VKLive Columbus

VogueKnitting Live Columbus was my first VKLive event, and it did not disappoint. I had a great time teaching, and seeing friends old and new.

My flight was early, but a snow delay in Chicago meant I missed the teacher meeting on Thursday night. Happy Halloween! That meeting is a great place for first time teachers to get to know the others, but Marie Greene of Olive Knits helped me catch up. Thanks, Marie! (We go way back to her blogging days when she used to live in Nebraska.)

The hallways were decked with samples from Vogue Knitting. Very inspiring; let’s knit more!

I taught Herringbone Braids and Beyond: Braided Wristlets on Friday morning, and met Kim, who I know on Instagram. It’s so nice to meet friends in person, finally.

I gave a lecture, Blocking: It’s Magic, in the afternoon. My PowerPoint presentation worked just the way I wanted it to, hooray! Well, almost. My Microsoft fonts didn’t carry over to the MacBook it was running on, but all the words were there. I win! The first time for anything always makes me nervous.

I had lunch with Kim and Colette at the North Market, and was sadly too full to have Jeni’s Ice Cream. Don’t worry, I made up for it the next day. Boozy Eggnog and Darkest Chocolate, a winning combination.

This is how I felt after teaching and lecturing on Day 1. Woot! This statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger is outside the convention center; I’m not sure why.

I taught my Athena Entrelac Cowl, and Knitting and Designing with Favorite Shawl Shapes on Saturday. Those shawl shape knitters were really on the ball; they had lots of great questions and ideas.

On Sunday morning I taught my Brioche Pastiche Hat class. And my AV did not fail me. I brought speakers and we even had sound for the videos, yay! I had two backup plans, but they weren’t necessary. Now that I know what the equipment is, I’m good to go for VKLive NYC in January.

Along the way:

I met Nancy Marchant on Saturday, which gave me a chance to thank her for changing my knitting life. Her brioche books are the best! And she’s so down to earth; I really enjoyed talking with her. I love her advice for fixing brioche mistakes: Don’t make any!

I had a moment to chat with Franklin Habit. I have always been impressed with his classes; he’s consistently well prepared and has a great presentation style. We’ll meet up again in February at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat. Registration begins November 9 at 10 am; come knit with us!

The market was packed with beautiful yarn, bags, buttons, and more. I loved this display at the Freia Handpaints booth. I want to wear this with a tiara…

Nancy had a couple samples she wanted to show Tina, including Bonfire from Leafy Brioche (on Tina). Perfection :sigh:

Michelle and Shelia (owner) at Urban Girl Yarns were charming and had lovely yarns, too! I’m not a stasher, or I would have indulged. My current work pile said no!

I did buy some interesting knitting needles; they’re made by Prym. They hav a drop shaped tip to avoid splitting yarn, and then transiton from round to triangular for better ergonomics. They have a good bit of flex to them, too. I’m looking forward to trying them. No picture yet; it’s too dark this morning.

Also exhibiting in the market: Melinda K. P. Stees from Image Knits. Melinda uses Photoshop to analyze photographs, and then uses fine gauge machine knitting to create gray scale images. Each stitch is a pixel. This kitty will have eyes duplicate stitched in golden yellow. Check Melinda’s website for more images.

It works in blue, too. This eclipse stunning. And check out the hands behind the eclipse.

Daniel was in my brioche class, and showed me his experiments with crochet grid to make a more stable fabric that isn’t as super stretchy as brioche. He’s made blankets and is working on a vest. Inspiring and fascinating.

And since this blog is my journal, I’m reminding myself what I wore this time around…

Clara Parkes kept me in good company on the way home. I finished this book on my last flight, and highly recommend it.

On to Vogue Knitting: Destination Portland next Friday! I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, and it will be fun. But first, a creative weekend with friends.

How is your November going? Mine is…busy!