2008 knit out and crochet

[2eclipse]

this was just awesome.
i met so many great people,just from standing in line or sitting next to people; a woman who learned to knit from her mom, 4 girls who started a fiber club at their university, a woman who owns an angora goat and spins her own yarn, the mother of two yarn store workers who teaches crochet professionally... people came from all over the country. california, ohio, florida, wisconsin, colorado.....it was great.
a lot of people asked me questions about sock knitting and i was able to pass on some helpful tips i've picked up and show them that it's really not that hard to do a pattern repeat. i got to see my friends heather and corrin and heather's baby tasha. corrin and i took advantage of the free crochet lessons and i feel SO accomplished. i learned single crochet, double crochet, half-double crochet, ribbing and how to make a shell....also got a demo of what trible crochet looks like. it was too cool. i don't think i'll ever convert over to crochet in preference of knitting, but there are some cute patterns that are crochet only that i've been wanting to make and now i can!
saturday was very crowded and there were a lot of lines to see the various booths. sunday was a lot more laid back and there were hardly any lines. some of the booths were giving away free stuff and others were demo-ing new equipment that's coming out. clover makes some really neat needle-felting tools that i'm definitely going to have to invest in. i got two sets of free LED knitting needles and 3 sets of big chunky wooden ones, a bunch of gauge/needle measures and free patterns and 5 skeins of free yarn (although some of it us stuff i will trade/sell as soon as possible). they gave away a lot more stuff on sunday than saturday. good thing to remember for the future.

also i spotted BUBBO from ravelry!! we chit chatted a bit and i believe we will be having coffee like real people in the near future. it's neat that she lives near me.

there were competitions for the fastest knitter/crocheter, talks and demos by fiber designers, a fashion show, and classes. i wish i had taken more advantage of the classes. i also wish there had been more representation of A) yarns not made of acrylic and B) more LYS's. there were only two present from what i saw.
all the acrylic at the knit out made me hunger for quality yarn and i wound up stopping at the yarnery on sunday before i headed down to the mall of gamorrah. i picked up two skeins of nature spun worsted in black and purple to make a hat for ross that i've been promising him forever, and two skeins of lovely fabulous fleece artist merino 3/6. oh so smooshy! i will post pictures when i have had a chance to take some.
also i finished the first of my nutkin socks!
i wound up having to do the wrap-n-turn short rows for the heel and the toe because the short rows as written created holes that made me unhappy. the socks are a TAD small and i think that if i were to make these again i might increase a needle size, but they do fit and i LOVE the way the toe looks on these socks. i had been fantasizing about what doing the toe this way would look like for a while. i think you could probably kitchner the bind off instead of doing the 3 needle bind off, but i kinda like the ridge that is created above the toes. good stuff.

 



x-posted to 20sknitters

also had a really great time playing board games with shawn and thistle saturday night and hanging out and watching lost and eating yummy indian food with ross sunday evening.

Comments

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

the knit out was very cool. there were SO many people.
what was the one in philly like?

[frog-lady.livejournal.com]

I went a few years ago, so it might be better now, but it was highly unorganized, and it felt more crowded than pleasantly populated. I think there were some lessons going on, but the room with most of that stuff was one big-but-not-big-enough room with a bunch of round tables in it, and it was too loud for me to want to stay long. Some of us hung out for a while in the hallway, by the two or three booths that were out there, and then we left.

Personally, even though it's substantially farther away, I'd rather just go to MDSW. (I realize that there may not be any super-huge fiber festivals near you, but the Vermont Sheep & Wool was pretty great, too, and I'm sure Minnesota has something on that scale. Or maybe not, but it seems likely.)

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

there is a fiber festival on mother's day, but i have no idea how big it is.
there is also something called the yarn over held by the minnesota knitter's guild in april that has lots of classes.
i've only lived in minnesota a couple of years, so i haven't really gotten a chance to explore all the opportunities around here yet.
there is a really big sheep festival in wisconsin too, but i'm not sure when or how far away it is.
one of these years i'm going to have to arrange to be in northern va when MDSW comes around.

[frog-lady.livejournal.com]

one of these years i'm going to have to arrange to be in northern va when MDSW comes around.

Or, just maybe, in Maryland? ;) I am not personally at a point where I can see myself travelling hundreds of miles (more than 4h by car) for a fiber festival, but camping at MDSW is fun, and I know there are people who come from farther than Minnesota. We met some Alaskans last year, although they did have other plans for their sojourns in the lower 48.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

:)
oh i would be going to maryland, alright.
but i have the free place to stay in virginia.

[frog-lady.livejournal.com]

Right, right. :)

I've become a very big proponent of camping 10 minutes from the fairgrounds, but I can understand wanting to stay somewhere with actual hot water, instead of slightly-warmer-than-freezing showers, for example.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

honestly, i would probably go for the camping route if i lived close by.
but i see my friends and family around there so little that when i am, i need to be near them.