I Think the Magical Yarn Babies Have Taken Residence in My Stash, However (The VogueKnitting Live 2016 Debrief)

Another year, another VogueKnitting Live debrief. Luckily, nothing else was going on this year behind the scenes.  That also means I have no excuse for purchasing a package and spending over $100 dollars to go and spend more money. Oh well. 

In General
This year was a lot saner than last year.  Well, not in the amount of yarn I bought, but in what they were offering.  I don't know if it's because I spend all of Sunday attending class and lecture and was distracted but both all the pretties and other people on Saturday and therefore missed the crazier stuff (well, OK, crazier than this thing:

), but it still seemed like what they were offering was rather tame. 

The Class and Lecture
So, because it turns out that with VogueKnitting's price increases this year, it only cost me around $10 more to buy a class/lecture/marketplace package than buying the marketplace and class al la carte, I did so. It doesn't help that the package is called the Times Square Day Tripper Package. Because that's exactly what you want to be doing as a native New Yorker, going to Times Square.  On a weekend.  Where all the tourists and wonky, shady characters are.  I might still be a bit sour that VogueKnitting moved to a hotel smack in the middle of Times Square, meaning I have to go through there on a weekend, but anyway...

The Lecture
I signed up for the lecture called Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog.  Now, lectures always feel a little stunted to me, but that's simply because they're only a hour long, and most of the people giving them are used to classes.  This has nothing to do with this lecture in particular, by the way, it's just something I've noticed from the past two lectures after taking a lecture and a class back to back for the first time.

However, this lecture was semi-interactive and funny, and made some good points.  It turns out what she was discussing (how to make a sweater that you would wear 'out to lunch with a non-knitter') is something I've already done, however, her point about fabric behavior being crucial was something I don't think I fully appreciated before.  Also, the statement that (and I'm sure I'm paraphrasing a bit here) 'the yarn's not growing [when you block it]. It's not making magical yarn babies' will forever be in my vocabulary (it was also used in the context of pilling, as in 'when the sweater pills, it's not making magical yarn babies, that's material from your sweater'.  I knew that, but that way of putting it is still funny).

The Class
First off, all the really interesting classes this year seemed to be scheduled for Friday, which kind of sucks.  Even if I could have taken off of work (I couldn't have this year anyway because I was too busy in company-approved training on how to build iPhone apps), I wouldn't have.  However, I did find a Sunday class similar to one I spotted on a Friday date at first, and that was Seams Like Surgery by John Brinegar.

The good news is that the class was good.  It was well-taught and led, we laughed at jokes and, for me, I learned some decorative seams as well as how to better due mattress stitch.  It turns out I've been doing it pretty well, but his way of thinking about the instructions really helps with porting the technique away from stockinette.  I was immediately able to seam a garter stitch item much better afterward despite that not technically being taught.  While I will say I probably could have learned most of the material off of the Internet, I still don't regret taking the class.

Fashion Shows and the Panels
Honestly, I didn't catch too many fashion shows this year, and absolutely none of the panels.  Actually, I don't think they had any traditional panels this year.  The had events like participating in extreme knitting! (no thanks; I like my needles smaller than I am) and...I don't remember.  Anyway, I did catch part of one, and two other fashion shows and they were pretty meh.  Nothing too crazy.  Nothing standard or overly practical either (after all, this is a fashion show and when is fashion not overly artistic over practical), but nothing that made me go WTF?!?

If anyone from VogueKnitting is reading this, let it be known: I like the WTF?!? stuff; the best part of what makes VogueKnitting VogueKnitting was making fun of some of the stuff considered fashion.

Anyway, there was a couple of questionable items, including a really bulky garter stitch cardigan (what is it with rug-looking cartigans?):

And a very bulky, very glowing, hot pink shawl-scarf:

Otherwise it was your standard sparkly shawls and batwing sweaters that make the model look like they have short stubby arms, and as normal items that you're going to get that meet current trends. Oh well.

Purchases
Beyond my quickly-becoming-normal behavior of 'buy all the yarn for all projects I want to do now and then some!, in the early hours of being there Saturday this is the exchange I had with my mom over text:

Me: LOL I found self-striping yarn that looks like watermelon
Mom: Interesting.  Are you at Vogue?
Me: Yes.
Me: Want something?
Mom: Yarn for the baby blanket pattern you sent
At this point, I'm thinking 'this is the wrong place to look for yarn for a baby blanket', but this is my mom, so...
Me: Ok, will look.

So I got stuck running around the marketplace, desperately trying to find a DK like yarn that had enough quantities to make a baby blanket.  Now, there's two things about VogueKnitting that I don't know if my mom gets: 1) it's mostly mid to upper range yarn that is the type to not have dye lots and be hand-painted (oh, and good luck finding one that can be washed) and 2) there's usually limited quantities at shows.

At one point, I asked my mom what her budget for this was, because I was finding really nice superwash yarn where the vendor had multiple skeins, but it was all at least $25 dollars a pop. Her answer was '$100 or so', so that cut those out. I ended up having to get three different colors of Malabrigo Rios at the Knitty City booth of all places (I try not to spend all my money at the local yarn shop booths; I can go to them here if I want and there's other vendors you can't get anywhere else attending, but sometimes they have the right stuff when you want it), because there wasn't enough of any of the colors I liked. 

I ended up sending her another pattern to consider that used three colors as well. I also ended up buying her a present:

Because the joke is funny alone, it's even funnier when carried by a crocheting dietitian.

Oh, and despite this being the wrong place to buy yarn for a baby blanket, I also bought yarn for a baby blanket.  Mine costs a bit more than $100 dollars, but it was perfect and superwash, and came in bigger skeins so I didn't need as many of them and my yarn budget gives up.

Conclusion
All in all, I had fun.  Sure, the fashion shows are getting boring and their free non-marketplace offerings were slim this year, but the class and lecture made up for that (despite having to pay extra for those). I really need to stop buying all the yarn, though, despite the fact that I did need a bit of it this year as I didn't have anything suitable in my stash.  And I am using it now, so this isn't a 'shove in there and leave it for two years' situation.  Well, maybe the yarn I bought for myself with no pattern in mind will be that, but half of it won't.

We'll see what next year brings.

The VogueKnitting Live 2015 Debrief

Oh look, I did make it to VogueKnitting Live.  Barely.  Only because even though everything goes wrong the weekend you plan to do something fun (and by everything I mean a burst pipe flooding kitchen of the unoccupied house I'm responsible for), I had good relatives who stepped in and took care of the stuff someone had to be there for.  You know, so I wasn't out $100.  Instead, I spent more money.

Anyway, I'll make this shorter and sweeter than I usually do, in the interest of time (given I'm already late to this party).

In General
Two things worked in my favor this year: I noticed that they had the guide on their website (it was linked at the bottom of a copro-spam email from them. I was lucky I noticed it) and since Rhinebeck wasn't as awesome of a time as usually, for reasons completely unrelated to Rhinebeck, I said screw it and signed up for a class and went yarn-shopping.

So, since I saw the guide way ahead of time, I found out that yes, all the fashion shows were on Saturday again and I need to go early, which I did.  I actually went a bit too early; by the end of Saturday I was ready to leave and spent 30 minutes sitting on the floor waiting for my knit group. That didn't stop me from running around the marketplace on Sunday, of course.

The Class
This year I took my chances again and signed up for 'Knitting Bag of Tricks' taught by Patty Lyons.

It was way better than last year's class.  The instructor taught well, including taking into consideration what we wanted to learn, while keeping control of the class and not going off the rails.  While a couple of the tricks taught ended up not applying to me since the hack was 'knit combined' and I normally am a combination knitter, I learned several things I didn't even think of.  Like the fact that you can cast on purl-wise using long tail cast on.  Or twisting the back stitch of an standard k2tog or ssk makes it neater.  Also, it turns out that she's been teaching the whole Knitting by Structure concept I though I was clever in figuring out.  Guess I'm glad I didn't continue on with those posts (sorry).

I highly recommend this class, and I'm glad I just pony-ed up 90% of its cost instead of not bothering when the 50% coupon didn't show up.

Fashion Shows and the Panels
Having gone early for the fashion shows, I first was slightly disappointed. The first two shows I saw, Vogue Knitting and Classic Elite Yarns were pretty tame. Though Vogue Knitting did have these questionable items on display:

But anyway, as I got to the Rowan show, I looked at the pamphlet, realize it was full of standard boxy cut, cable laden sweaters, and skedaddled off to shop the marketplace.  While seeing patterns I either kind of like or or are so far in the box it's not funny modeled isn't bad, I really go for the WTF factor.  Which, when I came back in the middle of the Stephen & Steven fashion show I got it in spades:

This show made up for the last three.  All the knitwear in that show was an insane conglomerate of brightly-colored sacks and scarves that served more purpose as decoration for the strutting and dancing models than anything resembling an actual outfit. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun spectacle.  But it wasn't really a knitwear showcase, and I have no clue what patterns were modeled. Maybe it's was better because it didn't pretend to be one.

Which leads me to the last fashion show I saw, Koigu.  This was the standard fashion show I'm used to.  Some stuff that's ok, some stuff that's trying to pass itself off as a wearable item but you still wonder what went through the designers mind when she came up with that.  Like the target vest:

and the knitted yoga pants that don't even look flattering on the model, and the carpet sweater:

 and, to top it off, your granny's doilies turned into a dress:

Oh, VogueKnitting Live, never change.

On Sunday, I did go to see a specific panel called 'Design is a Process', which was a good look into how different designers approach designing.  It really got me thinking about the designs I want to do, which is bad because I currently have absolutely no time to do them. But I bought the yarn for a couple anyway. Mission accomplished, VogueKnitting?

Purchases
So, yeah, I bought way too much yarn for myself.  And some yarn for my mother and the sister who got screwed dealing with the brunt of the burst pipe crisis while I frolicked here.  And some stitch markers. And a shawl pin.  Also, I have no pictures of any of it as I already packed it up (well, all but the skein I'm already using).

Let's just say that I'm set for awhile in yarn.  Which didn't stop me from ordering more two weekends later (one planned since I didn't find it at VogueKnitting, one because my original plan didn't work).

Conclusion
This year was a better year than last year as I got to see fashion shows and had a great class. And bought too much yarn, which is always fun.  Here's to next year, where hopefully I'm not ducking around making phone calls to the insurance company and relatives on top of everything.

Oops, I Did It Again

Since I can't really do the shawl anywhere but at home, I've been knitting a sock for my subway project:

'bout time I used the wound-up skein that's been sitting on my coffee table for at least 6 months

It's not a bad pattern, and I love the design and the yarn.  Might have had to rip it out twice due to issues, but none of that was the pattern's fault (first time I screwed up the chart, the second I realized I had to make it a bit smaller to fit...well, ok, one size fits all isn't for socks, so that may be the pattern's fault). This is my first time doing toe up socks, and therefore the style of heel involved is completely new to me:

I'm not a fan of being blind to the pattern, but having got past the heel now, it seems like it'll work out, and at least now I understand how this heel works.  Well, I'm ok mainly because according to the swatch, this yarn will grow a bit so being slightly small for my foot is a good thing.  But I'll take it.

However, that's not what I'm hear to talk about.

I'm here to talk about another needle.  My brand new Knitter's Pride Karbonz circulars, size 0 since I tend to do a lot of socks on 0s.  I bought them a bit less than a month ago when my knit group made their what's turning out to be annual trip to WEBS.  I was being splurge-y, and since I tried out the Karbonz at VOGUEknitting Live, I've wanted to get one.  So I did.

I like them.  As someone who favors metal needles, I still liked them.  They're not as slick as other metals, but still slick enough for my comfort without feeling like I fighting it too much, yet not so slick it feels like you're slightly out of control. They feel solid, but not heavy.  It's an interesting sensation, and I find them very usable.

So when I had to rip out my sock the first time, I switched to my new needles as was happy.  Until today.  Because I broke them:

Oh, they don't seem broken, unlike the last needle I broke (also on a sock, of course).  But they are broke.  You see in that picture up there that the tips aren't the carbon material but are metal?  Sepreate pieces of course. So, I was knitting along on the subway into work today, only to have one of those tips dislodge just enough so that it wiggles back and forth with the slightest of pressure.  Including trying to pull a stitch back with it, because of course it was the side I was holding in my right hand. I managed to complete the row very carefully, then I put them away because I was afraid any more knitting would cause that tip to come off completely and anyway, it's not easy to knit with a tip that bends when put under the slightest of pressure.

Am I really that hard on my needles?  I mean, I'll entertain that thought because I know I'm a tighter, rougher knitter...it's why I prefer metal needles for most yarn.  Or just unlucky and got needle with an issue?

Anyway, there is a happy ending to this story.  I emailed WEBS and asked if they had a broken needle return-and-replace policy, because I couldn't find it on their site and, I mean, it's only been a month.  I was fully prepared to pay the shipping to send it back and have them send me a new one because it's still cheaper that way AND I won't have to deal with the switching needle gauge problem (because I do have a metal size 0 circular for socks here already).  They replied that they have a no-questions asked replacement policy on Knitter's Pride needles, and that they would send me a replacement right away.

Hopefully I don't break this one.  The only suck-y part right now is that I don't have a travel project to work on.  Unless I just finish this first sock with the metal needles.  How much could my gauge change for the upper part of a sock with a crazy design, anyway?

It's Another Vogue Knitting Live Debrief

 

By now I think you know I always go to Vogue Knitting Live NYC.  This year was no exception.  However, unlike at Rhinebeck I had a slightly different experience this year, so here's the debrief

You can't see it very well but there are tacks on Australia, Africa, and South America.  Someone in my class was from Vienna.  It's amazing how far people will travel to these things.

In General
The one thing that was consistent from last year was the overall feel of the event.  It was the same big, diverse, more fashion oriented but otherwise Rhinebeck-esq event it was last year.  I have no problem with this, so this was fine.  However, there were a couple of minor changes that I didn't like that made my experience a little less enjoyable than last year.  Next year I really  need to get the guide on Friday like someone in my knitting group did.  If I had I would have showed up earlier on Saturday.  I'll get to these in the relevant sections.

Like last year, I met up with my knitting group on Saturday and then went back on Sunday on my own.  Unlike last year I took a class instead of a lecture and didn't get to see as much of the free stuff.

The Lecture Class
At one point late last year a coupon came out for half-off Sunday classes at this event (the benefit of attending more than one year in a row is I get all the emails about the events).  Since that subsequently made attending a Sunday class close to the same price as the lecture package, I decided to go for it.  Sunday's my better day to do stuff like this anyway.  So I signed up for Designing with Cables taught by Carla Scott.

How can I say this nicely...the class sucked.  Ok, that wasn't nice.  But while the instructor was very friendly and seemed knowledgeable, she got distracted easily and let random questions completely derail the class.  Subsequently, very little got taught.  We covered gauge a bit and started talking about schematics, and then the class got so derailed nothing else on actually designing with cables were ever covered.  Even the random chatter faded out to the instructor chatting with a few of the students, and most of the class left thirty minutes early, including me.

This is not the way to run a class.  I get that instructor wanted the students to feel free to ask questions and she wanted to cover topics some of the students wanted to hear about, even if they didn't have much to do with the course.  But you can't let that prevent covering what the class was supposed to cover.  Actually, I'm not so sure where the class was going.  All I know is the few things that were actually officially taught I knew, and we never got to anything beyond that.  Conversations about, say, copyright and where we live and what x designer did are all great, except when that's all that happens.  I paid $42 dollars to learn nothing (well, ok, that was with the entry fee).  I could have paid $85, so I'm glad at least I didn't do that.

If I didn't know better, this would turn me off from taking another class here.  Luckily, I know enough people who have taken classes at this event and loved them, so it just means I'm going to be a lot more picky if I end up taking a class next year.

Fashion Shows and the Panels
Here's the other thing that sucked this year.  There were no fashion shows on Sunday.  You see, on Saturday I'm busy hanging out with my knitting group, and so I don't get to see any of the shows and panels.  I come back on Sunday mainly to do that.  Except most of everything was on Saturday this year, and that was different than last year so I wasn't planning on it.

This is what I meant about picking up the guide early (or even better if they could mail that schedule with the IDs to us who pre-order, that would be awesome, but I know that's a bit much to ask for).  If I had known that all the fashion shows would be on Saturday, I may have come in early to see a couple of them.  But since I didn't know this until after I had come in to meet my knitting group, I was out of luck. 

So I saw no fashion shows.

What I did do on Sunday after my class, well other than cruse the Marketplace again, was see a panel and a free lecture (again, a lot of them were Saturday, but at least there were Sunday ones).  The panel was one of those general interest, hear people in the industry talk about their experiences, ones, but I like those.  This one was the one titled 'Men at Work', and featured all male yarn industry professionals (well, except one of them was a former Project Runway contestant instead of in the knitting/yarn industry...an odd choice, but that shows popular or something so I get the rational behind it).  It was good in the same way most of these types of panels are: voyeuristic and funny.

The free lecture I went to was on the Trends in Knitting, and while the lecture was fine, all the trends were more about what was trending in fashion and they all were ugly as sin.  However, I already knew that big, bulky sweaters and clothing that looks like it's falling apart was coming back (and skinny pants are still here.  I'm still waiting for that trend to go away so I can finally buy pants that don't make me look like crap).  One thing the city is good for is seeing the new fashion trends before many others notice because people start wearing them here sooner. But I was expecting something more geared to the knitting world in general, but it was fun in the way that the fashion shows are fun: you point and laugh at the stupidity of it.

Also, I had a short but interesting conversation with a older woman that got the lecturer to admit that most of this was looking at the teen and young adult trends.  I pointed out to her that just because one was in that age group didn't mean they liked such things, and vice versa (you know...being that I'm in that age group and tend to hate most of the trends).  We got into a conversation about how if we were going to spend all that time knitting something it better look good a year from now, and that if one looked at pattern trends on sites such as Ravelry instead of liked pictures on sites such as Pinterest, such high-fashion trends didn't show up and it was more classic, timeless stuff.

Purchases
I was bad this year and bought five skeins of yarn:

Ok, three are the same yarn.  I've been thinking about getting this colorway (Stargazing) of Madelinetosh for awhile now to do a sweater, and getting it here was an excuse to buy yarn from my old LYS (who was back again and still remembered me).

The other two are impulse buys.  The gray skein is Squishy Lace from Dragonfly Fibers.  It is very soft and squishy and Dragonfly Fibers had a lot of yarn I loved but I picked this one for some unknown reason.  I have never used Laceweight before, and I'm not really a shawl person.  Oh well, first time for everything.

The other one is sock yarn from Neighborhood Fibers, and I got it because it's such an interesting color.  Since I don't tend to get much outside of the blue/black/gray that I love, I got it.  I was looking for a color to go with some black sock yarn to maybe try some more colorwork, and this should work.  We'll see.

I also bought another Sock Rocket, so now I'm only missing one in the standard sock sizes.

Oh, and the third thing that sucked is that Soak wasn't there!  I'm all but out of the Soak I bought last year, and how perfect it was that it ran out right when VKL was going on again so I could by more and...they didn't have it.  Probably because Eucalan was one of the sponsors of the event.  I looked at the Eucalan and wasn't thrilled with the flower scent it came in (of course this is a personal preference; I'm sure some people love it and I can't speak to how it works).  I like some of Soak's scents better (I really love their Aquae scent, and Unleashed is nice as well), so now I have to go order it online today because I am officially out of it.

Conclusion
Overall, I did enjoy my time at Vogue Knitting Live.  One positive thing was the yarn selection this year was great...I was so tempted to buy more yarn than I did.  I'm just a little disappointed that it was worse than last year in the other aspects of the event...you know, the ones that make it VKL 

Well...to be fair, there was a lot of random items like this:

They were amusing and very VKL.  But other than that, I mean.

Well, there's always next year.