First Day of Classes Stitches Midwest 2014

I was SO busy at Stitches Midwest that I did not have a single free moment to even put up a picture while it was going on. (That seems to be the way my year has been going!) Anyway I thought I'd put up a few images  and describe my classes after the fact.

Here is another shot of the hotel room. You can see the round chairs a bit better from this angle.

 

I always arrive in Schaumburg the day before the conference begins, because I have to drive for 7 hours to get there. On Wednesday evening I like to go swimming, but this year I was too tired when I got in, so I postponed that til the next day. 

Classes start in the afternoon and my first class on Thursday was Knitting "Two Colors, Two Hands, Two Directions" with Candace Eisner Strick.

Candace has this cool projector called Elmo that projects anything she puts under it in pretty clear detail (as you can see above.)  She was a wicked sense of humor and although the class isn't earth shattering (it is precisely what it sounds like), we worked on some fair isle type patterns and practiced trying to get our other hand to behave more adroitly. I think I can knit back a bit better, but doing it with two colors (one held in each hand) still feels pretty fiddly.

 

Look at that great smile!

 

Here are some of my fellow classmates and here is the swatch I ended up with by the end of class.

 

 As I went by another classroom, whom should I see, but Lily Chin, so I had to snap a picture of her doing a demo to the class.

Doesn't she look like  the beginning of some kind of Pilobolus routine - very graceful and lithe! 

I had picked up my sister's and my registration packet in the morning and I met this lovely woman who volunteers at the registration booth. Evenings everybody goes to the market for a preview, so I was able to run into her at the market that evening. She was wearing this gorgeous shawl that she knit called Catkin. It was designed by Carina Spencer.

 

 We hit it off and spent a fair amount of time chatting and talking about knitting and Stitches and everything else in the world!

I was having a charmed evening. I ran into several people I have come to know over the years and had some marvelous conversations.  Lily and I had a nice long chat about Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the indie film business. Lily is an inspiring person and a joy to interact with! She was perfectly dressed with matching shoes and looking good.

Here we are together.

 

I had a short talk with Brooke Nico with whom my sister and I took a Lace Correction class last year.

And then I had another really long and satisfying chat with Myra Wood, who was featured at this years opening talk. She has a fabulous new book out, Knit in New Directions, and we could talk a little about publishing and how exhausting it is to write. She was very encouraging and I always look forward to seeing her.

 

Of course the market is always full of interesting things to look at and interesting people. There are also lovely patterns and yarns.

I would not have ever thought of putting red and brown together like that and yet it looks very nice!

These were some of the featured items for this year .

 

The Buffalo Wool people even brought their truck in to show off their stuff!

All in all it was a busy and very satisfying day!