Trip to Stitches

Gotta love Stitches.  It's like a Sams Warehouse full of individual vendors that sell anything from yarn; fibers to spin; books; accessories like needles and spindles; shawl pins; yarn bowls. It just doesn't get any better than that.  I attended this event the first 3 years they held it in Atlanta.  I didn't go the last 2 years because of my knees, so this was the first year back and with 2 new knees.  Well, happy to say that the knees did great!!  My hips and lower back need to catch up. :-)

There were 4 of us that rode together, all stayed in the same room and ate and drank together. We had a blast!!! It was at a new venue this year and while overall I think it was just fine, the seating area in the hotel lobby didn't seem to be as cozy as the last location.  The drinks were good though and the waitresses very nice.  I don't think the hotel and convention center were quite prepared for the kinds of people that come to these events. They must have thought a bunch of quiet old grannies would arrive. Little did they know. :-)

I took 2 classes. One was Knitting Socks in the Round on 2 straight needles by Daniel Yuhas. This was a cool class. The first thing we learned was how to cast on in the round and remaining an open loop. It's a form of double-knitting, but it's very cool.  The 2nd class I took was Designing your own Pi Shawl, again with Daniel Yuhas.  Other than the 2 know-it-alls I sat between, this one was great and I can't wait to design my own pi.  He gave us the graph calculations  to go along with the design method so that when we design it, the shawl will stay flat.

I'll post pics later of some of the goodies I bought.
1. a couple of Glass sheep ornaments from a vendor from St. Croix.
2. A purple Turkish spindle
3. A Lucet and a Shawl Pin from Stephen Willette
4. Some lotion from Utopia Bath
5. Some gorgeous dark blue merino fiber from Adela's yarn
6. Some lovely yarn from Miss Bab's
7. a Kumihimo (very cool)
8. a little weaving board
9. Some yarn and pattern from Alisha Gors Around
10. Some yarn from Yarn Barn of Kansas
11. a couple of purple nylon bags from Namaste
12. a cool glass necklace "bead" from Tanya A. McGuire.  You have to check this vendor out! She does some cool work.

I also finally met Dana from Unwind Yarn Company.  We've been online acquaintenances for several years but have never met. So that was fun, fun, fun!!!!
The driver of our foursome also has her own podcast and a couple of her followers wanted to meet her and have dinner. So we all met up and they were do much fun. Kelly and Gwyn, you know who you are!!!!!!
On Saturday night while we were all working on our Kumihimo Loom (the big Kahuna is what we called it after several drinks) in the bar, we wre joined by a couple of ladies sitting nearby. One was Michelle, another podcaster and she was from Charlotte, NC. We had so much fun!

Sadly, we didn't win the Grand Prize on Sunday, but a good time we had. We hit the road for Nashville and I took Monday off to rest and do my Sunday chores. I was exhausted all week and finally feel back to normal today.

I'll post pictures hopefully this weekend!

Next year, I'm thinking Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. just maybe at the moment.

Comments

I've been waiting to see your Stitches post. It sounds like you had a good time. Were there lots of people there? I had heard that it wasn't busy enough from a vending perspective. I've only been the one time and really enjoyed it.
LeAnn said…
A good time, indeed.
Sincerely,
The Driver