The past month has been busy to say the least. After a summer at home, the return to school never ceases to amaze me - where does the time go? I wake up on Monday morning and then before I know it it's Friday at 3! I have had a party to go to every weekend since September. There hasn't been as much free time available for knitting as I'd like. I started a poncho using Noro Kureyon inspired by the fabulous one created by my partner in crime - mine won't be as great because I don't have those perfect mother of pearl buttons. I also started another pair of socks with a yarn in the colorway called "The Great Pumpkin" it is so delicious, bought at Stitches. Speaking of Stitches....
Stitches East was great. We took three classes that built skill upon skill - it wasn't planned that way but worked out great. Pattern reading with JC Briar was excellent. I never asked her how to work from multiple patterns though... The full day of embraceable lace with Galina was a trip. Orenburg lace/gossamer webs = lace with no purling - knit, knit, knit! She has it all - humor, smarts, moxie (LOTS of moxie), and unbelievable technique. Russian Continental with Galina was the icing on the cake; Jan and I ditched steeks to spend another morning with the queen. I wish I had tape recorded her voice - everytime I think of it I smile. I can't believe that she lives in Colorado - she needs to live in New York!
Before Stitches I envisioned that our knitting Guru's had this glamorous knitting life; since then I realized how hard their lives are - traveling with merchandise and husbands in tow from show to show, coast to coast, class to class, store to store, and booksignings all over the place. I admire them for their passion for this craft, but I wouldn't last a month - scratch that - 2 weeks (especially with a husband in tow) they can't be getting rich from this. The Marketplace was HUGE! I saw the largest pair of knitting needles on earth. A woman was demonstrating how to knit drapes with them - no joke - the needles went from the floor to her waist! There was knitting jewelry, t-shirts, gadgets, miles of WOOL, Alpaca, Cashmere, too much to mention. We started out with a plan; shop take notes, decide what we can't live without and then go back and make our purchases. I started out ok and then I saw the sock yarn. Sock yarn doesn't count as a purchase - so after that nothing else did either!
And on a more serious note - this video is a must watch for everyone.
