Stitches West Weekend

Greetings from Stitches West! What a glorious few days I have had - even though I have attended every year for the past 5 years, this year is the most time I have spent wandering around. I went on Thursday evening for the preview night to support my wonderful vendor, Hollis Bischoff, with 'Full Thread Ahead'. Hollis was very excited to carry my bags and introduce them at the show.

I met some wonderful folks including Warren with 'Marin Fiber Arts' - super nice guy! I also finally managed to meet Kathy Elkins in person. I was trying to say hi, but the line for WEBS was so long, the poor folks behind the registers had no time to move let alone chat. So I realised that I really had to buy something - not that that was too much of a hardship b/c I had been lusting after Nora Gaughn's 'Pucker' - in order to talk to Kathy. This was after 2 days of spending wayyyy too much money, so I was experiencing a little nervous, breathy excitement over buying a pile that I could ill afford - know the feeling? So hopefully she didn't think I was a complete dweeb ;-).

On Friday I spent most of the morning with Jocelyn Grayson, an indominatable Yarn Industry Marketeer. Jocelyn knows a ton of people, so it is always fun to meet new folks. She is also currently putting together the East Bay 'Yarn Hop' as well as yarn tastings for various stores - Jocelyn is a dynamo & can pretty much do anything :-)

I also took classes for the first time this year and really enjoyed them. I had Leslye Solomon in the morning teaching us to 'Design Your Dream Sweater'. It was a really great class & Leslye was a lot of fun. I definitely leaned some new info. Then in the afternoon I did 'Delightful Details' with Ann McCauley, another class I would recommend.

I finally pooped out at 5:45pm on Saturday. I decided to not attend on Sunday - my checkbook could not handle it! However, I did have enough energy to run over to my friend Erin McGee's store 'Bobbin's Nest Studio'. They were having a fun filled party celebrating the Stitches Weekend with 'Hazel Knits' and 'Jordana Paige' showing their fabulous wares. They have a brand new custom yarn by Hazel Knits, now their second, that was unveiled last night. Wendee has a fabulous eye for color and blends. I first discovered her yarn when on a family road trip up to the Pacific Northwest last summer & fell in love with some of her colorways.

All in all it was a wonderful and exciting weekend :-)