Friday at Stitches West

Stitches West
Feb 23-26
Santa Clara Convention Center &
Hyatt Regency
Santa Clara, CA

Market Hours:
Fri & Sat: 10AM-6PM
Sun: 10AM-4PM

Stitches West Discount Coupon, $5 off Market Admission:
From WEBS, booth 604
From Prism Yarn, booth 506a
From CascadeYarns, booth 314 (posted on Ravelry)

I spent the day in Gayle Roehm's class, Understanding Japanese Knitting Patterns, and I really enjoyed it. I've been buying Japanese stitch pattern books and drooling over Japanese knitting pattern books for a while, but I hadn't tried any of the patterns. The patterns are beautiful and intricate, but they can be intimidating. Gayle covered the topic thoroughly and had plenty of examples for us to decipher. We also swatched some stitch patterns to practice reading the standard symbols used in Japanese knitting patterns. Did you catch that? The symbols are standardized. What a concept!


Understanding Japanese Knitting Patterns

The red book, Clear and Simple Knitting Symbols, is a reference for stitch symbols. It has step-by-step illustrations that show how to do each stitch. Take a look at the cover of the pattern book on the right... isn't it beautiful? I bought both books from Yarn Barn of Kansas, Booths 404 & 503.

During lunch and after class, Mutare and I visited the Market and I picked up a few more things.


KCL Woods spindle

The whorl is mango wood and the shaft & finial are dyed maple. It weighs 0.95 oz. and spins like a dream.


Ysolda, Lauriel, and me

Ysolda is in Booth 1244 with sweaters and accessories from her latest books. I tried on Lauriel and took a photo with the lovely Ysolda in her photo booth. She also signed my book. She's really lovely and it was nice to meet her. If you don't have one of her books, visit AVFKW in Booth 1134 and buy one (or two), then visit her and have them signed.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be around the convention center helping students find their classrooms, and hanging out near the Market.