Stitches Midwest 2011 Sunday

So our last day had arrived. My sister had one class in the morning and then she had to fly home. I had an afternoon class and then in the late afternoon I would be driving back to Minnesota. It would be a long day, but a good one.

Our morning class was about Fascinating Fibonacci sequences with Laura Bryant. I had taken her class on Color in hand-dyed yarns and very much enjoyed it. I have to admit I was a bit mystified about what we could learn here. I remembered fibonacci series from math class and knew that if you join prior two numbers together you get the series. If you start with 1 and add it to itself you get 2. Then you add one to two to get three and 2 to 3 to get 5 etc. Laura made it sound quite mystical - a natural sequence that seems to inevitably be pleasing to the eye based on combinations found naturally in the real world in beings like the chambered nautilus (seen at this website):


or even in plants (from this one) ...


Laura walked us through a variety of patterns and color combinations:

And showed us some magnificent garments that she had made.


She doesn't seem to like to smile when she is demo-ing unfortunately and I do want to show this sample, so I can't cut her face off - just pretend she is smiling beautifully, because she has a lovely smile.

Here you can see two Fibonacci garments at once.


We had two assignments in class, working with multiple colors in a fibonacci sequence as below:


We were told that the variegated yarn would still be pleasing even though it disrupts the understanding of the stripes. It should still read as a 5. I don't know if the striping is naturally pleasing or not. (I do like the colors which combine some of her Prizm yarns and some left-over stuff that I brought along.)

Our second assignment was a diminishing fibonacci series that blended two series into each other. Below you can see the white blending into the red. The yarn is indulgence and it is truly decadent - a silk/wool/mohair with a gorgeous shine to it and a very soft hand. It was a joy to work with.


I can't claim much accuracy in my series, but I did continue to play with it since ihad not finished the sample in class and came up with an interesting stripe pattern. (I had accidentally skipped the section that was supposed to be two rows (and skipped from 1 to 3) but We were told we really only needed to have relationships of the numbers (and not have them necessarily in order). I think it worked out okay.(Click on the image to see a larger, sharper version)


After the class was over I had to say Goodbye to my sister. It was SO painful. We had had a wonderful time together and after she got in her car and headed off to the airport, I cried. Here is my last picture of her before she left!She thinks I go overboard on the picture taking!


Of course there was only one solution to the sadness of parting! The market, so off I went to spend time until my next class.

Stitches Midwest 2010 Fashion Show Part 2

In my first post about the Stitches Midwest 2010 Fashion show. I mentioned the hat, purse and lady bug slippers in Polarknit Polar Fleece. (Below)

But you couldn't really see the slippers, so here is a closer look.

The next garment we saw was the Othello jacket designed by Barry Klein. The colors did not really call to me, but the lines of the coat are really quite striking.  Texture is really the catchword of the 2010 show and this coat was done in a combination of three Trendsetter yarns, Othello, Dune and Merino shadow. Dune is one of my favorite yarns because it combines variegation with a nice halo and a little bit of glitz.

While you can't really see all the variegation and texture, you can see the drama of the stripes.

Lanie Herring gave us a Flowering Shrug with hanging sleeve ornaments.  Made in brushed alpaca and Pagewood Farm Hand spun Bouquet, the shrug has a soft hazy appearance that just begs to be touched.

Unfortunately white is very difficult to photograph under harsh light, so you can't see the trim as well as I would like, but the ruffled edges give this piece a fun and coquettish character.

This was one of my favorite pieces in the show. Called Flirtatious Fall, this shrug was made in Prism yarns Wild stuff and Mink. Laura Bryant designed it and takes full advantage of the glitz and furriness of her yarns. The pattern can be found in her Prism book 58.

Here is a slightly closer view that shows off the shag and glitz of the Wild Stuff yarn.

Texture is again highlighted in the Wrapped in Alpaca Cardigan designed Fontelle Jones.  The Cardigan was made in Cascade Yarns' Pure Alpaca.

Next Vladimira Cmorej brought us a fluffy little shrug made in Kollage Yarns' Glisten.

Cardigan coats seem to be in style again and Nancy McRay designed a nicely textured version using Woven Art's Monty 3/9.

One of the most elegant and impressive pieces  in the show was Sandi Rosner's Not Quite a Cape.  Both my sister and I were very taken with the simple jacket with the three button closure.

The jacket was knit in Kollage Yarns' fantastic and looks dressy and suave.

The next coat was such a success at last year's show that it is no surprise that it came back for an encore. Jane Slicer-Smith's Harlequin coat is featured in her Swing, Swagger and Drape book.

This version was done in Trendsetters' Merino VI.

This seems like a good place to stop for now. My computer doesn't seem to want to load anymore pictures right now and we are ending on a remarkable garment. So stay tuned for Part three on the Stitches Midwest show.

Thursday at Stitches Midwest 2010

At 10:00 AM we started off with a bang with a "Spotlight" panel that was addressing the design challenges of entrelac. Before we met the designers,we got our chance to  compete for door prizes and guess who got the very first copy of Gwen Bortner's book (and first prize for showing the most (i.e. loudest) enthusiasm! You can take the girl out of Texas but... Then the good stuff got started!

Designers Gwen Bortner, Laura Bryant and Anna Walden each presented a design they had done for the challenge and explained the intricacies and details of their decisions. 

Laura, Gwen and Anna with their designs

Personally I've always done more mosaic knitting than entrelac, so I stood to learn quite a bit from the panel. Each designer had interesting ideas about ways to use entrelac in a more interesting way. Laura Bryant (who is famous for Prism's beautifully colored yarns) started us off with some ways to think more daringly about entrelac and color.

Laura Bryant uses wild stuff to add color to entrelac

I want to give readers a chance to see the kinds of things that were talked about without revealing too much of the designers' intellectual property, although the above photo should make everybody eager to go out and buy some of that gorgeous Prism yarn!

Laura based her design for the Spotlight on an idea of outlining some of the entrelac squares with a zigzag border (as seen above.)

Anna Walden also used a daring and dramatic color palette for her Spotlight entry. Here you can see how she combined entrelac in different directions with stripes and brashly pigmented yarns.

A close up slide shows her asymmetrical sweater front and varied choices in yarn.

Next Gwen Bortner (who wrote the featured book of the Conference) showed us some of her wonderful designs from Entree to Entrelac. 

Gwen also used bias in a variety of ways (sub-titling her work a "guide from a biased knitter".

By carrying two yarns together and switching gradually, she was able to produce a very nuanced look. This is her submission for the Entrelac Spotlight panel.

After the presentation and question session finished..., 

...we were able to go up and look more closely at each of the three designs. Below you can see how Anna Walden combined mired squares with entrelac.

Here are Gwen's and Laura's final designs.

Next we had a luncheon and got to "speed date" some of the teachers who are featured at the conference. Every few minutes the teachers would rotate to a new table (and while I liked the chance to meet some of the teachers, it was a tiny bit rushed.) I think it would have been nicer to have 20 minutes to just get to know a few of them instead of seeing them rush around madly. I think we got to meet about 6 different teachers.

I believe this might be Candace Eisner-Strick. She is showing us socks and planning a book called Strickly Socks.

Maureen Mason-Jamieson showed us some Dorset buttons she had made. She looks like a really fun teacher!

And Myra Wood popped by to show us some of her new stuff.

I already took this class on lace knitting, but the shawl is just so beautiful that I have to show it!

Nearby I caught a glimpse of Lily Chin too in her signature chartreuse!

Look at that beautiful serpentine image. The woman has style from every angle! 

Below is a shot of the room and you can see the various tables with their teachers.

Laura Farson popped by to show us twined knitting, as did Christine Bylsma and oour last visitor was Leslye Solomon the owner of Woolstock Yarn Shop. She is very stylish and I always enjoy looking at what she is wearing. She had a gorgeous lined jacket that was to die for.

Lily came by and visited too after the session. It was great to see her again. What a powerhouse!

Of course one fun thing about Stitches is getting to mingle with the Knitterati and pass the famous in the halls. Here are Rick Mondragon, Candace Eisner-Strick and Judy Pascale having a chat in the foyer.

Then it was time for my first class.  I was doing Columns of Colors with Elise Duvekot. She had been featured in an earlier Stitches conference and I decided to see what I could learn about Knit One Below and cables.

She turned out to be a warm and enthusiastic Dutch woman with some great advice on ways to use multiple colors without having to carry yarns on the backside.

Here is what we were supposed to do in class and 

here is what I ended up with (not exactly identical unfortunately!)

Here is a nice shot of Elise Duvekot as she shows us how to fix our mistakes. Somehow it conveys some of her warm and friendly character.

Here is another example of using Knit one Below for nice color effects.

Before I knew it class was over and it was time to go get my sister at the airport.  Th night before I had gotten in and after a meal at the Greek Tavern near my hotel, I went swimming and relaxed for a while in the hot tub. What a wonderful life!

Thursday evening was a little more stressful. I had to pick up my sister at the airport (and not the close airport but Midway (bom, bom, bom, bom, bom , bom!! (2001 a Space Odyssey noises!) It didn't help that there were two accidents on the highway within the first two miles, so after sitting a while I had to get off the highway and just take city streets.It was actually a nice (but very long timewise) drive on Cermak road over to Cicero. I got to see the old neighborhoods and got just to the edge of Berwin where my father grew up. I didn't have time to stop and take pictures, but it felt like home. 

Check out A Chicago Soujourn's Blog for more pictures like the one above of the kinds of things I got to see.

It took two hours and several phone calls to get to the airport, but eventually I did and then the way back was much quicker and easier. After that it was off for Indian food at a great Indian restaurant that we eventually found after driving around most of southern Schaumburg. This place had great atmosphere!

I also loved that there were glass chandeliers in a modernist place. Simplicity and kitsch. i sure couldn't pull it off, but they did marvelously!

There were banquet facilities for weddings and celebrations down the sumptuous hall- all red and glittery and lined with pearlescent Ganesh statues!

It was another night of pampering and pleasure!