The Best Stitches Yet

This year, Stitches reminded me of my first year, except BETTER!!!

Blog Readers
I was amazed and pleased to have gotten to meet about twenty or so blog readers at Stitches.

Everywhere I went, I ran into folks that recognized me from my blog pictures and just wanted to introduce themselves. I have to say it was way cool to meet so many folks who read this blog.

In addition to folks like Kathy and Marilyn, with whom I had scheduled to meet, I met Ivete of Knotology blog fame. And then I got to meet Geane, another co-blogger. What a treat, she's exactly as I'd expecter her to be from her blog writing.



I also met way too many folks to mention by name (even if I could remember them all).

Thank you all for taking the time to say "hi" and introducting yourselves. It was truly a pleasure.

Market
I only do two things when I go to Stitches:

1. Shop
2. Chat with friends

Shopping this year was a lot of fun, and I spent quite a bit of money. I was glad to see a lot less novelty yarns in the market this year, and vendors going back to some of the more basic yarns and designs.

Here's the inventory of what I bought:

Sock yarn from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks - Hand dyed sock yarn in beautiful muted tones of blues, tans and browns that they call Sandalwood



Fortissima Socka Yarn in three different muted/manly shades.



A new Weavette, in a larger size (6" square). I liked the smaller one, so I bought the larger one, as well as a weaving pattern book.



And finally, I splurged and bought a Fair Isle vest kit from Yarns International. It's a Ron Schweitzer design, called Rona's Hill. The colors and pattern design are splendid, and I'm looking forward to knitting this garment more than anything at the moment.



I still blame Wendy for this sudden surge to do a second Fair Isle garment, but at least this one is just a vest.

Stitches Awards
First, I thought I'd give the "Worst Of" awards:

- Ugliest Sweater goes to this contestant who used a hideous color and big loops to create a design that I wouldn't donate to a homeless shelter.



- Most Garish Sweater goes to this amazing mixture of over-bright novelty yarns that would make Twiggy look as puffy as the Michelin Man.



My Booth Awards go to the following booths:

- Best Small Booth - Rosie's Yarn Cellar
Their booth always has a cozy, family feel to it, and they carry a large array of high-quality yarns. I always feel warmly welcomed when I go there.

- Most Improved Booth - Simply Knit
In the last few years, Simply Knit has had a couple of tables with sweater kits and a rack of sweaters that customers could try on. This year, they had a very professionally done booth with yarn, kits, books and tons of their great designs for customers to try on.

- Best Overall Booth - Habu
Amazing yarns, amazing designs, and great people. I loved this booth.

While I didn't find anything that I could make for myself or friends or family, I loved their designs. They are unique, and the yarns or the coolest blends of natural fibers like hemp, raffia and paper, along with wire-cored threads. The colors are more than amazing



Reader Comments/Questions
Thanks everyone for the tips and translations of the Foreign Blog reference. The blog was indeed Finnish.

It appears that Blogger.com (the folks that host my blog), somehow showed my blog to anyone that went to Henry's web site (can you imagine their surprise to find Henry's new blog site title?). Henry personally wrote to me to let me know, and he said most of his readers found it funny.

Also, with regard to the Massage Therapy picture. That is just a random picture I found on the web. It is neither me, nor my massage therapist in the picture. Although my massage therapist is very cute, he's not California buff with a pony tail.