Vogue Knitting Live - Part 2 I'm Just Here For The Yarn

As promised, let's discuss the real reason we all wanted me to go to Vogue Knitting.  Yaaaaaaaarn.

OH MY GOSH the yarn.  *sighs happy dreamy sigh*

I could just probably present you all of these pictures without comment and we could just all agree that Vogue Knitting was WORTH IT for the yarn alone.  There was so much pretty stuff!  BUT, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun without a little bit of my yakking... so we will carry on.

You need to know that I MADE myself go and touch every skein of yarn I had in my stash before I went.  Like physically touch and think about every skein.  I know that's silly but I wanted to be sure yarn fumes didn't take me over and I came home with a) 20 skeins of the same thing I already have and b) I only bought what I really REALLY wanted to have.  My stash is shrinking a little at a time, and I didn't want to lose that momentum.  So with that in the back of my head... I entered the Marketplace.

The really great thing about the Marketplace is that there's just so much to see.  I probably did about 2 laps to cover the entire place before I really even allowed myself to consider buying anything.  (My pre-stash excercise was a really REALLY good thing for me to do.)

(Hello knitting mob)

One of the lovely things about this Marketplace was the way yarn was displayed.  COLOR.  COLOR everywhere!

   

(I'm sure at some points I was literally openly salivating in people's shops.... I'm embarressed for me.)

These are just random "oooo pretty" shots of the yarn I was seeing.  A lot of these shops were independent dyers and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to buy one of everything.  (Seriously.... I deserve a medal.)

There was so much more to take in too- yarn ART installations!

   

I gotta admit, the weird shot of the people in the knit bodysuits totally weirded me out... but I don't get a lot of art, so I'm the wrong person to make comments here.

There was even angora rabbits being sheared for their fiber.  (I love LOVE angora rabbits, they're so ridiculous looking I can't help but laugh.)

(He's so fluffy!)

It was particularly well behaved of me to not buy 9000000 skeins of this yarn.  Thankfully the cost was high and I decided I couldn't really come up with something that I would make and get use out of.

The booth that was eventually my undoing was Black Trillium Fibers.  Maybe it was the display?

OH it was so pretty.  But, what really got my attention was their gradient kits.

I loved the idea.  So many times I've tried to do this kind of color combination piecing together like yarns and not coming up with what I wanted.  I agonized over what color gradient I would buy.  I would have bought them all if I hadn't been trying to be so good.  SO PRETTY.

Once I bought my gradient kit I really just felt the flood gates open.  And here's what I ended up with.



Yeah- not too bad hey?  Aside from the purple gradient, I bought the white and red (from Little Knits) for my Stampede project (spoiler alert!) and the green Hazel Knits sock yarn is for my mother in law- who I really missed at the marketplace- I felt she needed to a souvenir and I had my friend help me pick it out. (!!!!!  I finally met Rebecca whom I've been nattering away at on Twitter since we both had our kids in 2011.  She was awesome and met me at the marketplace and shopped with me and GAH- that's practically a blog post in itself- but I'll never get around to writing it, so just fair to say- she was awesome and I'm so glad we got to meet and our kids even peacefully coexisted at the zoo for a few minutes in order to take a photo!  It was great and I really REALLY hope we can meet up again, she was all kinds of nice and fun.)  The purple is a Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL sport weight.  The yardage is healthy (600 yards!) and I hope to turn it into a sweater someday.

I was really pleased with the representation of yarns from indie dyers.  I loved the selection.  My one gripe was, aside from Lion Brand Yarns, there was no representation from the "big companies" there.  Maybe something from Cascade?  Where were you Webs?  I was sad those people weren't there.... but I guess it can't always be exactly what you want.  I was also disappointed by the lack of gadgetry.  (Or possibly I have all the latest gadgetry.... but I just refuse to believe that.)  I was really hoping there would be more doo-dads and gadgets because I would have bought them all.  (Maybe it's good it wasn't there.)

In general I was very, very happy with the selection and enjoyed my time at the Marketplace thoroughly.  Overall Vogue Knitting was awesome and I would totally, TOTALLY go again.  (Totally)  But this has also opened my brain to other possibilities.... so if my husband asks, next year... maybe STITCHES West?

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That covers Vogue Knitting (I hope....) I promise there will be in "in progress" and actual project updates soon.  My Stampede design has been eating up a lot of my spare knitting time and I'm still not a place where I'm 100% happy with my design.  The design process has taken WAAAAAAAY longer than I had anticipated it to.  I'm just glad I started when I did!