Yawn. or, &((*)_%^##@
(My entire post was just deleted! Let me curse some more *)*^%%##@!!!)
I’m quoting Chris with the title. Except the cursing part. That’s all me.
Anyway, I was saying that it was in the cards for me to go to Stitches West today. I had very little traffic, and made it the 26 miles South to Santa Clara in about 25 minutes. I had bought online tickets for 2 days just in case there was a long ticket line, but there wasn’t. I had a star sighting. (Okay, it isn’t much, but I love seeing people from TV.)
First of all, it was extremely poorly organized, at least for someone who hadn’t studied the map beforehand to make a beeline to specific stalls. I happened upon Ellen’s Half Pint Farm really easily, which was great, because it was my favorite yarn purchase from last year’s Stitches. I found my favorite colorway, Eclipse, but the yarn was $110-140 and I didn’t feel comfortable spending that much at one time, even if it is enough for a whole garment. (I heard Ellen telling another customer this.) Ellen has jumped on the sock bandwagon, and had a collection of sock yarn facing out of the booth. I almost bought some sock yarn until someone pointed out to me that it was sock yarn (wool and tencel, I think) and then it just didn’t look that good to me.
On a related note, #1 on a list of “6 Weird Things About Me” would have to be:
1. I hate to do anything when it becomes popular. If it’s popular, it turns me off just because it’s popular. I knit socks. I enjoy knitting socks. But I’m tired of seeing sock yarn everywhere and hearing about socks everywhere. I really hoped that 2007 would be “the year of” something else, since 2006 had been “the year of the sock”.
So, back to Stitches. So as I vainly attempted to figure out where I had been before and where was a new row of booths, I found a number of places. I was disappointed about the vast number of LYSs that were represented. Not just local LYSs, but LYSs from all over the country. I’d prefer to go to a show and buy yarn I can’t get somewhere else. Unless it’s extremely cheap, but I didn’t get the feeling anything was that cheap, and also I felt guilty buying tons of yarn even if it were cheap since I have so much at home.
There were a number of booths of yarn (and other products) sellers that weren’t LYSs, but nothing called out to me. I used to buy anything red or black, but now I’m pickier and am looking for a good colorway and/or something I can’t get easily anywhere else. My finances and yarn closet only stretch so much. I even deigned to visit the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth (see #1 above, I hate Socks that Rock), but none of the nice colorways I’ve seen online were there.
Disappointment #2 or 3, wherever I am, was Carolina Homespun. This is a local yarn store (I think - they’re in San Francisco, but I don’t think they specialize in yarn, more spinning. I haven’t ever gone to their store in person) where I bought the bulk of my Stitches West 2006 Haul. They usually have a set of bins with discounted yarn. Last year they had tons of gorgeous yarn, and it was a deal where you got a bigger discount if you bought 12 skeins. This year there was a much smaller selection and only two skeins I considered buying. They were 25% off. I just changed my mind before buying.
So I circled the market a few times, passing LYS after LYS, even the olive oil seller a few times, when I decided to just pack it in. Maybe I wasn’t in a buying mode, I don’t know. But I’m not sure if I’ll bother going back for my second day pass. If I do, it quite possibly will be for that $110 Ellen’s Half Pint Farm yarn. It is gorgeous!
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Oh, you’re making me want to skip it entirely. That’s pretty much how I found the last SW in Oakland. I went through the whole thing in 45 minutes and saw exactly one yarn I considered buying - but I could buy it almost anywhere around here anyway for the same price.
Isn’t 1/20/09 the date of the next inaguration for Pres of the USA? If that is the significance, then I’d say the wish is evident; hope for change.
I hear you about the popular stuff! This year is the year of the sock for me, but only because I put it off last year, and now I have to bite the bullet. I love socks, they’re fun and fast and reasonably engaging and complicated for their size, which is very portable. All of this is true. But I don’t quite reach the same heights of ecstasy as some people do at the mention of sock knitting.
How disappointing! But on the plus side, you didn’t spend any money…
I think every year is the year of the sock for me. I just love wearing handknt socks all winter… and I find it a lot easier to fit them accuately than sweaters.
Well, I felt that the crowds were insane, and the organization of the market made absolutely no sense. I did buy some yarn though, and some roving.
hmmm. I had the same experience in that I ended up at Ellen’s half pint and balked at spending $140 right out of the gate. I still ended getting a ton of yarn though
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[...] Remember way back when when there was a meme going around with 6 weird things about everyone? Well, you might also remember that I couldn’t think of 6 right off the bat (although I knew there were way more than 6 weird things about me), so I added them piecemeal. Numbers one and two are about my, let’s just say “issues” with anything popular and trendy. I just came across one or two more and thought you were on the edge of your seat, so here goes: [...]