Stitches West 2019

Last Saturday, I went to Stitches West 2019 with my quilting and crocheting friend Renée. It is geared more toward knitters than crocheters, but yarn is yarn is yarn is yarn and in the 90,015 square feet in the combined front and back halls of the Santa Clara Convention Center, there was a lot to look at.

Halls A and B were referred to as the FRONT HALL in the Stitches West 2019 brochure; Halls C and D were called the BACK HALL. They are shown in dark gray in the next diagram. Imagine walking around over two acres of yarn, notions, patterns, sample fashion items on display, buttons, trim, tools, bags, etc.. We began making our way through the FRONT HALL from left to right, breaking for lunch and wound down by making our way through the BACK HALL from right to left. I reviewed my purchases pretty much in the order I made them

In the leftmost aisle of the FRONT HALL, the first we went down, I managed to spend about $90 on three items. The booths I bought from – 107, 115, 117 – are outlined in a bold red. I realized at this rate I would be broke and I needed to pace myself. My purchases from the FRONT HALL were a fanny pack, some ruffled trim, and some discontinued yarn.

My first purchase after barely getting in the door was a fanny pack, for future show going of course. It came from booth 107 Tropic Treasure. Unlike many packs I have owned and rarely wear because they are too small to be useful, this is large enough and well designed. A pouch pocket on the front is thick enough that it can hold my glass cases; two zippered pockets on the front and back are large and deep enough to hold money, credit cards, tissues, and a cell phone. A sliding pouch along the belt portion will hold keys. It was $32 but I think well made and cleverly implemented, not to mention great looking.

Next up was a booth of vintage items called the 115 Peacock Collection. This ruffled edging from the 1970s with multicolored embroidery will be great on a dress or blouse for granddaughters. I got 3½ yards for $5.

My third impulse buy (as were the first two) was this lovely, coral-colored, flat ribbon-like cotton yarn by Lana Grossa called Primavera. The booth was 117 Discontinued Yarns.com and so it sold for half price. I got five skein at $11 each. 

Plus I was given a complimentary free pattern brochure with six options. I liked the front cover option but the Poncho (2), Pullover (5), and Shawl (6) were not my favorites. 

I want to make either the Jacket (3), a combination of knit and crochet, or the Pullover (4) which is knit sideways. I am short one skein of yarn for the jacket (my first choice) and have enough for the pullover but the booth vendor Craig graciously e-mailed me the very next day with alternate shops that might have more. I phoned the first one and success! I am having more sent to me.

I managed to wend my way through the remaining aisles of the FRONT HALL booths 103 through 1025 with no further purchases – other than a snack midway for sustenance. After a pause for lunch, and to get off our feet, Renée and I began to work our way down the BACK HALL starting at the high numbered booths on the right toward the lower numbered booths on the left  – booths 1143 through 628. I bought items at seven booths, those bordered in bold red.

  

This was probably my biggest splurge at the show – a Nantucket Diddy Bagg from the 1436 The Nantucket Bagg Co. My husband and I have some upcoming travel and this bag fascinated me.

It is made out of a sturdy duck canvas, has 36 storage pockets which can be either on the inside or the outside depending on how you zip up the bag. It can accessed from top or bottom or side, can be totally unzipped to lay out flat in a hotel room or for packing as an extra sack. It can be slung cross body, carried as a tote or worn as a back pack. You really need to watch the demo video at https://nantucketbagg.com/see-our-bag/. I was impressed watching the the vendor display it multi functions and multi configurations. Since I plan to use it for travel I do not really have to count its $99 cost as part of my knitting hobby, do I? Though it would great for carrying hanks of yarn in the main body and needles or instructions in some of those many pockets.

 At 1438 Knitting on the Fringe I bought three sets of adorable sheep stitch markers. One for  me and the other two as gifts.  The top card has half blue sheep and half white sheep. The other two cards are either all black sheep or all blue sheep. At $10 each they make a reasonably priced present. Before gifting, I may redistribute them as one white, two black, and three blue per card so everyone has a choice based on the yarn color of her current project.

I picked up this cute little $3 gadget at 1334 Hue Loco LLC. It is called a Needle Wrangler® and will be great for keeping stitches from slipping off the tips of a circular knitting needle when the project is set aside and not being worked on. There are many color choices; I picked purple because my circular and double pointed knitting needles cases are purple. You can check it out at https://www.tempestryproject.com/wholesale-needle-wranglers/.

A simple but cute sweater pattern for little girls caught my eye at 1239 YOTH Yarns. The Little Sister pattern designed by Kate Oates is garter stitch and ribbing only, but it is knit in all one piece so there are no pesky assembly seams to deal with after the fun part of knitting. With three granddaughters I had to have it. It comes in sizes 6 mos, 12 mos, 2 yrs, 4yrs, 6 yrs ,and 8 yrs all for the bargain price of $6. 

Later, when I was reading the pattern, I noticed it said there was also a Big Sister option available. I went back to the booth and asked where it was. The clerk said, "Let me take you to it. She led me to another woman and introduced her saying, "This is Kate Oates the designer. She will help you." Wow! Such service! Kate talked me through the unique construction of the sweater and you could tell she was very proud of it. Naturally I bought the Big Sister version for $7. Maybe I will make mom and daughter matching ensembles. Oh my, I am getting very ambitious! What is that old saying? Perhaps "My eyes are bigger than my stomach."

Renée and I stopped at a book booth 932 XRX Books. We expected it to be more extensive than it was, but I did pick up this book about knitting for $11 - less than the Amazon price and I checked!

An excerpt from the front flap reads

• Good knitting writing evokes the dazed excitement of planning a project and choosing the yarn, the frustrations of struggling when something doesn't turn out right, the thrill of creation and completion – and also the emotional patterns and tangles that bind us as families. Be forewarned, then: this book contains no projects. It's just writing about knitting – about how it matters and why it matters and how it fits into life, fits into the times in which we live, connects the knitter with family and friends.

This concept meshed well with what my friend and I were discussing at the show. We are amazed  at how large the turnout of customers was and they were not only those who fit the stereotype of little old lady grandmas sitting in their rocking chair knitting. I lot of very young women were there all excited and inspired by what they saw.

I had been on a the lookout for an organizer for my crochet hooks. I had bought della Q organizers for my circular and double pointed knitting needles and they had worked out well. I wrote about them in my post for 1/28/2019.  I found the della Q booth but the vendor did not have the crochet hook organizer I wanted at the show. I found a perfectly good substitute at 928 Purrfectly Catchy Designs for $20. The case was made of a rough sturdy canvas, not the more aesthetically pleasing satiny fabric of the della Q cases, but it was also less expensive.

Hook numbers were printed on canvas and and did not have the fancy silky stitched in labels of the della Q designs but I am pleased. I put my crochet hooks in it when I got home. The mess of packaging above the hooks is what I can now toss. Also this method of organized storage reveals at a glance what sizes I do not have and the sizes for which I have duplicates and triplicates.

Then I found another snap case of crochet hooks that had been my mom's in all those itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny sizes. I added them to the canvas organizer (but did not take another photo). My mom crocheted entire lacy, pineapple-patterned tablecloths for our huge round dining room table in my childhood home with these sizes and fine cotton thread. I doubt I will ever have the patience or desire to do such meticulous, time consuming work, but I filed away the hooks none the less. They will make me think of her whenever I open the organizer; she would laugh that the organizing case is called The Hooker.

I discarded the clear covered hard case on the right. I had bought that set for myself many many years ago. The cover was cracked and it was alway difficult to extract the hooks. I also found a better use for the yellow snap case that had been my mom's. It is perfect for my rotary cutter and will get used often.

Also at the  booth I bought a roll of highlighter tape. I had never heard of this. Is is sort of a vinyl strip that works like sticky notes. I can place it on my instructions and move it down line by line or paragraph by paragraph as I am working. It is transparent. I am guessing it will work as well for marking my place in recipes or for marking a repetitive cutting line on quilting rulers. Since it is reusable I think the $4 I spent on it will go a long, long way. It sells on Amazon for $6.89 and you can read reviews about it at this link.

My final stop of the day was at a booth that sold vintage buttons, 727 Buttons! I bought the large pink ones that are all the same color but different shapes for $3. The red firework ones were a bit pricier at $14 but I can just picture them setting off a yellow or orange knit cardigan.

The show ran from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm and I think we were there approximately 10:30 am - 5:30.pm. We tuckered ourselves out, but Renée was still smiling as we left.

When I left home in the morning for this show I had said to my husband, "This is not a quilt show so I will not be spending a lot and coming home with a ton of fabric. The yarn will be really expensive (and most of it was) and how fast can I knit anyway? I am just really curious how much hype you can have about yarn. I will probably pick up a few notions and merely enjoy the day's outing socializing." I did buy only one batch of yarn and it was really unique and half price.

If you are nerdy enough to be adding up my expenditures I will save you the trouble. With the $10 admission it came to $300. But I do not think the fanny pack or the Nantucket Diddy Bagg should count since they are future travel expenses and were almost half the total. Don't you agree?