Stitches Convention, February 2006

The Keynote speaker for the Convention was Sally Melville, whose book Color, the third in her Knit, Purl series had just been released. Her topic was entitled Creative Existence, Managing Color which spoke to color theory and color combinations that work together and the creative process.

We were treated to a fashion show with the prototypes of all the designs in this latest volume and given the inside scoop on Sally's next planned topic is Texture, Our Finest Hour and the fifth book will be the Design and the Creative Process in which she plans to include the intriguing topic of "What not to Wear" for Knitters.

Friday morning, my class was Fair Isle Knitting with Beth Walker O'Brien. I actually learned to do continental knitting in this three hour class although that consists of holding the yarn in my left hand and not having very good tension. In the afternoon, I had Tantalizing Techniques with Debbie New, a very spirited English speaking teacher. Her key thought was to "look at things and figure out another way to do the same thing that might be less difficult or even easier."

Saturday began with Merike Saarnitt who was a very lively and exciting teacher. She gave a short 30 second explanation fo the purpose of the workshop and we commenced with the project of Toe Up Socks. The afternoon class, taught by Ruth Lantz, on the Elements of Design challenged the participants to create a scrapbook with ideas for projects, pictures of art work, designs, clip art and motifs to be used in those projects and a color wheel for choices of colors for those patterns. This was a very thought provoking class and my brain was on overload by the end of the 3 hours. What a lot to think about!

My last class was on Sunday morning with Nancy Bush and the topic was Estonian Lace. Nancy shared a short history of Estonia and the development of the lacemaking tradition in the region. Estonian lace is built on stockinette stitch and the two similar shawl traditions, Orenburg and Shetland, are built on the garter stitch. The Lily of the Valley pattern she demonstrated is unique to Estonia.

These few days were packed and it will take while to assimilate or even process all the ideas, techniques and new patterns. In addition to that the shopping, fashion shows, lunch, dinner, style predictions and more shopping will keep me humming a happy tune for at least the next year. Want to do this every year.

Stitches West 2006, Santa Clara, California

Cables Untangled with Melissa Leapman was my first class at Stitches in Santa Clara, CA. What a way to start the Convention! She was delightful and informative. One of the tips I garnered from her was to always slip purlwise when cabling and when finishing a cable on the right side row when you purl the next stitch, wrap the yarn in the opposite direction. When come to the stitch on the Wrong Side of the row, the stitch will be twisted. To untwist it, knit into the back of the stitch. This will prevent gaps from occurring between the cable and the remainder of the knitting.

Another tip is to use a different type of needle for cabling to differentiate it from the main needles. Use whatever form of needle you find the most comfortable.

Thanks, Melissa. I really enjoyed your class!

Golden Gate Bridge

My father's father worked on parts for the Golden Gate Bridge at a factory in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He passed away before the bridge was completed.

My husband and I drove across the Bridge from San Jose to Pittsburg, CA to visit with a friend.

San Jose, February 2006

A matching set!