I am still floating on a cloud. Stitches West was a great event for me and for Tactile. Add that to the great time we had at Madrona and you've got a woman who feels like she is on top of the world! Our booth with Kristine of A Verb for Keeping Warm was busy and we thoroughly enjoyed the customers and each other. Happy, happy, happy!!! Look for more collaborative efforts between Tactile and Verb.
Not only did we have fun during the day, but we partied pretty hard at night. While Brooke and I worked each evening to get more product ready for sale, we managed to socialize. Kristine was smarter and had time to go hot tubbing and hold court. I am still shocked that we didn't get a knock on the door admonishing us. We did have excellent neighbors, Liz & Erin of Designated Knitters. Those two are a hoot! We saw so many people that I dare not try to list them all for fear I'll forget someone. We really did appreciate seeing so many of our friends. A big thank you to all who came out to see us!
Want to see my loot?
There was the Ravelry goods. The t-shirt is so soft and comfy. The bag is roomy with an outside pocket (so handy!). Not shown is my Bob pin (see Mike's here). I have to say that having Casey, Jess, Mary-Heather, and the rest of the Ravelry crew at Stitches really added fun and friendliness to the entire event.
Speaking of Ravelry, I found my avatar on the big poster. It seemed appropriate that I am wearing the same blouse as my avatar.
The Ravelry passport game (a Kristine inspiration by the way!) gave us the opportunity to meet a lot of people. This is the Tactile page. At the bottom (click for bigitudeness), it lists the Ravelry members to look for at our booth, listing our real and Ravelry names. For me it says "Maia aka "Maia"". I am so easy to amuse; that is still cracking me up. If you are on Ravelry, please friend me. I love seeing what folks are up to; it is so inspiring.
But Maia (I hear you saying), you were showing us the loot! I continued in my Madrona habit of buying naturally colored yarn and fiber.
More loveliness from Toots LeBlanc, this time it is the lace weight version of their BFL/Pygora blend. I thought I was getting another skein of the same weight as the one I got in Madrona (which is fingering weight). Totally my own mix-up. I guess I'll have to order one more skein of each weight (poor me!).
Two skeins of a Yak/Fine Wool (reported to be Cormo) yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch in Colorado. This is a 50/50 blend and the yarn is soft and bouncy (love that Cormo smooshiness!).
Lastly, I succumbed to the absolutely luscious cashmere from California Cashmere Company. This stuff makes me weak in the knees every time I touch it. I got one skein of 100% cashmere yarn and an ounce of ready to spin fiber in a soft natural brown.
All of my purchases fit nicely with the lace bug that has bit me. Now I just need a few extra hours each day to knit it all!
Did I mention that I had a fabulous time at Stitches?