Yarn, yarn, as far as the eye can see! The Marketplace at Vogue Knitting Live New York was unbelievable, and I found some wonderful colors there, such as this Green Dragon Colorway of the Merino Yak yarn hand-dyed by The Periwinkle Sheep. It is hard to find a really good green, and when you have an entire market of hand-dyers to choose from the chances go up enormously of finding exactly the color you want! Not to mention the gorgeous yarn art pieces.
But the greatest aspect of Vogue Knitting Live is the amazing people that attend the convention from all over the world. I have been riveted by Joji Locatelli’s design diary podcasts, and it was amazing to run into her at the Myak booth where she was planning a future project. I did not want to take her time by asking for a photo as she was there on a personal trip, but here is a photo that Joji herself shared on her instagram of herself and her mom in New York which is absolutely adorable:
A huge advantage of the Vogue Knitting Live format over events such as Stitches conventions is that they offer one-hour lectures. I adore the lectures—you get to sit with a knitting celebrity you've have always admired and drink in their personal stories while you knit. I attended two lectures by Clara Parkes: Straight Talk about Wool and From Wool to Sweater. I was thrilled to obtain her autograph on the fascinating book about designing her yarn, The Vanishing Fleece. But more about that in later posts. The blurry photo below is one Clara Parkes took of us, her rowdy audience, applauding her after her first lecture.
One of the huge opportunities offered by knitting conventions is the chance to try on samples and determine a) if they work for you and b) what size you should knit the design in. And, as you can see, the Soldotna suits many body types. Below is a photo of my friend Stephanie and I wearing the samples provided by Spincycle yarns
I also attended a wonderful lecture by Aimee of La Bien Aimee yarn: Color and Business Confidence in which she described the founding of her two businesses in France and the way she finds inspirations for her unique colors. Do you know that her yarn company produces 300-500 skeins a day and she now has 14 employees? What a successful business woman! Aimee was wearing the Soldotna crop and she showed how flattering cropped styles are for fuller-figured women. It was really inspiring. Below is a photo of Aimee wearing her Soldotna —you can find more information about Aimee's version on Aimee's instagram here.
To my surprise, my favorite lecture was given by Stephen West—
I always thought he was a bit “over the top” compared to my more
quiet approach to knitwear but he provided an amazingly inspiring talk.
I almost felt that he was hypnotizing all of us with the following
messages—
“you are creative!”
“you are artists with yarn!”
“You can knit with more colors!”
“You can wear all the colors at the same time!”
The colors in the lecture audience were somewhat astounding—
I was in the “purple” row but pink, lime green and fuscia abounded!
And Stephen encouraged everyone to parade around the room in their
brightly colored shawls which was joyous and freeing. What a fun experience!
Below is a photo of Stephen in one of his wild creations, the wonky starfish, which you can learn more about here
I did attend one amazing, marvelous class, held by Susan B. Anderson: Three French Hens, which features this adorable pattern:
my first French hen
Apparently Susan designed this adorable chicken for Taproot Magazine which is read by homesteaders and others who like to live off the land or pursue a natural lifestyle, so she felt chickens were very appropriate. Almost too appropriate, as it turns out, as one of her readers got so excited she knitted 100 of them! While I would have laughed heartily at this fact earlier, knitting these little fair-isle hens is so addictive that I am already on my third hen in only six days! But what a great way to use up your scraps of yarn and fabric! I am trying to use a zero waste approach in my knitting and sewing and I collect all the odds and ends in ziplock bags to use as stuffing for projects like this. I’m finding the jersey fabric scraps are the best of all as they act a bit like polystyrene stuffing.
My dear friend Stephanie, the owner of Uncommon Threads Yarns in Los Altos, accompanied me on the trip and she and I had some wonderful meetings with women we have always admired, such as G. G. of GGMADEIT and Adella of Lola Bean Yarn Co.
I have never seen such gorgeous, saturated colors as the ones in Adella’s booth! But more about that later--I’ll share my full yarn haul in my next post.
Squeeal! I even got to meet up with Fruity Knitting Podcasters Andrew and Andrea again! They are such kind, interesting, delightful people and although our meetup was short it was really inspiring to see how passionate they are about their work. You can watch their video podcasts here—I really feel they are the best that I have ever seen.
Sorry my blog has been very quiet of late --I have been struggling to keep up with my increased work hours [I added 12 hours of teaching a week to my schedule this fall] and balance that with my health needs, as well as my increased sewing activities. But one of my New Years’ resolutions is to squeeze in the time somehow, somewhere for more regular posts!
Anyway, my advice for anyone who wishes to attend a Vogue Knitting Live event is to save up your money and wait for the New York convention in January. I’ve heard really mixed reviews of the VKL events in other locations and although the one I attended in San Francisco two years ago was lovely in some respects it did not at all compare to the caliber of the instructors and lecturers, the yarn and notion vendors, and the experience as a whole. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in this amazing experience. I hope someday I will be able to go again, it was really a life-changing experience for me and enormously recharging of my spirit and creativity.