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Mama, wife, knitter, blogger, spinner, wannabe something or other. That's enough, right?

Monday, March 10, 2014

The Stitches Haul...and other Stitches Follies :)

Stitches West happened a couple weekends ago and I was able to partake. Now, I've been to Stitches Midwest in Chicago (Schaumburg) a couple of times; the first when Little Man was around 10 months old and the second was last fall when we were back in Wisconsin, visiting. It's a big marketplace, a zillion vendors, food, and the weather is usually behaving.

What I'm trying to say is that I thought I was prepared for Stitches West.



I was not.


Stitches West is HUGE compared to Stitches Midwest and, let's be honest, Stitches Midwest isn't exactly the local craft fair.

I visited the marketplace on Friday (with Little Man in his stroller) and again on Saturday (with a friend and no children). I wish I had taken more photos...or, rather, any photos, of the marketplace. It was....well, HUGE doesn't even begin to describe it. I think the best way to describe it is this: think of your favorite mall (conventional mall, not a strip mall). Now, imagine that you wanted to visit every single store because there was something there you wanted to look at. That's what Stitches West is like. And that's why it took me several hours to go through the marketplace...both times. Granted, they were two different situations but it was still utter insanity.

But, we're not here to talk about that...we're here to talk about the lovely parting gifts :)

Let's start with project bags. I'm kind of a sucker for project bags...and you can find them at Stitches West :)


Harry Potter project bags

Sheep project bags

Yarnover Truck project tote

I picked up bags from the following places: Slipped Stitch Studios (the Harry Potter bags), Erin Lane Bags (the sheep), and the Yarnover Truck (the tote).

I've eyed bags from Slipped Stitch Studio for awhile, just never finding the "right" time to pick any up. And then I saw the Harry Potter bags. I didn't even think about it. They were mine :) If I had been able to go Thursday night for the marketplace preview, I could have gotten my hands on some fabulous Doctor Who bags, but, alas, those were gone by Friday.

I've got several bags from Erin Lane. I love that they don't slip back open, no matter how much you shake them. It's kind of fabulous.

The Yarnover Truck is an interesting concept. It's literally a yarn store in a truck that travels around southern California. Their website has a list of events and locations. It's really nice for someone that maybe doesn't have an actual local yarn shop or can't get to the nearest one.



Aside from project bags, I picked up a few other Bits and Bobs...

Stitch Markers

Dragonfly Stitch Markers

Ravenclaw notions kit

Inside the Ravenclaw notions kit

Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans and Doctor Who stitch marker boxes

Inside the boxes

Flexible blocking wires

I picked up two sets of stitch markers, both from the same place...and I bought stitch markers from the same people at Interweave Knitting Lab this past fall.......but I cannot, for the life of me, remember who they were! So, if you went to Stitches West, enlighten me, please! They also had the handmade, wooden sock blockers (and I almost bought a Harry Potter one). Little Man picked out the black and white ones while I picked out the dragonfly ones.

The notions boxes also came from Slipped Stitch Studios. The Doctor Who stitch markers box was the last Doctor Who anything they had...I almost bought two but I was a good girl. I also picked up the Bertie Bots one and the Ravenclaw one. It was between Ravenclaw and Slytherin and I picked Ravenclaw. That box has travel scissors (really, really sharp ones), a row counter, stitch markers, a tape measure, and some magnetic pattern keepeers. It's about the size of a deck of cards.

Lastly, in the Bits and Bobs section, I found some flexible blocking wires. I've been thinking about blocking wires for awhile but those are always straight and pretty rigid. These have some bend for things like circular and semi-circular shawls. I think that will help with shawl blocking (if I ever actually get around to making any shawls aside from the two that I've made).


And then there are the Patterns...

Botanical Knits by Alana Dakos

Wee Cardi from Big Bad Wool

I picked up a copy of Botanical Knits by Alana Dakos (link to blog) whilst I was there. I've gone back and forth about it but seeing some of the actual FOs in front of me convinced me that I should probably own the book....that and the sweaters are actually sized to fit someone my size :) Also, Alana is adorable and easy to talk to. So, the book came home with me...

I also picked up a pattern from Big Bad Wool...and the buttons to go with it. It was too adorable not to pick it up...not that I've started it yet.



And now, THE YARN! Of course I bought yarn. What are you, nuts?!

Shaky K Fibers

Verdant Gryphon Eidos in The Enchanted Forest

Verdant Gryphon Mondegreen in Kicking the Dancing Queen

Cephalopod Yarns Bugga!

The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport in Vert

Miss Babs Yummy in Funny Papers

Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein in Just a Little Evil

Cascade 128 Superwash

Cascade 220 Superwash Aran

This is pretty tame and well-behaved for me. Only ten skeins of yarn, two of which are for swatching for a specific project (the Cascade)...though, I do have ideas for the rest of them, too (but those are just ideas).




Soooooo......my Stitches West haul for February 2014.

And the yarn diet continues.

3 comments:

  1. I wish I had your budget. Nice haul.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow fabulous haul! Can't wait to see what you make from it.

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  3. WOW! That is a fantastic haul:)

    ReplyDelete