Stitches Midwest 2002
I went to I went to Stitches Midwest this weekend. Wow! It was even bigger than TKGA in March. I had such a great time, I was completely exhausted Sunday night and all day Monday. I have already posted my class experiences on my Adventures in Knitting page. I took four classes and, of course, did some shopping at the market. I’ll post the photos of my yarn purchases as soon as I get the photos taken. I bought some merino yarn for my shawls class that is handdyed from Interlacements Yarns. It knits up beautifully and my shawl is turning out so nicely. I had to go back and buy more merino yarn for sweaters and some mohair for a cool shawl. I had so many people ask me where I had bought the gorgeous yarn, so I think I introduced, at least, five people to their yarn. I also bought a kit to make a jacket that is from a Norweign Pattern book that I bought at Yarns By Design. I also bought a few books – Folk Knitting in Estonia and Folk Socks both by Nancy Bush, I was in her Estonian Knitting class and wanted her to sign them. I met Cheryl Oberle and she signed my Folk Shawls book. Nancy and Cheryl were so nice. Cheryl just had to feel my sweater, something only knitters seem to understand. I was wearing the Kidsilk Haze “Maggie” top that day. That’s what I love about knitters, they are such wonderful people. You can pretty much strike up a conversation with any of them. It’s so cool to meet people in classes and then see them around the market, it’s like instant friends on more than a superficial level.
I saw Dawn Adcock, who I’d met at TKGA in March. It was so cool to see her again, especially since she’s had a sock pattern published in Cast On magazine. I sat with Dawn at Student Banquet on Saturday night and she introduced me to one of her guild members, Sherri, who I saw again in my Color Fair Isle class on Sunday.
All three of my instructors were wonderful. Nancy Bush was great, she has such excitement for Estonia as a country and also for their knitting. I would have loved to hear more stories about Estonia and her experiences studying with the knitters in Estonia. Margaret Radcliffe was really great, I learned so much about shawl design and how to make simple scarves and shawls and have them turn out looking like something very elegant. She gave me a lot of really wonderful ideas. Melissa Leapman was great! She’s really into knitting and so excited about it. She has her own design studio. I loved seeing all of her examples – she tried on practically every sweater she brought with her. The edgings class was so cool because I have conquered my fear of hems. They are actually very easy, they just look hard. I also learned how to do cute little ruffles. Melissa’s Fair Isle class was really good. I would never have thought to design my own Fair Isle pattern, now I’m really looking forward to putting one together for a band on a vest.
As far as my other projects in the works. I finished the back of the pullover for the twin set that I’m making from one of Lang’s Fatto a Mano pattern books. I also knitted about two inches on the Kidsilk Haze “Glint” sweater that I’ve been working on for about 10 months. I’m in no big hurry to finish it, but I would like to get it done just because the yarn is not the easiest to work with and it’s all straight stockinette.
I’m now including in my projects in progress – the Estonian bag from Nancy Bush’s class, the shawl of my own design from Margaret Radcliffe’s class and a sweater that I bought a kit for that’s from a Norweign pattern book.
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