Madrona!

Sorry for the radio silence; I’ve been on the road! I found a dragon…guess where? More on that next post.

I had my 15 seconds of fame on the Oregonian News Network as the featured blogger this week. Check out the other featured bloggers; we’re the first five and I’m in good company. I especially love GoodStuffNW who blogs about food and other wonderful things.

I ran up to Madrona yesterday; it was my first time. It’s going on all weekend, so go if you get a chance. I couldn’t do classes, but I checked out the market and hung out in the rotunda for a bit. Here’s what I saw.

HazelKnits yarn at Fiber Gallery. I don’t stash, but the colors were so rich, I couldn’t resist. I had a hard time deciding which to take. Both of these are my colors.

Guess which one I bought?

All three! Splish Splash, Hoppy Blonde, Jam Session. All in Artisan Sock. They won’t be socks, but look for a shawl, perhaps, in one or a combo of colors…eventually. While in line to check out, I chatted with Nicole. Her scarf had the same colors as the one I was wearing (my fingering weight Infinity scarf). She held my yarn so I could take her picture. She’ll be making an Infinity of her own!

Cathy and I also delivered a skein of Scrumptious From Lantern Moon to Fiber Gallery; they’re carrying Ysolda’s special selection of colors.

I saw one other yarn that really wanted to come home with me. It’s from Blue Cocoon Yarn. I think it’s called Cocoon, and it has big bulky slubs plied in. They’re really squishy. I can’t imagine knitting anything with it, but I can definitely imagine draping it around my neck as art. Really pretty. But I’d already bought non-project specific yarn, so it stayed right where it was. Gorgeous, though.

I loved the glass knitting needles from Michael and Sheila Ernst; I tried these at Sock Summit last summer, and they’re really smooth and surprisingly sturdy. These are their “don’t drop spindles.” They’re beautiful, but take heed of the name; they’re not nearly as sturdy as the needles!

I met the very charming Laura Lundy of Slipped Stitch Studios. She has great bags and pattern keepers. I won a pattern keeper recently, so it was fun to meet Laura in person.

Oh! June Hemmons Hiatt’s Principles of Knitting is out, and I saw it in person. It’s huge. I may have to get a copy.

And I saw a very striking woman with fiber in her hair; it was gorgeous.

In the rotunda at lunch, I saw Brian Kohler using this walking wheel. Very cool. I was trying to wrap my head around how it related to my drop spindles, and he explained it very patiently. I’m still not sure I get it, but it was fascinating.

We met Josie, who was helping in Catherine Lowe‘s booth. She was wearing the most gorgeous sweater, her own version of the cover sweater from Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting.

There are no sewn seams on this masterpiece sweater; all seams are done with three needle bind off. On the side seams, she picked up stitches along the edges of each piece, and then used three needle bind off to make a decorative seam on the outside of the garment (wrong sides together). I went back to find her in the marketplace, to ask, “May I take a picture of your seams?” Only at a knitting conference, and of course she said yes.

We also met Erika, who was knitting a sweater with her own handspun. I don’t have a picture of her, sorry. But she had just come from a class with Lucy Neatby, where she learned many cool tips and tricks, including Lucy’s Modified Conventional Bindoff. Check out the link; it’s ingenious and looser than the conventional bindoff. Thanks, Erika!

Whew! That’s just yesterday. I’ll have to go back in time to tell you about last weekend’s adventures. What do you have planned for this weekend? Madrona is calling you!