Stitches Midwest

Just got back from Stitches Midwest which was held in Rosemont, IL--it's right near O'Hare. I blame Expedia for the fact that my hotel was far away from the convention center, but I met two lovely women, Marsha and Beth, who graciously gave me a lift to and from the convention center for classes.

Let me start from the beginning. I was delayed getting there on Thursday--work again!--so I missed the first half of Advanced Design Techniques. My hotel was in the middle of nowhere but I was lucky to find Nick's Fishmarket, a terrific seafood restaurant, for dinner. Ahi tuna sashimi, clams casino, a great steak and fine merlot made for a wonderful first night in Chicagoland.

Classes started at 8:30. First thing I noticed was the wizards. Wizard World was also being held at the convention center. I didn't see many wizards per se but there were a lot of Star Wars Imperial Troopers and all manner of sprites and Goth chicks. Interesting. One of my classmates said one of the wizards thought a knitting convention was "weird." Ah huh.

Advanced Design was taught by Barry Klein--a great teacher and an excellent designer. I was a little bit behind the curve because I missed Part One, when the class took measurements and worked on personal designs and because I don't have a vocabulary for clothes construction. I did like discussing the new fashion trends and how they can be adapted for knitting projects. I was so inspired when I got to the market...

More about Stitches later. I need to find batteries for the camera so I can post my swatches and the great yarns I bought.

This is Indie, or Indiana Jones as I sometimes call him--he's a very adventurous fellow.

He is my official Yarn Inspector/Taster. His duties include burrowing into my knitting bags, chewing the yarn (don't tell the vet!) sometimes while I'm knitting it and attacking balls of yarn like they are dangerous intruders in our home (I guess you never know when a skein of yarn will turn on you--and we've all had that happen, haven't we?).


I can't answer the question "what's on your needles" because there are so many projects in the works. While I haven't committed to soley knitting from my stash, I've been trying to finish things...I'm headed to Stitches Midwest on August 9th and think it would be nice to finally wear something that I've made with my own two hands, two sticks and some string. But Indie has not been having any of that lately--he keeps curling up in my lap which curtails my ability to knit comfortably. I sneak in some time on the bus and on the Acela when traveling.

My goal is to finish my Tilli Tomas Disco Lights cardigan--it's in Coral Sap, which looks pink to me--so I can wear it during my classes at Stitches. I'm also working on a scarf--it's a pink and brown ombre silk so it won't be too heavy for summer and --I'm playing with stitch patterns. Wondering if it can be lined? I love the front but don't really like the reverse side. I started a scarf with reversible cables over the winter--it's wool so that one is going to have to wait a while.