Saturday, March 07, 2009

Stitches West '09

I've been seriously lagging on my blogs lately but here it goes...

I attended Stitches West the weekend before. It was exhausting. On Friday I woke up butt crack early for my 6 hour class. It was my first time taking a class at Stitches. I was so excited! I signed up for the Understanding Japanese Knitting Patterns class. It's not something that the average local yarn store has available to the general knitting public. (Of course, just a week before listening to the Stash and Burn podcast Jenny and Nicole took the same type of class in their neighborhood yarn store in SF. I wish I knew about it beforehand!)
6 hours was not enough time to cram all the information you should know to feel comfortable on your own to understand japanese patterns. From what I concluded you just have to go with your gut and look for clues for what you need to know such as gauge. It was more of a lecture type of class than a hands-on knitting class. The last hour of class we were able to try a japanese chart on our own. I did ok. I think I may have to do more research. I think if I were given a simple scarf pattern I would be able to figure it out. Anything more difficult I'd probably have to pay someone to translate it for me.
I didn't splurge too much at the expo since I spent a good portion on the class. However, at the WEBS booth there was a cute top that caught my eye. The pattern is called Pucker by Norah Gaughan. It's the cutest warm weather top made out of Berroco's Seduce (as seen below). It has a beautiful sheen.

They were out of the green I wanted like they had used for the sample and you know how much I LOVE green. I was bummed. Andra (the wonderful WEBS saleslady) convinced me to get this golden yellow shade. It kind of reminds me of Goldilocks' hair. I wasn't completely sold until she asked a panel of ladies (all waiting for her help) vote between the yellow and a purple color that I liked. The yellow won hands down. I've already swatched it but have yet to cast on. It's very airy/lacy so I hope it doesn't take me too long to work on it.

And here's the annual Stitches postcard of me and Erin.

Till next year!

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