There is really so much to say I'm not sure if I can squeeze it in on one blog post- so there are going to be more than 1!
I actually had a choice, between Vogue Knitting in New York and Seattle at Christmas, but the NYC event was fast approaching and many of the classes were sold out. Plus, husband suggested he and Parker could come to Seattle with me and keep themselves entertained while I socialized with the knitters. I ultimately chose Seattle because I could have my choice, essentially, of classes. I signed myself up for a "Fantastic Finishing class" on Friday afternoon with Amy Herzog and a "25 Tips and Tricks" class with Candace Eisner-Strick all day Saturday. I also bought a 3 day marketplace access because "OMG YARN."
On Friday afternoon husband dropped me off, and I, armed with my pre-knit swatches, checked in to the event.
What I really love about knitting events is the way that random knitting groups just pop up in a huge conference center. I walked in and there were little pods of people knitting everywhere- likely waiting for their classes to begin. While I'm not as out-going as I'd like, I didn't just introduce myself and join in, but it was nice to be surrounded by "my people".
Amy Herzog's Fantastic Finishing class was really great. It's not sexy, but knowing proper ways to pick up stitches, the proper way to seam and graph together pieces is really critical to how a finished piece is going to look. I want my piece to look awesome- taking Amy's class is certainly going to get me a lot closer to make awesome knit garmets. (Look a swatch in the wild!)
My only regret is that I didn't take even more of Amy's classes. She's got her stuff well laid out but after spending 2 hours with her, you feel like you have only scratched the surface of the stuff she knows, and I wish I had opted to take more time with her classes and really get into the knitty gritty of great sweater design/finishing. After class I was practically BUZZING with anticipation of checking out the marketplace. YARN. OMG YARN. Unfortunately for me, my class ended at 4, but the Marketplace didn't open until 5, I had some time to kill. I'm glad I lined up when I did... because apparently I wasn't the only one buzzing with "OMG YARN" excitement.
The Marketplace did not disappoint- but that's a whole blog post in itself- which I promise I will write up very soon. Spoiler Alert- it was awesome.
After a spin through the marketplace and a brief fangirl moment over Jared Flood and Vicki Howell, (both of whom I was too chicken to go over and tell them how I've read their blogs and knit their patterns) I decided not to make any purchases util my next day. (HOLY RESTRAINT BATMAN!)
Saturday morning I woke up early and got myself out to Bellvue to go to the conference. Vogue Knitting Seattle is not actually in Seattle. This is annoying. Bellvue was about 25 minutes from my hotel, or a $40 cab ride... The Meydenbauer center is actually a really REALLY nice conference center - but I really wish the event was in Seattle proper. As someone who stayed in downtown Seattle, it was a pain to get out to Bellvue. (I'm sure others would argue it's a pain to get into the city- but I'm sure I'm not the only one who had a few logistics issues trying to get to and from the conference while also attempting to be a tourist.)
After a stop at Starbucks over run by knitters, I, like a keener, took a seat in the front row of Candace Eisner Strick's class 25 Tips and Tricks. Candace was charming and lovely, and really seems to know her stuff. She's obviously taught this class a lot, and knew exactly how to get her students to learn things. Even though it blew my mind a little bit, learning how to knit and purl backwards was pretty damn cool. I also enjoyed getting hands on lesson in cabling without a needle- which just makes me want to knit something with a lot of cables so I can capitalize on this time saver immediately.
My only complaint about this class, (and it is NOT the fault of the teacher) is that I wish the Vogue Knitting outline had outlined all of the tips and tricks we were learning. Out of the 25- I knew 20 of them. :-( Frustrating. I still learned something new and enjoyed myself, but had I known what the class covered, I'd probably would have opted to take something that covered something I knew less about.
Overall- I really enjoyed my time at Vogue Knitting. It was remarkably well organized and the people working the event were very cheerful and helpful.
(Oh Vogue Knitting, it's like you read my mind)
I would definately attend this event again, and would probably try to fill my schedule even more full of classes. I hope that I would remember that I need to be challenged and really feel like I'm learning something new- so that next time I'll dive into something really out of the box for me. Whenever I take a class I'm always thinking to myself "why don't I do this more?!"
Stay Tuned.... there's plenty of yarn to see.....
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