Category Archives: Knitting

Our local Knitting group headed to Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA last month (2/20 to be exact).  This was my second year and it was just as cool!  There were 6 of us who went, so we took my old, faithful minivan.  And, thank God for navigators as the traffic was in abundance!

We left Woodland a bit late, picking up our last friend in Davis about 8:15, but we still made it down to the conference center around 10:30.  Not too bad!  The drive down was uneventful. Thankfully!

A few of us were pretty systematic in our perusal of the market, but a few jumped around as they liked and I really think they saw more!  But you know me, it would be against my nature to do anything other than up one row and down another! 😉

I collected lots of business cards, but I really don’t remember what I liked about them! ;-/  Maybe next year, I’ll take a moment to jot down why I grabbed their card!  But a few booths/vendors really stood out:

• White Birch Fiber Arts – probably my favorite yarn in the WHOLE market! I bought one skein but regretted not getting more!  Unfortunately, at this time she isn’t selling my favorite yarn in her Etsy shop, but if you are on Ravelry, you can see examples there.  Not just is it rainbow yarn, BUT there are also patches of blue sky too! BEAUTIFUL!  There were some fun variations – like “Pessimist’s Rainbow” which had a grey “sky”.  But the one I bought was called “Does this rainbow make my black look big?” lol I cast it on for socks already, so I should have some pictures soon!
• Chicken Boots – a vendor with project bags (and more!) that I really admired!  They are local – Chico – and I can’t wait until I can save up some money to get one.  I didn’t buy one at the show because I thought I’d get to go back and I completely forgot! D’oh!  I really like the clear, boxy bags you can see via this link.
• Dan Doh Designs – Yumiko Alexander was at the first Stitches I attended and I love her designs.  At that time, she wasn’t on Ravelry and I kicked myself for not buying one of her pattern books.  This year I was so happy to see her there again!  I bought her book “Warm Earth 3” – here is another link – I want to knit that sweater on the cover.  Actually I want to knit several of her patterns – check out this one!  Gorgeous and perfect for California weather! 😉
• I picked up the Skacel Magalog (magazine + catalog) and love a few things there too!
• I was disappointed Kollage Yarns wasn’t there with their square needles – I want to get a couple more of those!

We actually left early (about 3:30) because we were all so tired.  Next year we are talking about staying over someplace where we can have a weekend knitting retreat afterwards! Wouldn’t that be fun.  But with the way my budget looks, that’s probably just a dream right now.  🙂

If you haven’t attended a Stitches Market yet (only $10), you are missing out.  I know there is so much more to Stitches than the market, but I’m not in a season of life where more than 1 day at the market is feasible.  Someday! 😉

Here is an update on all my WIPs!   (WIP is Work In Progress)  Last time I updated you was about one month ago.  All links are to Ravelry – I’ve shared them so you don’t have to be a member to view them, but if you are a knitter or crocheter, why aren’t you a member?

The Death Star Pillow (gift) for a friend’s son who requested it look like this right now:

The Traveler’s Mitts (gift) look exactly the same…I’m pretty sure I’m frogging them.

The Lacy Pumpkin (gift) looks like this now:

This is the 2nd one, first one was gifted to my mom.

My Rainbow Socks look like this now:

Just about time to start the heels!

The Spiral Scarf (gift) looks xactly the same but probably going to frog this too. It’s lovely yarn and pattern, but crocheting is so much faster that I’ve done 6 scraves in the last few weeks.

The Teacher Gift Blanket (gift) looks like this now:

Yep pretty much the same look, just add about 4 skeins of yarn! Only 4 more to go! 😀

And, I’ve started one other pattern – a vest for my BIL upon request for Christmas.  Had a couple of problems with it but I’m 75% done now.  Here’s a close up so I don’t ruin the surprise too much – he knows it’s coming!

LOL

A few more gifts are to be started.  I usually knit my kids hats or fingerless gloves – so I’ll probably start those soon.