Stitches West 2011

I found my other Stitches West posts from previous years and tagged them all "stitches" so they're easier to find. Stitches coincides with my Winter Longaberger order so as a tradition I've set my class samples with new baskets. This years Stitches experience for me was very different from previous years. It's my 15th convention. The first one I attended I had been knitting all of 3 months. I haven't missed one since and I've taken classes every year. I try to review the classes before registration opens and usually signup the first day. This year I missed the first day of registration which meant alot of the "good" classes were filled. Knitting and Stitches have been gaining popularity over the years so you snooze, you lose. There were still too many choices and with 14 Stitches under my belt not much that interested me. All my favorite teachers were booked or not coming (Madrona, another knitting convention was being held the same weekend up in Seattle), and most classes covered things I'd already done. Frustrated I gave up. About a month before I checked to see if there were any classes still open and found there were, plus they added some. So, reluctantly I signed up. I really wasn't expecting that much. My first class "Morphing Cables" was taught by Fiona Ellis -- love her stuff, have both her books. I came in sat down, got all my things out, knit the 4x3 purl/knit rib and waited. She talked about cables crossing and cables travelling then she said, "using the 4 right and left crossing/travelling stitches knit something from your swatch". I froze. I was utterly paralyzed. Um, where's the chart? She kept talking, "think about where your paths are and where you want them to go". She also put a graph up depicting the angle of acceleration of travelling/crossing stitches. I'm not good at this -- I can follow directions, charts, I know how to fix a missed crossed cable. But I couldn't just go. I wasn't the only one. Lots of us were just plain stuck. So she gave us permission to screw around, just play, see what happens and well, it was slow at first, but this is what happened: 

Cable swatch with Sweethearts basket. Not bad, eh? I first went in, then out with a few twists here and there and something emerged! Not perfect, but it made me think. So many possibilities. I was inspired, hey, I was getting excited. The last couple years I was busy with conventions, Stitches 2010 and CNCH 2010 were back to back and I managed booths at both of them, plus a spinning contest. For Stitches I coordinate the "Learn to Spin" booth where we teach spinning on drop spindles made with repurposed CD's, a grommet and a wooden dowl. Have I taught you to spin? Add to that coordinating the "Spinning Wheel Corral" at CNCH and their "Return to Sender" spinning contest. Plus my first year at pattern writing (with deadlines!) Well, let's just say I didn't knit much. So by the time Stitches came round again, I was altogether unenthused. My second class was with Myra Wood, "More Creative Lace Knitting". I'd never heard of her, didn't know about her book and how it sold out w/in 4 months of it's first printing and was now out of print. She talked about lace basics, pairing yo's and decreases, that when designing place your yarn-overs first then figure out which decrease will work better, and what happens when you separate the yo from it's decrease (think feather and fan). She talked about shawls, and the shapes that make them up and how to fill in spaces so you get a continuous field of lace. Here's what I knit: 

Lace swatch with mini rose basket. I know, boring. Then she brought out her samples. Wow. And I'm not talking intricate gossamer lace wow. Or complicated lace doilies turned shawl size wow. All of her stuff was knitted in simple lace patterns but in variegated yarn. It was beautifully unexpected. One of the pieces was Citron (from Knitty) where she filled the stockinette with random lace patterns she got from a chart generator. Unbelievable. I left the class thinking, 1) I gotta get that book and 2) I have to knit citron in rainbow. 

Check it out, I found the book at Newtons and look at what was already in my stash? Serendipity. I'll have to tell you the story of how I found that book and my last class in my next post.

SSE: Stitches Stash Enhancement

This weekend was Stitches West 2011. For the uninitiated it's a convention for knitters. We take up nearly the entire convention center in Santa Clara. Just to let you know how big this is here's last year's numbers: 2250+ registrants, 150+ vendors and just over 11,000 shoppers. And you can bet it was bigger this year -- definitely more vendors.

I took 3 classes this year which will be the subject of my next post. For now, you'll have to be content with my yarn parade, or stuff I couldn't pass up in the market.

First up:

My kit from Continental Stitch. It's going to be a Cardi...someday.

This is a bargain bag of 50/50 Louisa Harding grace multi merino silk.

Here we have a gradient set of laceweight superwash merino from Tess Designer Yarns.

Alpaca laceweight from Ellen's 1/2 pint -- part of a scarf kit.

And last but by no means least, I got 2 things from Sincere Sheep. Above is some yummy 80/20 merino silk laceweight. And below is 4 sample skeins of merino/bamboo/nylon. All handpainted with plant dyes.

And that's it!

More Patterns

Another free sock available at Handwerks, this one is Zig Zag Zug. It's suitable for all fingering weight sock yarns and is shown here in Handwerks Classic Sock colorway Sonoran Sunset.

That's Elsa, my dog-rug.


And now the pattern for Grand Canyon Socks is available for sale. Shown here in the original colors dyed especially for club members, you can use any two contrasting colors, again in fingering weight sock yarn.

All my patterns (and others as well) can be downloaded here

My First Pattern

Well, this is it. My first pattern. After 10+ years of knitting and fudging other peoples patterns I finally wrote my own! This is using Handwerks Textiles Sport Sock and the pattern is available for purchase of the this yarn. I designed for my friend Laura who own's Handwerks. She dyes all the yarns and was looking for someone to write patterns for them. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I said I could do it. All the things I never do when I knit I now do when I design. Like swatch. I poured over my collection of stitch pattern books, then starting knitting a test tube. When choosing a stitch you have to consider not only whether you can do it, but whether you can explain it to someone else. There were several stitch patterns I threw out just because of that.

Here's some detail of the stitch I chose:
There's a mirror image of this stitch where the loop goes over to the left instead of the right. That was the first version I tried. But it required moving stitches to the right needle, pulling the stitch over then moving them back to the left. When you pull the stitch over, you lose a stitch but then you make a new one in the next row which creates the little eyelet. I had a lot of fun knitting the sock. It was strange having to write everything I did down. Even the heel which I usually just do from memory.

After I provided this pattern for her we signed a contract for me to design 2 more for her sock yarn club. A contract! I know! So official like. I just completed the first of those and submitted it to her. It's weird, for a little while there I had been in a knitting slump. I didn't find much enjoyment in my current projects. But now I have renewed vigor. I think it's the design work, it made me look a knitting in a whole new way. So next things? Besides the socks you should see a shawl and well, who knows?

Pattern is now available free

knitting meme

Stolen from armyofknitters who also stole it, so I don't feel so bad.

THE DEAL: You mark the things you have knit in bold, you italicize the things you intend to try, and everything else you just leave in regular font.

Afghan I've got some Lorna's Laces I bought for a sampler afghan

American/English knitting American's knit English?

Baby items

Bobble

Buttonholes

Cable stitch patterns

Cardigan

Charity knitting

Combination knitting always when doing fairisle

Continental knitting my modus operandi

Darning

Designing knitted garments I just finished my first design!

Drop stitch patterns hasn't everyone done that scarf, and a clapotis?

Dyeing spinning fiber

Dyeing with plant colors

Dyeing yarn

Entrelac Lady Eleanor w/ 100% cashmere, see below

Fair Isle

Free-form knitting

Fulling/felting a couple of hats

Garter stitch

Gloves

Graffiti knitting

Hair accessories - does a calorimetry count?

Hats: Cuff-up

Hats: Top Down

Holiday knitting

Household Items a pot holder! -- or was that crochet? washcloths!

I-cord

Intarsia

Jewelry

Kitchener stitch how else do you close up a sock?

Knitted flowers

Knitting a gift

Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine

Knitting and purling backwards

Knitting art

Knitting for a living is this really possible?

Knitting for pets

Knitting for preemies

Knitting in public and spinning in public w/ both a drop spindle and a wheel!

Knitting items for a wedding

Knitting on a loom

Knitting smocking first class in first Stitches (along with sock knitting)

Knitting socks all the time!

Knitting to make money so does yarn count as money?

Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously

Knitting with alpaca

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Knitting with beads Undulating Waves

Knitting with camel yarn have some on order with Purlescence

Knitting with cashmere oh, yes, yes, YES! (did that sound orgasmic?)

Knitting with circular needles

Knitting with cotton

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Knitting with dpns normal sock knitting m.o.

Knitting with linen

Knitting with metal wire

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn

Knitting with silk

Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn

Knitting with soy yarn

Knitting with synthetic yarn ack-rylic!

Knitting with wool

Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn if I can bear it

Lace patterns

Long Tail CO

Machine knitting

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip Down.

Moebius band knitting

Norwegian knitting upcoming class at Stitches West 2010

Participate in an exchange

Participating in a KAL

Pillows

Publishing a knitting book someday

Purses/bags

Rug

Scarf

Shawl

Short rows

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Slip stitch patterns

Slippers

Socks:toe-up

Socks: top-down

Steeks

Stockinette stitch

Stuffed toys

Swatching

Sweater

Tassels

Teaching a child to knit

Teaching a male how to knit

Textured knitting

Thrummed knitting

Toy/doll clothing

Tubular CO

Twisted stitch patterns

Two end knitting

Writing a pattern text all done, formatting

Double Knitting