Stitches West 2008: Part I

I will warn you this post is long the yarn pictures are towards the end.

First off, I was so excited to be going to Stitches West with ItShe. I was even more excited when Big A said that I could go and take some classes (super wonderful husband, that man deserves a sweater). So ItShe and I decided on some classes (more on that later) did our homework, packed our bags and headed to the airport at 4:45 am, yes before the sun rises.

We got to the airport (it was still dark) and through security without incident (not unlike Hawaii), and sat at the gate until they called our flight and our seating order-thingy (gotta love Southwest). Our flight was maybe 1/3 full so everyone could have an entire isle to themselves, we taxied for what seemed forever, I swear we were in Orange County before we took off. Finally the plane took off and we landed in San Jose about an hour and a half later.

I had done some research before and figured out that we could take the bus and light rail to get to our hotel. It cost us $1.75 so we didn't have to rent a car or pay for a $25 cab ride (more money for yarn). We got to our hotel and checked in at 9:15. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, it was a very nice hotel but the best part was that it was attached to the convention center. We dropped our bags and went to the Opening Ceremony program. The program was all about socks (one of our favorite things!) Cat Bordi, Lucy Neatby and Sandi Rosner all spoke. It was very interesting, Cat talked about her new architectures and how they differ from all other socks. Lucy talked about her first very cool and colorful sock and how she thinks about color. And Sandi talked about an entralac technique with self-striping sock yarn.

Then we had a luncheon, the food was actually good for hotel food (hummus and pita, Greek chicken skewers and a very good multi-grain rice nut mixture). Then off to our first class Don't Fear Lace with Debbie Radtke. The first part of class was how to read a chart, which we knew, but she went over an edging technique that was very nice and useful. It was very helpful for me to see the technique in person. When it comes to knitting I do much better if I can see it in motion.

Class ended at 4:30, then it was off to the Ravelry party. It was so cool to finally find some knitters our age that didn't have a tapestry bag with cats on it (not that there is anything wrong with it). We stayed there for a bit (it was super cool to see Casey and Jess) and then back up to the room to drop off stuff and get "ready to rumble" I mean shop. The market opened at 7 and we had 3 hours to shop.

ItShe and I knew that we wanted something to eat so we decided to grab some sushi to go so we could stand in line for the Market. Let's just say the sushi was good, it wasn't super expensive but it took forever considering that not one piece of it had to be cooked (over 40 mins of waiting). Once we got our food it was off to stand in line behind 150 people that were already there. While we waited in line the group in front of us started to chat with us. They were from the OC and we got to chatting but we were interrupted by the Market opening.

Now I knew I wanted all the Ravelry swag a girl could ask for, and I also knew that I wanted a Passport, they were only giving out a certain number per day and I wanted one. So that's the first booth I hit, I grab ItShe and I a passport and then bought a bag, a Bob head pin (I LOVE IT!). Here is a picture

Here is the picture of my Ravelry Passport and Bob Sticker

After the Ravelry bag was secured and Passport in hand we went shopping. It might have been the best fiber shopping opportunity that I have EVER had! There were over 250 vendors there there were a lot of things to see but I never felt overwhelmed just underfunded (hahaha). ItShe had a great idea of only getting things that we couldn't get on line or could never find (that ItShe is so smart) or just had to have. We also thought that doing most of the shopping Thursday night when there was far less people there was the way to go (and it was). So with map in hand we were off shopping.

We weren't allowed to bring cameras into the Market (sorry no pictures) but here is what I bought on Thursday night.

First up the bag I have had my eyes on for some time, it's the Knitter's Satchel by Jordana Paige, I bought her very first black bag she offered (at the time it was the only one) and I loved it and have been looking for another one of her bags since. I really like that snap closure and the pockets and all the stuff I can put in it.



Second Interlacements Tiny Toes, the same people that make Toasty Toes:

Third Shibui sock yarn 100% super soft merino in color Jewel which the website describes as Mulberry, Wisteria, Emerald and Wasabi (love the wasabi!).


Fourth KnitWhits Jewel Sock Kit, love the way this sock looks, and the yarn in the kit is Louet (which I love) I need to take a Fairisle class before I start this kit. The lady who owns KnitWhits was at the booth she was very nice and all her designs were wonderful. ItShe got a couple of things from there too, check them out.
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Fifth is some Claudia Handpainted fingering in Midnight. I kept seeing this yarn and picking it up over and over again, I must have picked it up at least 5 times and the price was good so I bought it.


Sixth Brooks Farms Primero which is 100% Kid Mohair, love it, so soft and very cool colorway (which I have no idea what it is, it wasn't on the label and there were only two skeins).


That was the shopping that we did in 2 hours and 55 mins (we had 5 mins to spare) not bad huh? After the market ItShe and I needed a glass of wine and some late night snacks (calamari and a crab cake). We were hanging out in the hotel lobby and the OC crew that we had met earlier was there too. So we hung out and chatted with them and knitted and drank until about 12:30, and then headed up to bed.