Back from Stitches West!

I realise I've not posted for ages. It's been so busy in the shop/warehouse (this is our busy season for getting our stuff out to the stores so Sophy and I have been working away taking and filling orders while Deb's been working on the new hats). Plus I've been working up some new little patterns and kits to sell at the Stitches show and the actual organisation for the show ... well, I've been going home, doing some more knitting then falling into bed.

So, anyway, Karen (SheepStrings Yarn Studio) and I finally went to Stitches in California! It was an amazingly long trip this time. Our original flight was booked many months ago and they cancelled our original flight then changed us to another couple of flights then changed it again, and again, and we finally ended up taking THREE flights to get there and another THREE flights to get home. Mind you, the price was right, but ho boy! they were long travel days.
When Karen and I arrived around midnight we went to check up on my boxes. I wasn't too worried about them as I had checked the tracking numbers before I left and they had all been posted as arrived. Imagine my shock to discover that ONLY ONE BOX WAS THERE (I had shipped 10 boxes, plus 2 boxes from the mill and a couple of other boxes from suppliers). One box from Canada was there plus the boxes from the mill and half a box from another supplier. I was not a happy camper. Not too much could be done about it at 1:00am in the morning so we went to bed. A phone call at 2:00am informed me that "we have found some of your boxes" ... a restless night and then up at 5:00am to hunt down the boxes. Yea! They were all there. Such a relief. Karen and I set out then to get the booth organised and visit and catch up with all the other vendors that we know.

Here's a photo of me and Karen showing off our new T-Shirts. We thought they'd be fun to have printed up for the show. Not sure if you can see clearly but they have "K2, P2" across the body with the writing in the middle saying "RIBBED FOR YOUR PLEASURE". They were a big hit!

That's the booth in the background. We had 20 ft x 10 ft of booth and Karen brought some of her hand-dyed yarn and kits to sell as well. This show has got the greatest selection of hand-dyed and hand-painted yarns anywhere I think. Absolutely beautiful.

We had a great show and we had great neighbours too! Lucy Neatby above (designer extraordinaire) was next to us sharing Buffy & Don's booth (Shelridge Farm). Buffy dyes all her own yarn and it's georgeous. We use a lot of her yarn for our socks. You might notice that Lucy is standing next to "The Sarah". Buffy knit it out of our book, "Button Up Your Top Down" in her yarn and the back view of the cardigan is displayed. Cheryl Oberle was across from us and she has terrific designs and hand-dyed yarns. Linda of Oak Grove was another neighbour so we were surrounded by amazing yarn and good people.

People were laughing at Karen and me for running around in our sandals ... but really it was warm! The native Californians were telling us "it's winter!!" but to us ... it was spring. We got a little rain but mainly very nice weather and we enjoyed it very much. Glad to be home! ... Although I guess I better start thinking about the next show (NENA, which is a trade show in Sturbridge, MA first week of May). We were wanting to have the Hat Booklet ready (or at least a prototype) for this show so once Deb finishes with her work on the hats I'll be working away at the photography and layout and printing ...
-Lynda