At the beginning of April I drove up to Nashville for STITCHES South 2016.
First off, the Tennessee Department of Transportation does not seem to realize that tourism is an important component of their state economy. A drive that should have taken just under four hours took more than six! Due to construction, traffic was unbelievable around Chattanooga. I expect that kind of slow crawl in a snow storm but not on a pretty spring Saturday. More construction on I-24 heading over the mountains added another hour. By the time I got to the STITCHES South market, I needed to walk around and just unwind as I breathed in the calming yarn fumes. I did just a little shopping on Saturday but more on Sunday right before I left.
I haven't read Knit My Skirt yet. Like many people, I was a little uncertain about the book. Skirts? As it turned out, a friend gave me a lovely embroidered Indian blouse and I am having a poor time finding a skirt that matches. I bought the coral-colored Claudia linen directly from Claudia. I plan to purchase several skeins of teal from Eat.Sleep.Knit (Claudia didn't have much teal left) to make a skirt to match the Indian blouse. Skirts should be a lot of fun. After all, there is lots of knitting more or less mindlessly in the round. And I have seen in person that a linen skirt can have flirty drape and swing.
Curls had been on my ‟maybe” list for awhile. As I continue to design patterns in reversible lace, I thought a curl project might be appropriate. I'm trying to mix up the projects and shapes.
The two skeins of sock yarn were purely stash enhancement, for which I should be ashamed. How could I resist the colorways — ‟Cape Canaveral” and ‟Huntsville”? The colors are based on a photograph of a Saturn V rocket launch. And little rocket stitch markers came with the skeins. Blame Hook a Frog from Madison, Alabama (just outside Huntsville) for coming up with an irresistible marketing strategy.
On the other hand, thank you to Nancy Alison for work to preserve the skill of bead knitting. Her booth had a lovely display of assorted bead knitting kits, including the purse clasps! I've admired this technique and read about it but never tried it. The Monarch butterfly wing purse will be a perfect chance to expand my skills. Most of Nancy's kits were $50 or under, so fairly affordable.
The last two things I purchased were another vibrating pillow (in a zebra print, not pictured) and the multi-colored Zulu wire bowl. I had purchased a vibrating pillow a couple years ago. It is very useful on long car trips, especially for keeping my back comfortable. The bowl was simply a failed Will save against entrancing beauty. I love the color, the pattern, and even the size. In the two months since I purchased it, it has become a great place to drop knitting notions. And the basket won't break if a cat — cue The Great Brûlée, bringer of chaos — knocks it off the couch.
I also attended the student banquet. Phyllis had two fabulous outfits, one with mitered squares and the other a coral-colored lace dress with turquoise blue glass beads. Jill totally rocked the place with two garments in intarsia — one depicting Elvis and the other John Lennon. She even incorporated lyrics on the back! Joyce had a yellow and black mosaic knit jacket that matched a commercial skirt and blouse combination. There was a crocheter showing off a shawl in crocodile stitch. I love the texture! And several ladies from Florida had a car cover depicting scenes from Florida.
On Sunday morning I took Gwen Bortner's reversible entrelac class. More about that in tomorrow's post.
First off, the Tennessee Department of Transportation does not seem to realize that tourism is an important component of their state economy. A drive that should have taken just under four hours took more than six! Due to construction, traffic was unbelievable around Chattanooga. I expect that kind of slow crawl in a snow storm but not on a pretty spring Saturday. More construction on I-24 heading over the mountains added another hour. By the time I got to the STITCHES South market, I needed to walk around and just unwind as I breathed in the calming yarn fumes. I did just a little shopping on Saturday but more on Sunday right before I left.
I haven't read Knit My Skirt yet. Like many people, I was a little uncertain about the book. Skirts? As it turned out, a friend gave me a lovely embroidered Indian blouse and I am having a poor time finding a skirt that matches. I bought the coral-colored Claudia linen directly from Claudia. I plan to purchase several skeins of teal from Eat.Sleep.Knit (Claudia didn't have much teal left) to make a skirt to match the Indian blouse. Skirts should be a lot of fun. After all, there is lots of knitting more or less mindlessly in the round. And I have seen in person that a linen skirt can have flirty drape and swing.
Curls had been on my ‟maybe” list for awhile. As I continue to design patterns in reversible lace, I thought a curl project might be appropriate. I'm trying to mix up the projects and shapes.
The two skeins of sock yarn were purely stash enhancement, for which I should be ashamed. How could I resist the colorways — ‟Cape Canaveral” and ‟Huntsville”? The colors are based on a photograph of a Saturn V rocket launch. And little rocket stitch markers came with the skeins. Blame Hook a Frog from Madison, Alabama (just outside Huntsville) for coming up with an irresistible marketing strategy.
On the other hand, thank you to Nancy Alison for work to preserve the skill of bead knitting. Her booth had a lovely display of assorted bead knitting kits, including the purse clasps! I've admired this technique and read about it but never tried it. The Monarch butterfly wing purse will be a perfect chance to expand my skills. Most of Nancy's kits were $50 or under, so fairly affordable.
The last two things I purchased were another vibrating pillow (in a zebra print, not pictured) and the multi-colored Zulu wire bowl. I had purchased a vibrating pillow a couple years ago. It is very useful on long car trips, especially for keeping my back comfortable. The bowl was simply a failed Will save against entrancing beauty. I love the color, the pattern, and even the size. In the two months since I purchased it, it has become a great place to drop knitting notions. And the basket won't break if a cat — cue The Great Brûlée, bringer of chaos — knocks it off the couch.
I also attended the student banquet. Phyllis had two fabulous outfits, one with mitered squares and the other a coral-colored lace dress with turquoise blue glass beads. Jill totally rocked the place with two garments in intarsia — one depicting Elvis and the other John Lennon. She even incorporated lyrics on the back! Joyce had a yellow and black mosaic knit jacket that matched a commercial skirt and blouse combination. There was a crocheter showing off a shawl in crocodile stitch. I love the texture! And several ladies from Florida had a car cover depicting scenes from Florida.
On Sunday morning I took Gwen Bortner's reversible entrelac class. More about that in tomorrow's post.
Comments