BACK FROM STITCHES WEST

Arrived back home from Stitches West on Monday,exhausted from sensory overload, but very happy with all my classes and, of course, my purchases. First the classes. Thursday, Pam and I took "Fiendishly Difficult Stitches" with Merike Saarnit and we did indeed learn some new stitches and stitch manipulations. Much fun and challenging.

Thusday night was market preview for Stitches attendees. My very first stop was Toots LeBlanc, Michelle Camacho's fiber business from Oregon. I purchased her lace shawl pattern and two different angora/merino (60/40) laceweight yarns. I love to knit with these yarns; they bloom beautifully as you work with them.

Then, on to Redfish Dyeworks where I bought three big rovings, merino/tussah and some baby camel/silk. Even though I dye these fibers myself, I just have to support Sandy Gunther and Elff because they have such a wonderful color sense. Can't wait to spin these.

Friday, I took an all-day class with Barbara Kerr from NYC on "Mitered Patchwork Knitting." We worked on a pillow. Here's what I completed so far. This was absolutely my favorite class -- you just keep building this piece by piece. There's a map so that you eventually end up with a square or rectangle. Much fun!

Saturday, no classes, lots of time for shopping. [Sorry no pictures from the vendor hall -- photos forbidden] Margie (who was in Stanford for the weekend) joined me in the afternoon and we made our way up and down aisles. Here are most of my purchases:

From Beehive Wool Shop, Victoria, BC -- lots of Handmaiden and Fleece Artist yarns. From the left, Somoko sock yarn (merino/mohair/nylon/silk); Handmaiden Mini Maiden (50-50 silk/merino) and Sea Silk (70% silk/30% seacell). Glorious colors! Here's a sock I'm working on with Somoko and Fiber Trends pattern "Fidalgo Feet", size US1 needles.

From Tactile Fiber Arts (Richmond, CA), spinning fibers dyed with natural dye extracts.

From Sweet Grass Wool, Montana -- four skeins of white Targhee wool. Then I had to buy some laceweight alpaca (charcoal and white) from Pajolo Alpacas, Minnesota; and three skeins of Zen 4-ply cashmere from Melissa at Argosy Luxury Yarns in "Nautilus" (plum,wines). Yum!

Margie and I also tried out some of the wheels at Carolina Homespun. We were in a zen moment when we each spun on the big, big Lendrum Saxony. I was ready to take it home on the spot, but it wouldn't fit in my suitcase. Then Margie reminded me that she was in her SUV. Boy was I glad to see a "Sold -- Do not touch!" sign on it a little later in the day.

Sunday was "Russian Continental Knitting" in the morning with Galina Khmelva and then in the afternoon a bead knitting class with Betsy Hershberg. After messing around with tiny beads for three hours -- last class of the last day, Oi vey!! -- I was literally cross-eyed and the brain was mush.

Well, it was Sunday early evening and the academy awards were starting, so Pam and Karen and I went down to the hotel lobby bar, plunked ourselves down at the bar in front of a big screen TV, ordered wine, salads and soup. We were completely exhausted but reveling in our fun four days at Stitches.

I also had great news at the end fo the show from HABU. Takako sold half of the 90+ skeins of handpainted silk boucle and silk/kid mohair I had brought for her booth. The other half is going "across the pond" with her to a knitting show in Paris the first week of March. Wow! I am stoked.

So, on to my ETSY shop. I cannot believe how great this ETSY thing is. When I got back from Stitches, I posted more rovings, some sock yarn and handspun yarn. My handspun sold within 10 minutes. I had five sales yesterday and had to make a run for the post office before they closed at 4:00 p.m. YeeHaa! http://CapistranoFiberArts.ETSY.com

So for now, I'm going to relax, lunch with friends, knit, spin, and oh yes, hopefully run off to the post office some more.