Epic Adventure-Part 1

It's a tale or mystery, intrigue, romance, and yarn on the high seas. There was deception, drama, and knitting. And that was just the first day!

Welcome to Stitches South.

Ok, so there was no high seas, deception, and relatively little drama (unless you counted my gasp at an outrageous yarn price) but it was a whole heck of a lot of fun!

I started my day nice and early with a class with Sandi Rosner called You Don't Need A Pattern for That.
She was a delight. We all made little baby sized hats and Sandi answered a ton of questions for us. It was nice to get some ideas about basic design. When she mentioned the Pythagorean theorem for figuring sleeve caps it was funny to hear a collective groan. I don't think any of us will be taking Melissa Leapman's class on design any time soon. I did pick up a pattern for a quick and easy baby sweater so I will be using that to help clothe baby Britt, my new cousin, when he arrives in July.

This is the hat that I made this morning.
And this is one from another lady in our class.
As all the members of the class knit we inevitably starting chatting. I talked a little about my charity knitting and at the end of the class the lady at the end of my row gave me her hat to donate to Warm Woolies. So very sweet of her!

I then headed to the Market and for the first time in my life I was genuinely overwhelmed by the amount of beautiful yarn there was. I actually showed a good deal of restraint as I went from booth to booth. Today I purchased only one of a kind yarns that I thought might get really picked over by tomorrow. It was so cool to see all the hand dyers and it felt really good to support them. Maybe one day I'll be hosting my own booth at Stitches and I hope people will support me as enthusiastically as they did the artists today.

As I was wandering through the concessions seating area to get a water I notices out of the corner of my eye someone watching me very closely. I was wearing my @theknftyknttr shirt and a lot of people had been noticing it throughout the day so I didn't really think twice about it. I just figured she was trying to read what it said. About 2 minutes later she runs up to me and says, "I'm lemonesque!" She's one of my Twitter pals! It was so cool to meet Abby/lemonesque in real life.
Since joining Ravelry and Twitter I've wanted to be one of those people who goes to conventions and knows everyone in the room thanks to my mad networking skills. It would make me feel like a rock star. Abby may be from Georgia but she's putting me one step closer to rock stardom. Look out Yarn Harlot!

I ended up spending a good deal of money in the Market but I feel like I got really good stuff out of it. Tomorrow I plan on picking up some staple yarns (read Cascade 220 and Eco+) and some sock blockers. I have a plan, I have a map, I need to get more cash...

I got a skein of worsted yarn in Where My Beaches At? from the Indie Dyer along with a pattern for the Antarctica hat made with one skein of her yarn.
Because I'm a Malabrigo Junkie (I totally blame Mary Ellen for that one, always talking up Malabrigo at knit nights) I got to meet the totally funny, awesomely sweet duo of Antonio and Tobias. I chatted with them for about 10 minutes (hilarious guys, and sweet, have I mentioned that?) and they gave me a skein of their test yarn. Amazingly sweet. Did I already say that? Can't remember... I tried to get them to join Twitter but Tobias said there was too much on the internet for them to keep up with already. Funny guys. Srsly.
The very first stop I made this morning was actually at the Sanguine Gryphon's booth. I know that Wendy has knit with her yarns before and Mary Ellen (ever the enabler :)) said that her stuff would go quick so I made a beeline for Gryphon's booth. I wasn't disappointed. Picked up a skein of Bugga! sock yarn in Acrobatic Snail. Luscious.
Also one of the first places on my list was Creatively Dyed Yarns. I follow Dianne's blog so it was very cool to meet her in real life. And she is even more positive and nice than I ever could have expected. You know you've meet a gem when the very first thing she does is fish out a Ravelry button for you. As soon as I saw this skein of sock yarn I had to have it. This is her newest method of dyeing. I can't wait to see it on my needles!
Eventually I wandered over to Mass Ave. Yarn Shop where I found this Mission Falls pattern book.
Inside was the pattern I've been drooling over for months now, Natalia. It's one of the few patterns I've wanted to actively seek out to knit. It just looks so modern and classy. Totally my style.
Then I flipped over the page and saw Hillary.
I knew this booklet had to be mine. No question about it. I actually think all the designs in the booklet are really well done. I can already imagine several gifts coming out of there.

My final purchase of the day was from Schaefer Yarns and this was my personal splurge. A lumpy bumpy skein in the colorway Toni Morrison and a skein of mohair blend in Chamomile. These are going to be combined into a shawl/wrap for me.
I wanted to make a little shrug or something and then I saw a shawl in these colors on display and decided to go that route instead. I think I'll use the stitch pattern from the little Arctic Blanket I made and just kind of wing it. Or maybe I could actually research something. Winging it seems to be more of my personal style though.

I came home this afternoon and totally crashed on the couch with Penelope. I've never been so tired! I blame it on yarn fumes. I didn't know that was a side effect. Be warned.

Tomorrow will be more Market, more classes, more fun with friends. And more pictures.

P.S. I would have gotten pictures in the Market but they wouldn't allow pictures or video. Bummer. Guess you'll just have to go.