Stitches Midwest 2010 edition

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Can you name the two people in this photo, taken at Stitches Midwest in Schaumburg IL?

So, let's review some of the hotel room amenities. Can you identify the $4.00 bottle of water in this photo? (HINT: It is in a CLEAR GLASS BOTTLE, and it doesn't even hold as much as the metal water bottle I generally haul around with me...)

Find the TV hidden inside the bathroom mirror:

Weird to turn on the bathroom light and have the TV automatically turn on at the same time... I have never seen anything like it before...

Okay, so onward to the business at hand. My goal, to accomplish before next summer, is to complete the two shawls I have on my needles right now AND knit three of the projects I purchased materials for at the Stitches Marketplace.

First up, a necklace/bracelet wire/bead knitting kit. I've never knit with wire before, and the store samples were just sooo pretty. I selected a kit having silver wire and beads that are pearl and quartz:

Since it was way too hot to be wearing hand knit sweaters or socks today, perhaps next year at this time I will sport my new necklace, just so that I am wearing *something* handknit to the big show :-)

Next up is four skeins of Kauni yarn to knit the Kauni Cardigan which was so popular a couple of years ago. (As is typical, I'm a little bit behind the craze...) I selected colors which were a little more subdued than the rainbow version, and you can't see how the color changes within the skein by looking at this photo, but I'll wind them into "cakes" and then show you the grays, blacks, and lighter blues which phase in and out throughout the lengths of yarn. Also note my new shawl pin in this photo:
I also selected another triangle shawl pattern, which uses a construction I haven't tried before. I like this pattern because it starts at the tip of the triangle at the bottom of the shawl, and works up from there in horizontal rows. That way, I can use a skein of sock yarn (which I already have in my stash) and just stop knitting when I am about to run out of yarn at the top edge:
Finally, a copy of the Cassidy pattern. It is unlikely that I'll make this sweater during the coming year, but I prefer to have the pattern in this hard copy, card stock format (versus purchasing it online at the Chic Knits site and receiving a pdf file of it to print out on separate sheets...).

So, great companionship (and was fun to meet your knitting cronies), fun shopping, and a nice change of scenery for me yesterday and today! Now, back to reality and putting together a grocery list so that I can go shopping and get ready for the coming week... I hope that you have a great week!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)