If I don’t write this now, I’m not gonna.
Saturday was the first real day of the show. The summer show is definitely larger than the winter show — mostly, I understand, because the larger companies are debuting their fall/winter products — and of course there’s just more of that when it comes to knitting.
It started a little slow – for some reason the fashion show was going on during show hours, so of course most people were checking that out rather than starting their shopping.
We did get a CP pic at the booth: check out Shannon’s post here. I was so happy that Sarah, of Cephalopod*, and her honey Sam were there to help out! Sarah & I have a mutual adoration thing going. I’m constantly amazed & inspired by her honesty & soul-baring articles, and, well, she likes my designs.
Kim of IndigoDragonfly* was also around, and I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with her — she is so funny, and so sweet, and I love that I can make SF &/or TV or film -related references and she of course immediately gets them.
For me, this show was all about Cooperative Press & California Revival Knits. I have yarn support for my next couple huge projects, so I wasn’t really needing to try to coordinate that. However, I loved being able to thank the yarn companies in person for the yarn support for California Revival Knits, Hitch, and my next book. (Thanks to Jeni of Fyberspates*, who’d I’d not met before, and Amy of MadelineTosh*, ditto, & who are both providing yarn support for Hitch!)
Also, I was able to show CRK to friends who’d not yet seen it in hard copy.
And talking of friends — over the weekend I was able to say hi to a bunch of folks who had booths! In no particular order: Felicia* from Sweet Georgia, Anne Kuo Lukito, Brooke* of Sincere Sheep, Kristin* of Shibui (and thank you for that extra skein of Staccato for Hitch — I needed it!), Jeane of Elemental Affects, Katie* of Blue Sky Alpacas (can’t wait to do something with their Metalico — that stuff is GORGEOUS), Shepherd Susie from Juniper Moon (and her lovely, amazingly talented assistant & in-house designer, Caroline), Roxanne* (and her sweet hubby, who’s doing a lot of the dyeing — and coming up with some gorgeous moody colorways) of Zen Yarn Garden, Stacey* & the gang at Knit Picks, the folks at Harrisville*, the gals at Anzula (who sent me home with some lovely yarn to play with)…I’m sure I’m forgetting people and I apologize!
(Oh –what does * mean? They’re all providing yarn support for Hitch!)
We had lunch both Saturday & Sunday at the North Market. There’s a dizzying amount of choices. I had pork & noodle dish from the Vietnamese restaurant one day, and a salad from another vendor the next.
Saturday night was a the Craftsy party. Can I just say they certainly know how to host a party? (And, one more time, thank you! ) Awesome cocktails, snacks (with an emphasis on local cheeses, breads, salami, and of course Jeni’s) at a cute bar (Mouton — SHEEP!), with awesome, adorable bartenders (who handled the crowd with grace & finesse), AND located oh, about a 100m from our rental house. There are incriminating photos all over the internet.
Sunday was more of the same at the show — except it was my birthday! Ruth of Rock+Purl gave me some yummy chocolate, and I got lots of happy birthday hugs. Shannon took me out to dinner — Marcella’s — I had a delicious pizza & wine. (Sarah had a really neat strawberry based cocktail with some really nifty foam that we all tried & liked). Then we went to Jeni’s for dessert, of course!
Monday morning my flight left too early to make it worth heading over to the show, so I slept in a bit, took a nice shower, gave goodbye hugs to all, and then got a cab to the airport. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten through security faster than at Columbus. Literally no one else in line. The flights home were blessedly uneventful.
