I had an awesome whirlwind trip out to Stitches West last weekend, where I helped the divine (and tragically injured) Romi and the ever-energetic Jeanne out in the booth Romi shared with A Verb for Keeping Warm. I also got to meet Allison and she is just as nice in person as she is online! It was just like meeting an old friend and we had such a good time. There were many others from Romi's group that made it to the show, like Dana (who was so gracious) and Caroline (who did a great job with the raffle at our Rominette dinner), and many more who were missed, and I didn't meet a single person from the group I didn't like.
Of course, there was loot...I thought I was exercising marvelous restraint, but I certainly didn't come home with any of my budget intact. What can I say...I have expensive taste. Sadly, my iPhone pics in hotel lighting didn't come out that well, but it's enough to give you an idea.
I only bought two skeins of yarn, but they were both 100% silk. Yum. One is Handmaiden Swiss Silk in fingering weight in a dark blue that will make a really pretty shawl, and the other is silk laceweight from Miss Babs in a lovely steel blue.
To the right is an interchangeable needle case from Chicken Boots, big enough to hold my two hiyahiya sets, for which I also bought some additional cables and connectors. I also picked up a few more Puppy Snips, which are outrageously convenient to have. I would love to put one on all of my project bags, but I didn't go that wild.
And, of course, a Jordana Paige Cezanne purse. I'm afraid I went on a bit of an enabling spree and several of us walked away with a new bag! I am not normally a fan of the messenger style bag, but when I saw the bag up close I found that the flap (and the bag) were not nearly so large as I was thinking, and it was actually a really good size to pass for a regular purse but hold a lot of knitting. It can be carried cross-body, too, which can be handy for those of us whose shoulders seem determined to dump any bag we try to wear on the ground. I also love that it has a couple of pockets in the front that are easily accessed, since I am constantly losing my phone and other little necessaries in the depths of my bag. I'm a big fan of the handle on top, too, so it can grabbed and carried on the metro or getting in and out of a car without dragging on the ground.
Spending my budget didn't stop me from ordering more yarn when I got home. Allison has come up with this gorgeous green color (the color of the year, naturally) and I ordered some crow to go along with it, to work Romi's new mystery shawl pattern. I love mystery shawls!
Just in time for stitches, I finished what was, at the time, Romi's latest pattern, Coyote Trail, so that I could wear it with pride. Appropriately, I made it out of A Verb For Keeping Warm Creating, which some sweet group members sent me from Stitches West last year when I couldn't make it.
I did alter the pattern just a teensy bit. Originally, I just intended to omit the two contrast color stripes right above the little flap edging, and do that whole section in the main color. Unfortunately, I'm afraid years of being a super tight knitter had made me a bit overconfident that I would be fine on the yardage front even though the labeled yardage is a little short of what the pattern calls for, and this little "modification" caused me to have to get a bit more creative. I ran out of the MC and had to do the flap in the CC. I saved enough of the MC to do the bind off on the flap so that it would still stand out against the lace. And since I used the CC to do the flap, I ran short in the lace as well. That was no big deal, I just did 2.5 repeats of the lace instead of 3 full repeats.
I'm very happy with it, though, I really like it, and though I wish I had been able to do the flap in MC as I'd planned. Still came out great! Major love to the hubby who stayed up way late with me to help me block, so I'd have the shawl in time to wear.
Anyway, I'm planning another update later this weekend with some better photos and, hopefully, a blocked Firebird (possibly a blocked Zephyr Cove too if I can manage it), so stay tuned! I have a new fancy ultrabook that makes me much more mobile, so I'm hoping I can do a better job with the blog updates from now on.
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