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The big news right now is STITCHES WEST!! I had such a wonderful time. I took Bella with me on Saturday and she had loads of fun weaving and trying out felting at the ART FIBERS demonstration booth. Bella is actually pretty patient with the loom and I have gotten her a small plastic childs loom to use at home. While at STITCHES we got the RAVELRY passport and Bella was thrilled at being put in charge of getting all the stamps. I still haven't seen the winners from that posted anywhere, though.
I didn't buy much yarn this year. I did, though, get tons of buttons and patterns! We tried out the gigantic - ass knitting needles. That was crazy. You would seriously have to have a whole couch in order to knit with these needles. There's something for everybody!
I was excited to meet Nicole and Jenny from the STASH AND BURN podcast. I blabbered like and idiot and then walked away. Total embarassment. That's just how I roll.
One of my favorite booths this year was IMAGINKNIT. Lucious yarns and great sample projects! I got 2 skeins of MALABRIGO. One is SUNSET and one in CHRISTMAS GREEN. These were for the yummy (free pattern with yarn purchase) CARROT SCARF. I finished it and I LOVE it. I searched for the yarn at my LYS COMMUKNITY but couldnt find quite the right colors. I did get a yummy purple MANOS. If CARROT SCARF is good, then an EGGPLANT SCARF will be crazy!
With a taste for carrot colored MALABRIGO that couldn't be satisfied locally, I enlisted my husband and children into service and got them all hyped up about an exciting adventure to........ THE CITY. My kids have been to more yarn stores that some veteran knitters. On my days off, we drive to new cities and visit the yarn store there. They refer to different yarn stores by the selection of kids toys they offer.
From our house in SAN JOSE, its about a 45 minute drive to SAN FRANCISCO and my ultimate destination, IMAGINKNIT. Other than their booth at STITCHES the last 2 years, I had never been to the shop itself. ANTICIPATION.
The day of our trip was ABSOLUTLY GORGEOUS! The sun was shining, there was a light cool breeze. The kids got up and dressed without any fuss, we left the house on time. Things were going our way. We got to the shop without any trouble. Holding hands, faces tilted to the sun, skipping on the sidewalk, we made our way to the little shop on the corner.
