This was my first trip to Stitches East both as a student and as a vendor. It was outstanding.
I took an awesome class with Laura Bryant of Prism Yarn; the class was entitled “Intentional Patterning with hand-dyed yarns”. It was a total eye-opener as to what you can do with hand dyed yarns.
First she showed us examples of intentional patterning. You can see an argyle affect, diagonal, and a flashes of color in the samples above.
This is the Prism Athena shawl, you can see how in the lace pattern the colors travel in their own pattern.
We each picked out yarn that was offered (Prism Symphony to exact – lovely) and she explained the different methods of laying on color in hand dyed yarn.
Then we swatched with our yarns to see what they would look like. It was just fascinating to see how the different yarns played out in the knitting depending of the stitch you chose. I chose the Fisherman’s rib for my sample. The yarn was a combination of mohair and a smooth fiber.
During the lunch break I wandered the marketplace. It was totally overwhelming and wonderful, it was like a fiber carnival. There were booths for stores, independent dyers, yarn distributors, beads, and jewelry.
I saw wonderful samples (Oat Couture Curlicue Coverlet BB210, above and Quadraphenia by Leslye Solomon, below) and
and on passersby…
I met Peggy Gaffney, author/designer for Kanine Knits. She designs sweaters for people with intarsia patterns for the animals they love.
I loved the look of this vest/shrug. Of course I can’t find the name of the pattern anywhere.
you have to show both sides for the full effect.
I also met Kelly Machado from Knitting on the Fringe. She designed this one of a kind jacket that is a combination of knit/crochet/freeform/felt, you name it. It was just gorgeous.
Like Rhinebeck, everywhere you went people were wearing the most wonderful hand knit and crocheted garments and accessories.
