TKGA

Turns out there was a reason why I was so tired to the point where I couldn't even sit and knit. I picked up a virus that ended up giving me a bit of a chest cold. So the promise of posting on Thursday didn't pan out -- I was being a good kid and resting. Not even knitting. Thank goodness I had my set of Ken Burns' "Baseball" from when it was originally broadcast. I didn't have to deal with awful daytime TV.

So, TKGA's Knit and Crochet show. I was very happy with the classes and the vendors were very tempting. But I was a little disappointed in what we got in our goody bags. Granted there were a lot of people, but giving out what looks like leftovers from cheap yarn overproduction doesn't win over the knitters who like to work with good yarn. I think I'll be overdyeing the neon yellow kitchen cotton yarn and the sock yarn will probably go towards making distaffs for OFFF. I guess the 14 inch Light Up needles are also a slow seller because they were giving away boatloads of them.

Okay, enough snark. I did come away from the convention with good information and learned two techniques from two very good teachers. My Saturday class was in Austrian twisted stitches (aka Bavarian twisted stitches). Candace Eisner Strick was the instructor and guided us with a gentle but firm hand. She was pleased with the students catching on to the method so quickly and had a great time. It helped that one student who had taken a class from her the day before brought Candace Moonstruck chocolate. Candace was terribly jetlagged and in need of support, especially after telling us that Cat Bordhi in a fey mood took the banana out of her suitcase while Candace was waiting for the hotel elevator. Those darn sock knitters! I was a bad blogger that day though, forgetting my camera, so you can't see the incredible socks that an Austrian woman Candace met in her travels in Europe knit for her out of crochet cotton. At lunch, I and Sarah (a fellow classmate who recognized me from Yarn Harlot this spring) met up with Bobbie and we hit House of Louie for dim sum. I was definitely in need of nourishment so we didn't waste time. The carts kept coming and coming. You don't walk away hungry from House of Louie.

Sunday's class was Faroese Shawls with Joan Schrouder. I had taken her Orenburg Shawl class and loved her teaching, so I was looking forward to hearing her lessons on doing Faroese shawls. That type of shawl has shoulder shaping and a center panel in the back so that it doesn't slide off so readily as basic triangle shawls tend to do.

Judy, Cindy, Michelle and I were there from the Knitbloggers, Michelle sitting next to me with lovely balls of alpaca laceweight to play with. I had Cascade 220 so that I could see the shaping stitches in my sample. It was a full class of folks with different levels of skills, so those of us who were catching on easily were busy helping out those who were struggling. Joan took it all in stride and by the end of the class we had sample shawls to show.

Mine fit one of my sheep at the office perfectly.