Another year, another Stitches. To start off, I can't tell you how fortunate I feel having the event practically in my back yard for the past decade. The Santa Clara Convention Center is 12 miles from my house, a perfect commute distance, so I can easily pop in for couple of hours or an afternoon. I don't have to "do it all" in one long day, like I did when it was in Oakland, more than 50 miles from home. As I read the discussions on Ravelry, see how far others have to travel here, I feel very very lucky to be here.
The Stitches events are much more than the Market, but after knitting intensely for over 15 years and working in yarn shops on and off, I'm not terribly interested in classes. I've never attended the opening day events, fashion show, or student fashion show, so I'm happy just skip them every year; and the Market becomes my playground.
This year I almost exclusively hang out in smaller, newer, more indie booths. I had an armful of cashmerino at Newton's Yarn Country and I put them all back. I didn't spend much time in the big booths like Webs or Yarn Barn. I was still on a mission to find the good non-superwash wool yarn between fingering and DK weight, for knitting sweaters and shawls. When I say "good" I mean smooth, soft, reasonably priced 100% wool in a nice color range. As with everything in life, sometimes the simplest is the hardest to do well.
Now a few more pictures from the market.
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| Spotted this poster in couple of booths, sounds like my kind of diet. |
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| StevenBe. This guy has so much character, you have to check him out. |
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| Norah Gaughan's Lempster in Webs booth, it looks so much better in real life |
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| Dye materials at the Alpenglow booth |
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| All the markers I got from the swap. Must do it again next year! |
The loot,:
1. Top row from left, 3 skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair in Raspberry
2. Terilyn Needleart Heather in teal
3. Ellen's Half Pint Farm 100% Merino Sock in teal
4. 4 skeins Western Sky Knits BFL DK in deep blue
5. Bottom row from left, 2 skeins Abstract Fiber Rothko in red
6. Lisa Souza Polworth/Silk in marionberry (purple)
7. 5 skeins Alpenglow Yarn Lofty Corrie DK in strawberry fizz (red)
8 Next to the WSK blue yarn is a mini skein from Alpenglow for her part of the stitch marker swap
9. Stitch markers from the swap are on a bracelet on top of the red yarn
10. On the far left are some samplers from Miss Babs
11. On the very bottom are what's left of my own stitch markers for the swap
I'm proud to say that except for Ellen's sock yarn, everything I bought was non-superwash, almost all are hand dyed, some natural dyed. As for Ellen's yarn, I wore my Nightsongs to show her, and just had to walk away with something!
Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!
