Knitter's Connection 2008

Knitter's Connection was almost a month ago and I still haven't gotten around to blogging about it! Suffice it to say, it was a wonderful treat. I took classes with some of the creme de la creme of the knitting world ... not that my knitting has improved that much ... but it was fun!

First, I had a class with Sally Melville called "First Choices/Basic Shapes" in which her basic theme was DON'T follow the pattern. We covered ways to alter patterns to fit the wearer and how to make wise choices of fabric and color. Basically, Sally wanted us to be unafraid of making changes that would improve the fit and look of the finished garment.

My next class was with Lucy Neatby, who shocked and surprised me by not being a sweet little old lady. Rather, she had purple hair and tattoo. She taught the class barefoot and was an amazing teacher ... very clear and very entertaining. The name of her class was "Phoenix from the Ashes" and it dealt with avoiding the dreaded frogpond by creative fixes. She dealt with problems such as making a garment wider or narrower, how to deal with running out of yarn, surgical replacements and insertions, grafting and seaming. She also taught us a new bind off.

Pictured here is Lucy's gorgeous intarsia cat pillow cover (or tapestry). She sells the pattern on her web site I guess one of her primary lessons was "knit 3 inches of your project and then seriously (and honestly) evaluate it." At that point, you can tell whether it's going to need some changes.

My third class was with Gwen Bortner. I was especially looking forward to this class because I had been doing a year long knitalong with Gwen called the Sample Stitch Kimono and I had just finished it. I was able to wear my Kimono into class and have it admired by the designer herself! Gwen is pictured here on the left with Deena, a new friend I met at Knitter's Connection and had lunch with.

Gwen's class was called "Diamonds of a Different Color" and dealt with doing intarsia. As is typical of Gwen, she had us do a project that taught us the skill while actually making a useful object. In this case, we made an argyle credit card case. Gwen also supplied us with a handout complete with full instructions and color pictures of the techniques used. It was a fun class, and I had something finished (or nearly finished) at the end of it. Very satisfying.

My last class was with Melissa Leapman and was entitled "Crochet for Cowards." I was perhaps a little advanced for this class, because I have crocheted, but I'm never confident that I'm doing the proper stitch in the proper hole. It was really helpful to have someone show me exactly what to do. In this class, too, we came away with a project ... or at least a good start on one. We learned to make a crocheted purse and cloche hat. I finished them up the following weekend. Man, crochet is a LOT faster than knitting.

That accounts for the days. In the evenings we also had speakers and I got to hear Clara Parkes of Knitters Review, who reminded me so much of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Clara is witty and funny while at the same time being self-effacing and sometimes profound. She was very easy to like. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of her.)

Our moderator for the evenings was none other than the brilliant Cat Bordhi. I got to meet her and speak with her a little. This is a terrible picture and doesn't do her justice.

On the second evening I was there, we had a presentation from Jess and Casey, who created Ravelry (and Mary Heather, their newly acquired assistant, and, of course, Bob the dog). Casey is on the far left with Jess next to him and Mary Heather on the right in the bright pink top. Casey was wearing a shirt that read: "The Bobfather" in the Godfather font.

Jess and Casey struck me as a sweet young couple who are totally overwhelmed by the response they've had from the Ravelry world. Jess got all choked up when she spoke about how the Ravelry community had come together for "Ravel raiser" to raise money for new equipment for them. (This fund raiser was not solicited by Jess and Casey and raised over $70k) They basically talked about the origins of Ravelry and their plans for the future.

One thing that I think has made Ravelry so successful is Casey's talent for designing the site to be both useful and easy to use. One new feature that they've added will be invaluable to me: you can run a search for patterns based on the amount and type of yarn you have in your stash. For example, if you have 400 yards of merino/silk worsted weight yarn that you don't know what to do with, you can plug that in and come up with a suitable pattern for that yarn. For handspinners, this is an amazing tool.

Of course, Jess and Casey complimented their talk with a nifty power point presentation and several "Bob Breaks" so we could all admire Bob the Boston Terrier.

I had a wonderful time at Knitter's Connection and hope to go back next year. Maybe Lynne will come too? Hint. Hint.