SW 2013

I'll start with a summary of the damage report:

fiber ... yarn and hardware.

There was reconciliation with Molly.

There were daily visits to A Verb for Keeping Warm's booth and Lisa Souza's booth. Because it's good to visit kind souls and beauty.

I took Andrea Wong's class on "Knitting in the Portuguese style", where the yarn is tensioned around the back of one's neck. I've seen pictures of South Americans knitting in this manner, and apparently this method is also used in areas of Asia and the Middle East, too. The tension created by looping the yarn around the neck actually assists in maneuvering the yarn at the needles. The left hand thumb flicks the working yarn over the right needle tip. When I use this technique I'll need to swatch to get gage. It's quite different from "English" and "Continental" methods that I currently use interchangebly.

I also took Galina Khmeleva's class on "Spinning for Lace Knitting." Great introduction to precious fine fibers and spinning with a traditional Russian supported spindle.

The left photo shows samples of singles on spindles as well as plied yarn in balls. The right photo shows my sequential single of cashmere, buffalo, pygora, and quiviut winding onto the plying spindle with white silk. Oo-la-la.

The yarn on the round card is from class; the yarn on the square card is my practice yarn after class. Plies need more twist, I see.


Here's a fitting toast to the entire experience. It was wonderful.

SW 2012 album

Stitches West 2012, February, Santa Clara, CA.
I took two classes: "Slick set-in-sleeves" with JCBriar, and a "Fitting Knits" class with Lily Chin. Both were worthwhile.

I got a beautiful lightweight spindle by KCL Woods. It weighs less than an ounce and spins true. I got what I call a "more fun than a barrel full of monkeys" pack of colorful fiber. And some MadTosh yarn and sumptuous Souza fiber.

I met up with some friends at A Verb for Keeping Warm's booth, which was selected by the Stitches West instructors as "most beautiful"! Congrats!
In the right-hand photo I'm flanked by Kristine and Romi, sources of the dress pattern and fabric, as well as the scarf I'm wearing. The turtle fabric is whimsical and from AVFKW, and the scarf is "Caliz" and designed by Romi.

Here are a few other purchases. And in the lower left corner you can see a little souvenir from my visit with Ysolda.