Stitches East

At the last minute Olga's husband, Jason, got the day off and kindly offered to drive us to Baltimore to attend Stitches East. I hadn't been to Baltimore for at least a decade and had forgotten than it is only an hour drive away from DC. We didn't take classes, but spent four hours at the market. There were hundreds of vendors there and we were wild-eyed with excitement from the moment we walked in. Our first stop was Habu. I found and bought the thread-like slubby yarn in moss green and pink that I saw in their New York shop in May. (Click on each picture for a closer look.)

It was one of those yarns that made an indelible impression on me and that I regretted not buying. I have no idea what I'll make out of it. I also bought some novelty yarn for scarves

and catalog of yarn samples, which they will mail to me later. I bought these beautiful stone buttons from Cheryl Kumiski Glass Studio (no buttons on her website) that I envision on some Habu sweater.

I have no idea which sweater I'll make, but I know I would have regretted not buying these buttons for whatever sweater I ultimately choose. I'll have to choose carefully, because, frankly, most of their sweaters are better suited to small-boned, thin women, not broad-shouldered ones like me.

I was delighted to find these lighted needles that Wendy blogged about.


I plan to knit some deep purple Kidsilk Haze gloves with them. The dark color and "halo" of the yarn and its ultra-fine gauge make it hard for me to see it on the needles I had, so I thought illumination from the needles themselves might help. They were also cheaper than the ones on the Kpixie.com site.

Interweave Knits exhibited Eunny Jang's Venezia Pullover and the Kate Gilbert's Equestrian Blazer, patterns for which are in the current issue. They are much more beautiful than the pictures show. Eunny's sweater is generally not my style, but after seeing it I'm coming around. And the Equestrian Blazer is just simply elegant. The picture doesn't show the gentle tapering at the waist or how perfectly the collar falls. Hope it fits as well as it hangs on the hanger.

There were surprisingly few sales. Webs had a stall there and they were selling lots of yarn, but the prices - of Kureyon at least - were the same as the prices on their website. I bought some Trekking and Jojoland for socks from other vendors, but no STR from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - nothing moved me.

I found Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and Gedfira Gigante among those few sales. Don't know what I'll make of the Alpaca Silk, but I'll make a cardi like the one Olga was wearing out of the Gigante. (I was too wild-eyed to remember to take her picture!)

Woolstock Yarn Shop was selling it and other bags of yarn at 50 or 60% off! I wish I could have taken a picture of all the women madly sorting through the huge bin of sale yarn, but cameras were not allowed in the hall. Or, rather, we were not allowed to take pictures. Gigante looks kinda bleh here, but it knits up beautifully. And I love knitting with yarn that is variegated and varies from thick to thin. It made perfect sense to wear one of your handmades to an event like this. I wore my Pomatomi, but who could see them inside my shoes?!!? Interestingly, I saw few others wearing their knits. I saw a Diamond Fantasy shawl, a Clapotis, some domino square cardis, and one or two scarves. The rest of us must be making socks. Gotta re-think that, huh? Oh, I'm not going to quit making socks! I'm just sayin'... well, I'm just sayin'.