They gathered together at the crack of dawn (OK, so more like 8:30 AM). A hardened band of knitting fanatics each with their own secret agenda but with one motto tattooed on their souls. "Swatches? We don't need no stinkin' swatches!" They were the Magnificent Five (Hey. That's what would fit in the SUV).
Mo, the instigator, the one with the plan. She could multi-task a precision strike into the heart of Stitches West without batting an eye. She didn't call herself the boss but everyone took her orders and liked it. She didn't have to force her sisters into a life of knitting. The more they watched her knit, the more inevitable the outcome was. They fell like domino's and knitting became a family affair, a little like the Mafia.
Marlene, one of Mo's sisters and the newest to the group. Always saying she didn't really knit that much, had little experience but with a number of scarves and sweaters notched on her needles. She looked shy and retiring but you'd be a fool to take her at face value. She scored the luxury yarns for the lowest prices with that sweet smile still on her face.
Millie, another sister. Always friendly and pleasant but with that competitive edge. If you could do it, she could do it too but faster and eventually better than you could. You only had to show her a thing once and it was over. She liked the expensive stuff and always made sure she had the best tools.
Jane, the obsessive-compulsive one with the loud squeeing, darting from booth to booth, hands trembling over laceweight yarns like the fiber junkie she was. The embarrassment of the group. They might have gone without her but she was good with lace. Yeah, real good. Besides, she had the shawl, so they had to bring her.
May, better known to some as the "Knitting Wizard" or "Knitting 911". The calls came in at all hours of the day and night pleading, demanding, screaming for answers, "What the Hell does this instruction mean?" With a mind filled with knitting knowledge but the attention span of a monkey with ADD, her answers could be clear, they could be cryptic or they could spell the death knell for your knitting project with the words "To knit is to rip. If you cannot rip, you cannot knit!" She had infected more people with the knitting virus than Typhoid Mary. Even her own sister, Jane.
They all descended onto the Santa Clara Convention Center on Saturday to feed their creative hunger, to feed the Muse.
What can I say? We had a Blast!
When you look at these pictures, the first ones you'll see are things my sister, May purchased. She's been knitting a long time and her shopping at Stitches is much more specific than the new knitters. She updated her Elizabeth Zimmerman library purchasing DVD's so she can give away our VHS versions to our friend, Louise. She bought only good sock yarn. She got some Blue Moon yarn and some of the beautiful Lisa Souza. A few pretty patterns for some shrugs and new yarn swift (Now we have three of them). There is always something else, something special that we have in our heart-of-hearts that we really want to get when we are at Stitches. For May, that was to satisfy her lust for the beautiful glassware of Sheila & Michael Ernst. We have bought their glass pens, their glass orifice hooks for spinning, and now my sister is the ecstatic owner of beautiful double point needles. See them and weep. I know I did! I think that the pretty pastel double points are the "Lime and Violet" needles.
You will have to wait for my second post for a look at my loot!
When you look at these pictures, the first ones you'll see are things my sister, May purchased. She's been knitting a long time and her shopping at Stitches is much more specific than the new knitters. She updated her Elizabeth Zimmerman library purchasing DVD's so she can give away our VHS versions to our friend, Louise. She bought only good sock yarn. She got some Blue Moon yarn and some of the beautiful Lisa Souza. A few pretty patterns for some shrugs and new yarn swift (Now we have three of them). There is always something else, something special that we have in our heart-of-hearts that we really want to get when we are at Stitches. For May, that was to satisfy her lust for the beautiful glassware of Sheila & Michael Ernst. We have bought their glass pens, their glass orifice hooks for spinning, and now my sister is the ecstatic owner of beautiful double point needles. See them and weep. I know I did! I think that the pretty pastel double points are the "Lime and Violet" needles. You will have to wait for my second post for a look at my loot!
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