A Stitches Wrap-Up

Thanks to Dianne at Windy Valley Muskox (and her aunts who took my Beginning Knitting class and introduced me to her) I had the opportunity to go to all four Stitches knitting events in 2012. I had not been on an airplane since before 9/11 - just no reason to, most of our family is in Colorado, and had not really gotten out of my comfort zone in a long time.  It has definitely been a fun year!

I wrote about Stitches West here. Partly because I didn't know what to expect, and partly because I expected it to be a one-time opportunity, I definitely spent the most time absorbing the environment and getting to know people at West. It also helped that I got to sit at the Yarn Tasting table and talk for eight hours a day with knitters, and answering yarn and knitting questions. I met Sue and Christine there, as well as Sarah Peasley and Debbie Radtke, and Kristi and Lisa on the XRX staff, all of whom have since become friends.

I neglected to write about Stitches South and Stitches Midwest.  They were both a lot of fun.  I especially appreciated the opportunity to see Lisa, Sarah, Debbie and Kristi again, and it was fun to see all the knitters at each event.  Since Windy Valley was a sponsor at each event, we got to see the Friday night fashion shows where all the vendors have their latest patterns and yarns on the runway, and we got to attend the banquet for the fashion show as well as the student banquet with a fashion show of the attendees.  I was thrilled that Dianne submitted my Little Black Capelet - only in blue, this time, for the Friday night fashion show!  I wish this were in my own wardrobe but it's a WV sample.  Time to make my own, I guess!! 

It was nice to see Marly, my hometown friend and a great teacher, at each event.  At Stitches East, I made it a point to get out and see what was going on outside the conference center at least once!  On Sunday, I went to church at St. Patrick - St. Anthony.  To get there on time, I took a shuttle to the church, but afterward I walked back through the city.  It was just starting to get a little drizzly but I stopped and took a few pictures of buildings and trees while I was out.  It was a nice, but very quiet city.  I can't imagine Denver so quiet, even on a rainy Sunday morning!  I also got some donuts at Dunkin' Donuts on my walk back - yum!



I did not buy anything at the market this time, except for one small gift that is not knitting related and hasn't been given yet.  I actually worked a lot more this time; as opposed to February, I'm now an expert on the yarns, the patterns, and everything Windy Valley!  Oh, I did buy several balls of Windy Valley yarns, but most were gifts.  Well, maybe a couple were for me.

I made sure to take pictures of everything I could. Last time, I posted 100 pictures from the Fashion Show, and a few pictures of food, and BFJ told me, "It looks like you're kind of obsessed with food."  Ha-ha-ha-hmm.  Methinks he did not venture too far into my set of pictures.  

Most of all, it's the people I've enjoyed meeting.  I spoke with a nice gentleman from Connecticut on my flight out, whose name I never got.  I had a chance to get to know Dianne's aunt, Sarah, and hang out with Dianne more.  Thanks to Dianne, I've tried sushi, swordfish and scallops, rode on an ATV, rode a horse, rode an airplane - all this year.  She's such a fun and easy going person.  I guess that's what happens when you live in the country!  And I had real, actual, personal conversations with Debbie (all-around nice person and pattern expert), Sarah (who is always willing to share her wisdom), Lisa (who has two boys and shoots all the XRX pictures at the events) and Kristi (who shares a love for the Huskers with me).  All great girls and people I'm glad to call friends.  And then on the plane ride home I met Rosalyn, who knows nothing about knitting, but was really fun.  I told her maybe I'd cross paths with her sometime in the future, and she said, "I definitely think we'll see each other again."  Who knows!