In Which I Go To Vogue Knitting

OK, I'm not one who regularly attends knitting fairs. I like going to the odd Fiber Fair to fondle the fleeces and see the sheep, but even those I don't attend on a regular basis. I think I've been to Knit City - which is my local fair - maybe twice? I've never attended any lectures or classes there.

But. Then. I was sent the link for this year's Vogue Knitting "conference", to be held in Bellevue (basically Seattle), and I had a look at the classes....Yep. I signed up for the full-meal-deal, "Sleepless in Seattle".

The experience was truly "sleepless" for a bunch of reasons:
1. I got so jacked on all the inspirational instruction that I couldn't calm down,
2. I got so inspired by all the beautiful stuff on display in the marketplace that I was dreaming about it all night, and
3. I got food poisoning from the hotel restaurant. Really.

I spent all my money on goodies from the market - specialty yarns for tvåändsstickning, some tencel to try, some new sock yarns from a variety of vendors...

And, I took classes from Xandy Peters ("stacked knitting"), Cecilia Campochario ("sequence knitting") and Stephen West (does this guy even need a link??). All of these inspired me to no end, even Stephen West (whose stuff I have never knit, but after one class I am feeling more empowered than ever to ditch the patterns). And I learned how to improve my intarsia. And I learned about the history of the Knitting Belt - a technique that I now want to try.

So now my brain is so full it is going to essplode. I swear.

Here some photos to pass on at least some of the goodies to y'all:

[oh-so-simple granny squares using fluffy yarn]

[stacked knitting, easiest variety]

[sequence knitting, this one's not hard]

[from a shop specializing in my fave: scandinavian scratchy wools]

 

[this is like a flat pompom on a quilt, easy to do and looks fun!] 

[gotta love those cables...]

[fur and wool - what a combo!]

I have socks based on all these learnings percolating in my brain right now, and I'm hoping that over the next few months I can distill some good blog posts and/or sock creations out of all of this. Stay tuned!