Stitches West 2012 Recap

We did it again! I headed to Santa Clara to the Stitches West Expo for my annual pilgrimage, to one of the largest knitting conferences in the states. I left in the wee hours on thurs to get to the San Jose Airport in the early afternoon. Barbara Sue graciously offered to pick me up from the airport. B-Sue and I were in cahoots and secretly arranged for adjoining hotel rooms without our other room mates knowing. We ended up with a 'double wide' as Rowen dubbed our pajama party home base.

The market preview is a shopping mecca open to students on thurs night. I love the shopping and the people/fashion watching is quite fun. I was able to get a few pics of people (I did ask) with extensive knits. Check them out:

This lovely coral scheme:

The lovely Antje, in her beige and taupe coordinates.

This yellowy Gene Shalit looking guy. He wasn't in knits but he was too colorful to not notice. I bet his wife dressed him.

Barbara Sue and this nice lady rocked the orange. I wish I could wear orange and not look pasty white.


Check out this head piece. This woman was into the dreadlock and boingy look.

She also gave a new spin on the granny squares. I loved her spirit!

Here I am. I did a Vanna White pose for Woolydaisy at the Wheel-of-Fiber! I didn't win anything worth mentioning, but it was fun to give the wheel a whirl. I like how my church lady skirt came out!

This isn't a knit but....check out this wild spiny rubberized backpack. It was so sci-fi that I had to snap a photo of it. You probably won't see something like that in North Michigan. Maybe.

I got so hungry on one of the days that I gave in to the smell of the food vendor and snacked out on a dish of garlic fries. I need to learn how to make them.....so tasty!

Now for the good stuff. Here is a summary of my haul:

These two yarn are from Western Sky Knits. They are newcomers to the indie dyer yarn scene. A skein of sock yarn in a smooshy soft wool/cashmere/nylon base and a huge honking skein of wool laceweight. Their prices were reasonable too.

These are skeins of color morphing sock yarn called drops delight from the Nordic Mart booth. I kind of have a color morphing obsession. Kind of.

This is a hank of lace weight that was half price at Newton's Yarn Country booth. Check out their nifty grocery/butcher labels they use. You had to dig around through piles of stuff to find what you wanted, like a treasure hunt.

And then there was Webs. I bought a bunch of brown skeins for a Gnarled Oak Cardigan. And some pretty girly blue merino/angora mix for my Katherine.

I didn't buy much roving. Just two hunks of super saturated Polworth from Abstract Fibers.

I found some super fine size '0000' hiya hiya knitting needles. That is insanely major league fine gauge. I think I may have a reputation as the knitter that uses tiny needles. Steph had handed me a bunch of her tiny sock needles that she had given up on.

And then there were some gifts my friends gave me. Some lovely sock yarn and scissors from Steph. The gnomiest project pouch ever from Steph and Rhodi. And don't miss the ape tin! My pals know I have a little ape film fondness.

I love my knitting friends. I love my new acquisitions. I had the best lost knitting weekend/pajama party with the best bunch of goofy friends ever!!! I am already looking forward to next year. But for now, I will just ride the high of the yarn fumes I just experienced.

Stitches is the Best!!!