Stitch Out!

Ok, I'm now well rested, and ready to revisit Stitches. Yesterday, when we got back, it was just impossible - and, all I wanted to do was play with my new yarn!

So, Christina, Allison, Robin and I met at a Dunkin Donuts, because all trips originating in Philadelphia should start at a Dunkin Donuts as there is always one centrally located, and if you need directions, there's generally a cop loading up on the Boston Cremes. The morning was spent carefully planning my wardrobe. Now, I am of the school that when you fly, you should always DRESS, because that's the only way you may luck out, and get bumped up to first class. I feel the same way about going to a knitting expo - if you wear a beautifully knit garment, the vendors will treat you differently. So, I chose my Rosie's Razor Shell Capelet in Noro Kureyon: Perfect! And we were off!

















On Friday night, I did what every single girl in the city does, I reread all of my knitting magazines, and made a game plan for my fall/winter knitting. Not only did I lay out my Stitches roadmap, but I found a few patterns to rescue the Silk Garden(see - I've Been Hubbled!) and still produce a suit (a post for later in the week). During this approval process of the proposed patterns, Allison posed a question - "when you sit for a long time in a knit skirt, do you get butt cup?" Butt cup? Apparently, there is a phenomena that when you sit too long in a knit skirt, the skirt kind of molds to your butt, and when you get up, there's still a cup where your butt was (I guess, in my case, it would be more like a soup bowl than a cup). I've never experienced this - has anyone else? Has anyone else suffered from butt cup besides Allison? I feel like I should be fully informed before I go ahead with a project that has already burned me so badly once.

Talk of butts lead Robin to recount Nip and Tuck for us -- about a woman so large that her butt adhered to her living room couch. Rather than vomit, I chose to take out my knitting - oops - I forgot to attach another ball of yarn to my shrug project! So, there would be no knitting for me on the Trek to NJ! Allison, on the other hand was prepared:
So, to the beat of Christina's brilliantly programmed Ipod, her devil may care style of driving, and a thorough review of the new fall t.v. season, we arrived in A.C. in record time, and knitters, we were ready to shop! We got our tickets, filled out our doorprize card, and noticed the warning sign - no pictures! digital cameras will be confiscated! Now, after losing one camera earlier in the summer, and the cellphones, etc. I became a nervous nelly. Not Christina though! Visit her blog to see the highs and lows of Stitches. A tie tack camera, not her! She boldly went where no other knitter went - she daringly pulled out that big ol' camera, and shot away.

Almost immediately, in the 800's, we met up with Beverly and her mother. Beverly- here you go, you girl, are a BLOG STAR!!!!
Do I look distracted? If I don't, even though I was, it was because I was focused, I knew where I was going, I was on a mission. There was no question where I was dropping my first wad of cash - Skaska Designs - these Russians know lace. And, for $40.00, I picked up this 1200 yard hank of %50 merino, %50 silk handpainted yarn -. As soon as I had it in my hot little hands, I felt like Winthrop in the Music Man when he gets his new trumpet -- I almost started stuttering - isn't in the mosth beautiful, the mosth shiniest, the mosth sthupendouth thing you ever did sthe!!!! When I visited the Rosie's Booth, Grace squealed with delight. And, hopefully, this delovely skein will turn into this mind blowing entrelac shawl This will not be the first time I try to tackle this Entrelac Lace Shawl from Interweave - that disaster is for another post. The pattern actually calls for over 2000 yds., but I had a confab with the owner of Skaska, Galina, and she said, in heavy Russian accent "Pattern - my student." She pointed to herself. "Too big." She stretched her arms out. "You make shorter, yes." One skein? Yes, one skein good. Chaching! 1st purchase completed!

I found my friends, package in hand, and they couldn't believe that within 10 minutes, I had already made the first purchase. Everything else would be icing on the cake for me. We strolled down the 700's, and Robin found what would be her vote for the You Knit What???? Award. Unfortunately, while she was pointing to it, the owner of the booth thought that her smiles were one of "I want to buy this," not, as we knew "Can you believe this piece of crap." A pink dress, knit in some kind of acrylic rope, with some kind of novely yarn woven in - I can't go on - the horror!!! Christina, I believe managed to get a shot of this travesty of knitting.

Onward - we got lost in the maze of Webs - and two worlds collided - the Rosie's Girls met the Poolside Knitters! The mystery of the poodle scarf was no more . . . and I'll say no more . . . It was at Webs that I ducked my Poolsiders - pointing them to the sale Alchemy, and ducking around the corner, I picked up my second project for the fall season - with the support of Robin, and her calculator - we came up with a $51.00 total for five balls of black, four balls of ivory, and for balls of charcoal chunky %100 wool from Valley Farms. Love that 25% discount - sold!!!

Carrying it around in my Rosie's sack nearly broke my back, but it was worth it! The three quarter sleeves, the whole sophisticated look - so Audrey Hepburn! By the way, I accept that I will never look like Audrey, will never be Audrey. Please please please, someone tell Jennifer Love Hewitt that she must also come to the same, inescapable conclusion:
You can do whatever you want - keep that tired hair, pile it on your head - go ahead! You can wear the millionth incarnation of the little black dress - YOU ARE NOT AUDREY! You are not channeling our Roman Holiday Princess, our Sabrina Faire, and you must get over it!!!! Cut your hair, buy new shoes, and for G-d's sake, spend that money of yours and buy yourself a new damn dress. Ok, glad to have that out of my system!

We broke for lunch halfway through, and stood in the mile long line for cardboard pizza. This, my friends, was not boardwalk pizza. I'm a Philly girl, but I'm just over the bridge from Jersey, and there are things, indeed, that I appreciate about our cheesy neighbors. One is boardwalk pizza - especially at 2:00 a.m. Not the case at Stitches, but, eh, we weren't there to eat, we were there to shop! We took a tally -- I had spent $91.00 at the halfway mark. Christina, having purchased beautiful jewelry, stamp pads, and skeins of a beautiful colorway of Silk Garden was somewhere around $100.00. Allison, Robin - nothing! Our careful shoppers. But, I saw that gleam in Allison's eye - she had something in mind, she was just biding her time. I expected big things from her, and I wasn't disappointed.

After lunch, we hit some more biggies - Mannings, the Yarn Barn of Kansas, and of course, Rosie's. At Rosie's, Robin took the plunge -- she replaced all of the Koigu she had on hold at the store (enough for a Rambling Rows baby blanket - 10 skeins maybe?) with a whole new color scheme a la Grace! Amazing Grace! Like a machine, she kept whipping up color schemes - skeins you would never think to put together -- that brain o' hers. It definitely processes color differently than the rest of us. Anyway, during Koigu fest, I purchased something for my Secret Pal (sh!), and snuck off to the Fiber booth.





Yes, yes - I am going to try to spin, AGAIN! I know, I know, I failed miserably the first time - but I will persevere - although, later that evening, watching another Kevin Costner STINKER (question - your husband disappears for one day, following no marital problems, and leaves you, still sexy after all the years, Joan Allen, and your four more beautiful than a hank of Koigu daughters, you immediately jump to the conclusion that he's run off with his Swedish secretary just because she returned to Sweden three days before? I won't reveal the end of the movie, but there was a more logical explanation) - it was kind of ugly. Ah, practice!

And, so, I completed my purchases for the day -- I did have a moment at Great Adirondack though, where complete insanity nearly took hold. I was gripped, riveted, demonically possessed by this 325 yd. merino hank called Texas Big, so beautiful - blues, golds, tans, the colors of dusk - be still my heart. Robin called on the cell- where are you? Help! I need an intervention! She came quickly. Talk me out of this, I said. I held up 2 hanks. I can't, she said, they're two beautiful. They're $40 each. PUT THEM DOWN RIGHT NOW!!!! I put them down, thank you Robin.

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And, what were our other friend's up to, hmmm?
I knew Allison had a gleam in her eye - cashmere, my friends. And, a little yak on the side

And, of course, Lorna's Laces for Chris - socks for grandma - can't forget grandma!






And, buying cashmere is the functional equivalent of the fat lady singing, and we were done. We regrouped in the lobby, over big pretzels and a somewhat not so clean table, and here it is, the MOTHERLOAD!!!
Aren't you exhausted but pleased just looking at it - somewhere between $700-$1000 worth of yarn? We drove back to Philly, feeling as satiated as if we had just had a meal at Striped Bass. Did I cover everything - I'm sure that Christina will have more to say - I'm anxiously awaiting her post.

And the most offensive thing we saw - while Robin still thought it was the pink dress, the rest of us unanimously declared Jelly Yarn to be the most hideous, the worst idea, the bottom bottom bottom of the barrel of the novelty yarn craze: Yahaira of Knit Fix has fittingly dubbed it Kryptonite. Please do not even try to disagree with us on this one. There is no argument.

The trip ended with a rousing chorus of Spandau Ballet, again courtesy of the fabu Ipod. Alrighty! Enough blogging -- it's time for Cold Case and Desparate Housewives!!!!! Oh, and I think I should be knitting, too.