A Knitting Convention

I had so much fun telling people last week that I would be attending a "knitting convention" over the weekend, just to see the looks on their faces. I find the term "knitting convention" hilarious because it makes Stitches sound soooo much dorkier than it is. Not that dorky is a bad thing, but Stitches is much more than a lame "convention" -- it is a mecca, if you will. At least it was for me.

On Saturday morning, Sophy, Erica, and I met at Samovar for chai to go, then hopped in my car and drove down to the Santa Clara Convention Center for Stitches West (Sophy has an excellent recap of the day here).


(Sophy and Erica. I have a non-blurry version of this pic, but I like the pouty model face Sophy is making in this one.)

When we arrived, I felt like I had come home. There were knitters everywhere! All over the place you could see people proudly showing off their knitted garments...a Clapotis here, a beautiful fair isle vest there, Kauni cardigans, hats, scarves, and even a Bohus. I loved hearing snippets of people's conversations as they walked by:

"...I'm thinking about adding some architectural elements to the sweater I'm making..."

"...but even if I only use two skeins, I could still make him a pretty long scarf..."

"...this yarn would be perfect for a knitted dress I want to make..."

I wanted to shout, "I understand all of you! I know exactly what you're talking about! I want to make a knitted dress, too!!!" (But I didn't.)

The shopping was awesome...maybe a little too awesome. I started off with 560 yards of some aran weight hand-dyed superwash merino. In keeping with my "I only buy yarn for specific projects" rule, I was thrilled to use the Sullivan Street Bolero as an excuse to buy it. I had seen it in my email from Purl Soho just that morning! Unfortunately, my camera refused to capture the deep, deep royal of this blue.



The teal yarn is 10 skeins of Valley Yarns Stockbridge. Darn you Webs! With those low prices and the prospect of not having to pay shipping, the temptation was too much to bear. I think I'll use this for Snow White...at some point.

Sophy did pretty well at Webs, too. And by "pretty well" I mean she bought the whole store. No, she didn't...but she did get some Stockbridge, too, for a cute sock pattern they had in the shop.



Even Erica, who almost made it out without even one purchase, couldn't resist the power of Webs, and picked up an adorable short-sleeved sweater pattern and the linen yarn to go with it.

In addition to groping yarn all day, I was also obsessed with the button and ribbon shops. Vintage buttons are so awesome! I got this one to go with the blue merino...



And these I bought because they remind me of some earrings my Aunt Marian wore.



With my last eight dollars (actually I had to borrow three of those from Sophy), I got some ribbon and a buckle to make a funky belt. Here's the whole lot together:



The shopping was amazing, and add to that the CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS and it was a perfect day. Yep, celebrity sightings. I swear I spotted Debbie New right when we arrived, Sophy quite literally ran into Nancy Bush, plus we talked to one of the gals who models/designs for Webs!

Now there's only one thought going through my mind -- I have to wait another year until the next knitting convention???