting for the weekend.

Looking for a place that would accommodate 8 – 10 people with good food and tea and that wouldn’t mind if we lingered to chat and knit for a few hours in San Francisco is quite an impossible feat, but we managed to land at ‘wichcraft off  Union Square.  It was so great to meet people in real life for the first time, we all hit it off instantly and it was like being with a group of old friends.

Chris brought treats for everyone – some of his gorgeous handspun and dyed angora rabbit yarn from his pretty bunnies.  He has a great Etsy shop so you can treat yourself too!  I finally got to show him my Tequila Sunrise hat made out of his gorgeous yarn that I bought from him last winter.  My little gift to him was the amazing jam from Frog Hollow’s famous peaches and some bay leaves from McEvoy Ranch for a little taste of California when he gets home.

Anne – @rrarelyrabbits –  brought treats for everyone to take home, some beautiful undyed llama and alpaca fiber from a friend of hers that is ready to be spun.  It is so interesting to feel the softness of the roving and to see which ones were crimped and which ones had straight hair, and just how truly fluffy these animal’s fiber really can be.  Anne’s dear husband Ron is a non-knitter and still kindly  joined us.  Ron was so gracious and patient to not be terribly bored as we chattered away about all things fiber.

I got to meet Maia – @MaiaSpins – she is an incredible dyer who uses only natural sources for the color,  it was so lovely to meet her!  I saw her shop,  Tactile Fiber Arts, at the Interweave Knits Lab Knitter’s Market but I did not get a chance to chat with her that night, sadly.  Maia  brought spindles for us to play with, gorgeous creations handmade by Spindlewood.  It was fascinating to watch Chris’s expert hands create tiny, perfectly even yarn out of wool pencil batting with these spindles.   We all got to play a bit and learn a few tricks.  Maia brought some lovely yarn and the utterly fascinating silk hankies as a gift for Chris, we all are coveting them.  As a novice/uneducated spinner I totally want to try them!

My dear pal Luna – @LunaRaven13 – our lone hooker of the day (meaning she crochets, *what* were you thinking??) showed off her gorgeous crocheted jewelry and made a pretty lavender and cream ring on the spot just for me.  Thank you!!  It is amazing to see how delicate and intricate her work is, and her rings with beads and crystals were also fantastic.

 Nathan – @knit1eat1 – and his partner Christian arrived a bit later and we welcomed them heartily.  Nathan is such an expert knitter and photographer (look here) and Christian is a fantastic knitwear model and lucky recipient.  We drooled over the grey-flecked sweater Nathan was working on and the gorgeous cabled scarf Christian was wearing.  It was hard to let go of it!

We had a rather disappointing lunch, for those of us who ordered sandwiches that is.  Who knew – if you go to ‘wichcraft be sure to order a salad, they looked amazing.  Afterwards we sat around and did a show and tell of our current projects and the knitted loveliness we were wearing, and worked on our various projects and chatted some more.   It really was such an enjoyable afternoon.

 

 

After crossing Market Street and getting an eyeful of a very peaceful march by the OccupySF group, we strolled over to Fiona’s Sweetshop on Sutter and Kearny for wonderful samples and purchases to enjoy later.  My favorites this time were the Cognac cordials and the dark chocolate covered candied ginger balls.

Sated and buzzing from sugar we visited the amazing Artfibers to check out their gorgeous, unique yarns.  My pick of the day is the Starring yarn, that knits up with droplets of glitter that look like rain on a tropical flower petal, color #4.  It was great fun to sit there and make swatches and watch the sky darken even further over the buildings of Union Square.

Sadly it was time to part and say our farewells.  Luna and I walked Chris back to his hotel and later remarked about what an incredible, vital and creative group of people we just met and now can call them all true friends.

I look forward to seeing everyone again, and especially thank Chris for visiting from Vermont and giving us an excuse to spend time with some local fiber artists that we otherwise might have not met.

Fiber vs Food

Last night we had a blast at the Interweave Knits Lab’s Knitter’s Market in San Mateo.  Imagine a mini Stitches West with room to move and breathe and *chat* with the dyers, spinners and sellers.

The first thing we did was to say hello to dear @lahondaknitter who was helping out at the Nine Rubies booth.   It was lovely to see Paula again and we positively drooled over the gorgeous alpaca yarns they had and the beautiful frilled scarf with the beaded and sequined cotton yarn.  I am kicking myself for not getting some but happily they are located in San Mateo and we are planning a field trip soon.

After cruising around the stalls for a first pass we narrowed in on a few coveted items.

Our first purchases were at the Knitted Wit booth.  Our eyes were drawn a small display of superwash fingering weight skeins that sparkled in the light.  Drawing closer we realized the yarn has 20% real silver spun into it!  Lorajean told us that this was the last of the Bling yarn as they are going to remake it with some sort of plastic “silver”.  Well, that did it, we had to buy some.  I picked  “smooth as butter”, a silky, glittery butter color for my upcoming Clapoutis.  E___ picked the delicious peridot green for a lace shawl.   Such an easy purchase to make too as Lorajean uses the Square with her iPhone.  Technology is fantastic!

(photo from Knitted Wits.com)

We had a great time at the Conjoined Creations booth.  Super fun Mary Arnold showed us the Flat Feet sock yarn, which I had never seen before.  Always late to the party I was blown away!  The yarn is not in a skein or a ball, it’s in a flat piece of fabric which is then hand dyed and painted.  They are amazing, you unravel one end and knit directly from the fabric.  I chose a hand painted “blanket” in turquoise and spring green dappled with purple. E___ scored the amazing tiger-stripe “blanket” which will no doubt knit up to perfectly coordinate with her SF Giants gear.

Mary also treated us to a set of HiyaHiya double pointed knitting needles so we could start *tonight*! Thank you Mary!  She kept running into us in the market where she would laugh and ask, “Have you started yet?” or “Are you wearing your new socks yet?” Hilarious! I’m dying (haha) to try some of their raw silk. Gorgeous! I have decided that with my new Flat Feet yarn I will make the Wedge socks in cookie a’s book “knit. sock. love”.

(photo from ConjoinedCreations.com)

After flirting heavily with the gorgeous felted silk and wool shawls at Alchemy and examining their Haiku mohair lace yarn, I decided to take my replacement spiral scarf into a new direction.  Why recreate it exactly and be reminded that it is a replacement to a beloved lost/damaged piece?  Instead I decided to try a new yarn and truly start fresh.

At Freia Handpaint Fibers, aka KnitWhits, Tina Whitmore was so gracious in discussing at length her beautiful new Freia Flux Lace yarn and we agreed it would make an incredible spiral scarf.  I scored 2 skeins of Flux Lace in Purpleheart and put it in my handbag to play with the rest of the night.  Tina is great fun, her yarn is named after her dog and the name Freia is a perfect match with her dog’s personality and the etymology  of Freia, the goddess of love and war.

I admired her cute Lanesplitter skirt in her aqua sport weight yarn and she showed us her other Lanesplitter in shades of lavender and purple. She created the pattern, oh DUH!  We had great fun talking about the Lanesplitter craze and how she met “Patient Zero” who kicked off the craze in their local yarn store.   Tina checked put my figure and encouraged me to make a Lanesplitter in sportweight, and soon!  She asked that I post pictures on my spiral scarf in progress on her KnitWhits FB page and I will!!

It was such a delight to see the gorgeous Kira K again.  She was debuting new kits with her designs for small projects with rare and hard to find yarns.  Her hat and scarf designs were adorable and the yarns were so luscious but I had ran out of money by then. Yesterday I reviewed my queue on Ravelry and was reminded that I purchased the pattern for her fabulous Bell Curve skirt and it was fantastic to see it in person.     I did not find any suitable yarn at this particular event but I will find some to knit that up very soon.  This is another skirt pattern that is fantastic for ladies with (ahem) fluffy posteriors and long stems, like me.   I also have a jacket pattern of hers queued up and ready to go as soon as I finish the hundreds of other projects I want to make *tomorrow*.  Oh start-itis, how you vex me so.

It was Kira’s encouragement that got me started in knitting, to learn to read charts, and how to knit lace. My frantic visits to Artfibers during lunch breaks to get consultations and calming by Kira were crucial to my knitting infancy and her confidence in me was so appreciated. So, thank you, Kira, for everything!

I was very tempted by a Turkish drop spindle, it looked like a objet d’art in beautiful exotic woods, but at $60 I decided to hold off to get one until SOAR’s retreat next year.  I can’t wait for that!  I have a beautiful roving in fall colors in baby camel and silk that I would love to spin but don’t know how.  Yet.

Wallets sadly empty we bid Paula adieu and headed laden down to the car and out in the drizzle.  Our next stop was dinner – Ramen Club!   I hope anyone who is at the Interweave Knits lab takes a time out to visit Ramen Club, it truly is the best ramen I have ever had.  All the yarn and fun we had at the Knitter’s Market and this massive bowl of ramen made my sacrifice of fiber over food on Wednesday night completely worth it.

Knitter’s Market Tonight!

Tonight I am going to the Knitter’s Market at the Interweave Knitting Lab 2011 and I am terrifically excited!

Interweave Knit Lab offers some amazing classes this year but the price was too steep for me to enroll.  I consoled myself with the news that the Knitter’s Market is open to the public, so after work my dear friend E___ are hitting the road.

Last night I had a major dilemma: order my favorite Angry Korean chicken wings and cheddar scallion bacon biscuits or save my money by scrounging in the kitchen for dinner to have more funds to shop tonight. After much dithering I made the supreme sacrifice and favored fiber over food. I just wanted you all to know that I gave up bacon for shopping tonight. Bacon!

Because I am the type to make lists for everything, here are my goals for the Market tonight:

• Yarn for a Clapoutis KAL some Twitter friends and I are organizing in January, pattern here (as if you don’t already know about the infamous Clapoutis).   Last year I bought some beautiful flash dyed sock yarn to make a Clapoutis and realized that each skein was just too different in the colorway to successfully incorporate it into a single shawl, dangit!

• Yarn for the Canyon Skirt in a dark color like charcoal grey to match the gorgeous Be Sweet beaded mohair African ball I found at Princess Animal last month.  Besides the soft, fuzzy cobweb mohair yarn there is a mohair boucle yarn,  a delicate strand of sliver and beautiful cream, silver lined clear and hematite beads.  The Canyon Skirt pattern uses this yarn along the hem, doesn’t that sound like fun?  I envision wearing this skirt year-round, from flats and heels in the summer to boots in the fall, like right now. I want to start it right now!

• More cobweb mohair Alchemy Haiku yarn to recreate my beautiful Sunset Spiral scarf.  Tragically this scarf was destroyed during an unfortunate severe maintenance issue in my apartment building that I don’t want to talk about.  Needless to say, the scarf was beautiful and I want it back so I am going to recreate it!  It was made from one skein of the Haiku and I could wrap it around my neck about 4 times or double it as a mid-waist length, or tripled for a collar-length trim of fuzziness.

(sorry these pictures are crap, they were taken using my old camera phone)

• Some worsted wool in various colors so that I can make mini pumpkins, turkeys and some other fun things for the holidays and general silliness.

In addition to fiber fun E___ and I are going to hit up one of our favorite ramen places after shopping.  Ramen!! Tonight is going to be a good time.

If you want to join our Clapoutis KAL just let me know here in the comments or ping me on Twitter @HeatherHAL