Vogue Knitting Live, Seattle/Bellevue Market, Day 3

Hello:

I thought I would get in one more post about some of the vendors and things that caught my eye in the Market at Vogue Knitting Live, Seattle Bellevue.

I wasn't really able to check out the Market until Sunday because I was pretty busy with my volunteering.  It wasn't that I did so many hours, but rather that the hours were spread out in such a way, that I only had limited breaks, and also, because on Saturday, I had to go from the Meydenbauer to the Hyatt rather quickly.  Then, since my last hour of volunteering was also at the Hyatt, with just a 2 hour break, and since it was raining, I didn't feel like hoofing the almost mile to the Meydenbaur and back.

My Sunday volunteer job was to work at the doors of the Market from 12:30 to 2:00pm, so I got to the Meydenbauer at about 10 am, and spent 2 hours walking around checking out the booths.  This was not enough time to really get a good look.  The shorter time kept me from spending too much, however.

I didn't spend too much time looking at yarn.  Many of the booths were what I would call local, as in they were from the immediate Seattle/Bellevue area.  There were also many booths that were familiar to me from last year's North Puget Sound LYS Tour.  Since there will be 2 LYS tours in May, South Sound followed one week later by North Sound, I didn't really bother to check out any of the booths I will see on the tour.

Rather, I spent my time in the booths that represented shops from out of state, or those that were selling "other" stuff.

I went back to the Art Exhibits, and spent time crocheting a neon square to add to Suzanne Tidwell's installation.

I also stopped by the knitted glass exhibit. Carol Milne is the artist.  I just wanted to post a few more photos of her art because it is really beautiful.

High Desert Fiberworks featured angora rabbit fur.  By "featured," I mean, they had angora blend yarns for sale, as well as bunnies on display.

I even got to watch them cut one of the bunny's fur.

I stopped to check out Tess' Designer Yarns.

Much of their yarns on display were shades of grays or included grays.  The pieces they had to show how the yarn knit up were amazing.

I enjoyed the chance to check out some Japanese stitch dictionaries at the Kinokuniya Book Stores booth.  I picked up two crochet books, and am now teaching myself how to read crochet symbols.

I stopped at the Churchmouse Yarn and Teas booth just to stalk Jared Flood.  I think he was on to me though, and I could not get a good stealth shot of him.

One other vender really caught my eye.  Meg Hannan of Rag Sky Art Studio  makes what she calls "Fabric Jewels."

They are pins, earrings, and just art.

She described her process,

and let me take photos of her art -in-the-making.

I enjoyed talking to her, and just loved her work.

As for my own knitting, I did have one very fun story from the  convention.  I was working on the Braveheart socks while I did my various volunteer jobs.  The last day, while I was sitting at the door of the Market, checking badges and wristbands, I had someone ask me if the pattern for the socks was available.  I was very flattered.  It almost made me feel like a designer.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world from Bellevue, WA

Vogue Knitting Live Seattle/Bellevue Fashion Shows

Hello:

Round 4 of Sock Madness still has not started, and I thought I had better get in a few posts as soon as possible since it is overdue and once it begins, I will be all socks, all the time.  I was not able to finish my posts about Vogue Knitting Live, Seattle Bellevue because of the last Round, so this post will be about my day 2 at the event.

Saturday at Vogue Knitting Live, I was assigned to help during the free fashion shows that ran in the afternoon on the stage in the Market.  This was a super fun volunteer position, and I would love to do this again.

We met in the back stage area 30 minutes before the first show.  The models were there (they used professional local models), getting their hair and make up done.

They had four  "shows" scheduled for the afternoon, so all of the knitwear was organized on racks and in bags by show around the back area.

Everything was numbered in the order it would appear in each show.  There were 8 models and 8 dressers. We each had a model to dress and undress.  Here is my model:

The models were given black leggings and simple long sleeve black T-shirts to wear under the knitwear, as well as freaky high-heeled black shoes.

The first show was "Laura Bryant & Prism Friends."  The clothes were just amazing.  They were all from the new book, Artful Color, Mindful Knits, by Laura Bryant and featured Prism Yarns.

There were so many things that I found funny/interesting about these fashion shows that have to do with the fact that they featured not only knits, but hand knits that were made to sell a pattern and the yarn - not the clothes themselves.  Mostly, the announcers for each, Laura Bryant announced her show, focused a lot on the yarn used, and how the patterns are able to be sized, etc, and the skill levels needed to make them.  It seemed so different from what I imagine a normal fashion show patter would be.

The knitwear was simply amazing. Each model had at least 3 changes, so we got them in their first runway items, then prepped the 2nd, ready to strip them down to the blacks, re-dress them, put away the first items, prep the 3rd, as quickly as possible.  The speed was not so necessary as the models walked up and down and up and down and up and down the short runway while Laura described the stitches, dye process, etc., but I discovered at the end, that I could slip out and watch the show in between changes if I was fast.

We dressed the models in the first items, and the reaction backstage was so funny.  The girls hadn't really understood what they would be modeling.  Their jaws dropped at the gorgeous knits.  The hair and makeup crew stared in amazement.

One of them said, "I need to learn how to knit." It was dark and a bit frantic for the first show, so I didn't get good photos, but I managed to run out for my model's last run and get a few runway shots.

It was so cool how the patterns were really made to use the specific yarn color repeats in such an artful way.  This is one more runway photo of a different model.  Sorry it is so bad, but I had to give you one more look at another piece from this collection.

In between the 2 shows where I was assigned to dress models, there was a quick fashion show of Steampunk knitwear from Needles and Artifice by the Ladies of Mischief.   As far as I could tell, they were modeling their own designs, or had friends doing the modeling.

The show stopper for this collection was the Null Hypothesis Scarf by Katrina Elsaesser.  It is double knit with no pattern repeats for the entire scarf.

The next show featured Koigu yarns and designs from Koigu Magazines.

This show had some blankets.  Yes, the models just wore blankets wrapped around themselves.  There also were pants and a few skirts.  In the photo above, #5 is pants.

As in the first collection, the clothes were designed to showcase the yarns.

The shows were a huge success and from what I could see in the limited time I spent running out to take photos while not undressing/dressing my model, everyone loved them.  Honestly, I heard gasps from the audience as some of the knitwear appeared, and people saying things like, "I really want to knit THAT."

I think that if I were planning a knitting convention, I would try to have some type of fashion show.  Even the steampunk show, which did not feature professional models, was really fun to watch.

I am still knitting the never ending legs of the Braveheart socks.  I am a bit more than half way finished with the pattern part.

For normal socks, I would be finished, and ready for the ribbed cuffs, but since the Doc likes longer legs, I still have at least 1 or 2 days of knitting ahead of me on these.

I should never have knit the first pair of socks I made for him to 9 inches.  He would have thought 7 inches was fine...

O, well. I took a break yesterday to knit up some swatches for the Eastside Knitters Guild meeting tonight.  There will be a lesson on shoulder seaming, and I had to knit 8 small swatches for the class.  They are soaking right now, and I need to block them so they will be dry in time.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with 4 inches of legs.

Fiber ... Saturday

Hello:

I'm catching up on the last 2 days.

Thursday
Thursdays have become really crazy busy for me, and in a wonderful way.  I started my Sewing Lab class at Lake Washington Institute of Technology 2 weeks ago.  This class is every Thursday morning from 9 - noon (with the lab open until 1 pm for those who want to stay.)  The way the class works is basically, there are lots of great sewing machines, sergers, work spaces, cutting tables, dress forms, etc. available.  If you need help with anything, especially fitting, you write your name on the list on the white board, and the teacher floats around the room helping and answering questions in order.  So far, I have been using the time to work on project bags. 

The current bag has run into a horrible snag, however.  I fell victim to the "Just one more row" syndrome.  And by that I mean, I wanted to quickly finish up one more part before leaving for the day, then made a huge mistake that will have to be ripped out.  Luckily, it was not a cutting error.  A sewing error should be easier to fix.

I'm making this circular bottom bag. 

It will have exterior pockets,

and a drawstring closure.  I'm adding piping around the bottom and between the fabric color changes. 

So, what was the mistake?  I sewed the bottom circle to the top of the exterior piece, so the pockets are upside down. 

Ugh!  And I did such a nice job of sewing the two pieces together with the piping.  Oh well, as I said, this is fixable.

I rush home from Sewing Lab, put a dinner in the oven with the timer (I LOVE MY OVEN) set to start cooking later, eat a quick lunch and head out to the local middle school where I meet with the 8th Grader I am tutoring in Algebra 1.  She is just a delightful girl.  When we finish, I drive the mile to the local high school where I help out in the Math Credit Recovery Class.  This is a class where students who have failed a semester of any high school math course can retake that semester at their own pace.  They are given packets for each chapter, then a chapter exam.  If they pass the test, they receive the next chapter, and so on, until they have completed the work for the failed semester.  They get full credit if they pass, and the grade they earned in the Credit Recovery Class will appear on their transcripts.  I walk around the room helping anyone who is stuck.  It is VERY challenging for me as the course work ranges from Algebra to Geometry to Algebra II to Pre-Calculus.  I have not done Geometry for a very long time.  I have been bringing the Braveheart socks in a small project bag with me, and am able to knit as I move  around between the rows of desks with the bag dangling from my wrist.  The kids seem fascinated by this.

I run home when the class ends, take the dinner from the oven where it is finished and on WARM.  Eat quickly, then run out again, often waiving at the Doc who is just coming home from work, and head out to our neighborhood's Club.  I meet with my neighborhood stitching group for a few hours of stitching.  The group is very small, and there are often only two of us.  But, as usual with stitching groups, it is just wonderful.  There is something so relaxing and enjoyable about sitting around a table knitting.  I love getting to know these neighbors over fiber. 

VanesaPolo, I have a funny story about the Sewing Lab for you.  A young man came in this week wearing a sweatshirt with the sleeves torn out and asked if someone could "fix" it.  The only student who knew how to use the serger was Emily.  She set it up, serged around the armholes while the boy hovered over her every move.  He seemed particularly surprised that the thread "matched."  He was really pleased with the job, thanked her and left, a very happy customer.  Everyone in the class laughed and told Emily that she should have done a bad job.  They joked that he will probably write on a bathroom wall that "torn clothes can be fixed for free at the sewing lab," and we will all be deluged with students requesting repairs.

Friday
With Redbird1 gone to the East Coast, and VanesaPolo out of town, our Fiber Friday group has become quite small.  When Skeinherder texted me that she was feeling too sick to knit (That is super sick), I knew it might just be CathieC and me, but again, stitching with just two gives a great opportunity to get to know each other better. 

I got to Crossroads at about 9 and stitched by myself.  I had to drink coffee from Crossroads Cafe instead of tea from the Hulk.  We have gotten good at letting members know when we can't make it to stitching, so I was pretty sure that CathieC was going to show up at some point, and I was making good progress on the Braveheart socks.  This was especially true as I did not have cats to let out and in, and I couldn't play on Ravelry while knitting.

Someone joined me at the table at about 10, but it wasn't CathieC.  It was the woman who had stopped by last week as we were all knitting.  I didn't ask her if I could mention her in the Blog, so I will wait to use her name, but we had a great time getting to know each other.  She was working on a very sweet baby blanket.  Then CathieC came, and it just got better.  She was working on her potato chip scarf, which is getting nice and long. 

After the new person left, CathieC and I started discussing the "homework" for the Eastside Knitters Guild meeting this coming Monday.  We decided to head out to Pacific Fabrics to buy some Cascade 220 yarn for the necessary swatches, a nice light color and a good contrast since we are learning shoulder seaming.  The Bellevue Pacific Fabrics has a very small yarn section, but they carry Cascade, and so, are a close quick stop for that workhorse yarn. 

I left CathieC using the swift and Yarn Winder when my daughter, Moogie, texted me that she had a paper due that needed some quick editing.
 
I knit a bit more, but spent most of the evening trying to recreate a square that I hooked earlier in the week for the 1st Anniversary afghan.  Of course I hadn't taken notes as I designed the square, but I really like how it came out, and wanted to write up the pattern.  I made a few revisions, but have the pattern finished, and ready for testing.  

Since I made a Costco run earlier this week, and picked up supplies for Allifer, I might make her do the test hook as payment.  That seems like a fair trade.

I am still waiting for the next round in Sock Madness to begin.  I hope to make some real progress on the Braveheart socks today, at least 3 inches on the legs.  I have closed the gussets,

so now, it is just around and around until they are long enough.  The Doc likes his socks to be 9 in in the legs, eek!, so I better get to work.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with a new square.