Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics...and I didn't buy.any.yarn (!). I know, this is a first for me. I think it was a confluence of events...I went over with a new friend in my group who was on a budget. Also, I ran into quite a few people I knew at the show and chit-chatted. I had pre-cased the list of vendors, and thought I'd be in and out of there in a half hour..but it took me about a half hour just at the first booth - Melissa's bags - misocraftyknits. I snapped up 2 large sweater box bags, and a small zip bag.
zip bag:
Then, took pics to send to a friend in Chicago who was also lusting after a bag but didn't know for sure which one she wanted.
After that, I met up with a gal from my cpa swap group on rav who had brought me yarn I won in a lottery swap..a skein of Tri'Coterie Merino Tencel in Quoth the Raven, and a skein of BFL self-striping in White Walker:
so I did receive yarn and have yarn to squish through the show..but I didn't buy any there. I think that helped..just having yarn in my bag.
I also bought a pattern book Cascadia on behalf of someone in our group who couldn't go
I met up with Emma at Everything Old Crafts who showed me a lovely new BFL-silk blend which is dark, but soft and shiny. Next to her booth, I spotted bottles of Soak Wash, and replenished my supply with a large bottle of the Celebration scent.
I had planned to be tempted at Sweet Fiber, but she didn't bring the bases I was looking for - the cashmere dk, and the heirloom. Also, Sweet Georgia but there were only a few single skeins of the Merino Silk Fine..so nothing to buy. They did have knitted up swatches of the tough love sock..so that was interesting to see how some of the colorways looked. For some reason, the end booths didn't get as much light as the middle of the show, so the yarn was on the whole, hard to see.
I also picked up some business cards for a few booths where I'd was interested in getting a custom dye or other project:
Pokdej - interesting and compact interchangeable needle cases. These were about the size of a small book (~ 4" or 5" square) had little pockets for needles 4 to 10.5, and a mini notions cases included for $48.
Kattikloo - hand dyed yarns from Saltspring Island. This lady was the most laid-back i've ever seen. She didn't want me to buy yarn unless I was really interested in it (!) Turns out I fell in love with one color she had (which was red-pink-purples, no surprise there, on a base she didn't have it in.....Merino-Silk DK yarn was to die for...a very soft hand. All of her skeins were $25 which seemed very inexpensive for hand-dyed yarn.
Dragonfly Dyewerx - had some lovely fingering merino-silk in beautiful blues..but I resisted because I already have a lot of single skeins in my stash and didn't have plans (I know, weird for me, right?)
The organizers did a great job of making sure that people selling similar stuff were not co-located..but the booths were narrow and skinny which made it difficult to get into some of the booths.Melissa's was a bit challenging, for example, because the booth next to hers was pottery and I feared tipping any of it over. It was exhilarating seeing all the colors, and feeling the yarns...seeing friends.
Near 2:30pm (about 3 hours), I made it through all the booths, and had put my name in for the swag bag draw. I hadn't eaten since early morning. My Chicago friend got back to me about the bag..and I went back and purchased another large box bag from misocraftyknits to send to her:
Most of her bags were cleaned out by then..and lots of empty pegs. My feet hurt, and I'd been texting friends (former victoria bees who moved to vancouver) to meet up.
We walked back to the car, and then, went down the street to the an Indian Restaurant to meet for some food. My friends was just walking randomly down the road and found the place - Siddhartha's - it was amazing. I (and 2 friends) had the Meat Platter for $10.99, and 1 had the veggie platter. It was just the right amount of food and tasted really good. 3 little portions with rice, chicken, and naan on the side...and I had the masala chai which really hit the spot. They apparently do facebook discounts if you live locally.
After that, a short visit to Canterbury Bookstore up the street, and back to the ferry. I think I knit part of my right sleeve of audrey in unst. All in all, a fabulous day, great conversations and company, and saw some amazing yarns.
I think I'll plan to go next year again.
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