Vogue Knitting Live NYC 2012

This was my first time time attending Vogue Knitting Live and I had so much fun that I can't even put it into words. Even though I got sick 2 days before the event, it didn't dampen my spirits. I woke up bleary-eyed at 5:30am on Saturday and packed cough drops into my bag along with my knitting supplies. My subway commute was pretty easy to the Hilton Hotel. I got to the registration desk by 7:45am and was greeted by a friendly Vogue Knitting staff member. She handed me a complimentary tote bag with a book, Knitting with The Color Guys, and off I went to find my first class.

My first class of the day was with Ysolda Teague called Approaching Design Patterns for Multiple Sizes. It was about grading/calculating sizes using Excel. Normally, math is hard enough for me, but math at 8am with not enough sleep and being sick was even harder. But Ysolda took pity on all of us and did not delve into the hard math until the second half of the class.

Ysolda brought chocolate for the class! Seriously, who doesn't love a teacher that brings their students treats? The little jolt of sugar and caffeine was very much appreciated by the class. The class was very informative and it has shown me how and why I should use Excel to grade my patterns. I have heard about using Excel to grade patterns before, but having her show us how she does it on the computer really made sense in my mind.

Brandy Fortune and her friend, Claudia, flew in from Georgia for the event. They were both in my Saturday classes, so we had lunch together when we had our 3 hour break in between classes. After refueling with sushi and soup, Brandy and I walked the marketplace together to meet people we haven't met before or haven't seen in a while. We fondled some yarns and saw the new Addi Click Lace Long Tip Set. I have the other lace set and I adore it.

My memory is fuzzy, so please forgive me if I met you and forgot your name. Over the VKLive weekend, I got to meet Katie (the new Design Coordinator) from Spud & Chloë, Laura Nelkin, Cirilia Rose (Creative Director) from Skacel, Melissa who makes gorgeous porcelain buttons, Vicki Howell, Anna Hrachovec, Marly Bird, the ladies from Soho Publishing: Emily Jones (Graphic Designer), Minty aka Erin (Editor in Chief of Yarn Market News), Renee Lorion (Yarn Editor), and Carla Scott (Editor in Chief of Knit Simple Magazine).

One of my favorite stops at the marketplace was definitely the Knit Simple booth. They were selling recent issues and subscriptions of the magazine. And one of the sample pieces that they had at the booth was my Lace-Panel Wrap from the cover of the Winter 2011/2012 issue. They even made my pattern into a postcard for knitters to take when they stopped by the booth. The pattern for the wrap is on the back of the postcard. Brandy had me pose in front of the booth wearing my wrap and holding up the magazine, which you can see here. Fun times!

After we finished the 2nd part of Ysolda's class in the afternoon, we rested in Brandy and Claudia's hotel room before the gala dinner. Here is picture of me and Brandy in her hotel room. Brandy noticed that I was looking a little worse for wear by the end of the day. I think my medicine had worn off and I was so tired. I even contemplated skipping the dinner and going home. Brandy went into her purse and pulled out some Pez Candy and told me eat some of the candy before dinner. And the sugar really did the trick!

Claudia and Brandy waiting in line for the gala dinner. Here is a picture of me and Claudia that Brandy took with her phone.

This is where the gala dinner was held in the hotel. Very pretty! And each seat had a goody bag that included yarn, Addi needles, wool wash, and a cocktail book. The highlight of the evening was getting to listen to our guest speaker, Alice Starmore, talk. She spoke eloquently and had pictures to accompany her stories. She is not just a knitter or designer, but a true artist. Her photos were beautiful. I was thrilled to listen and learn so much about her. Previous to this, I just knew her as a fair isle knitting expert.

And here is the second reason I am glad I didn't miss the gala dinner.

During the dinner, they called out names for the raffle prizes. Oh boy was I surprised when they called out my name for the Noro Yarn Prize. The bag is filled with Noro Yarns and 2 of the latest Noro Books, Knit Noro Accessories and Knit Noro 30 Designs in Living Color. I seriously had a tough time making it back to my dinner table with my prize. I kept getting stopped by other knitters wanting to see what I won or telling me that they had hoped they would win that prize. Lol. My dinner table companions were super thrilled for me. I had a great time getting to know them even though we were perfect strangers when we first sat down.

I am sure you are all wondering how much yarn is in that tote bag. It's a huge bag. The answer is 21 skeins of Noro Yarns with my 4 yr old daughter modeling to show the scale. What do I plan to do with it? Some people have suggested a blanket to me. I might have a pattern collection brewing in the back of my mind or I might give some away to my friends. For now, I am just enjoying seeing the beautiful colors sitting in the tote bag. Melody enjoys taking each one out and telling me which colorways are her favorite. I was quite the sight hauling that prize home on the subway. I got lots of stares and comments. Which is odd since I could not have been the most unusual sight on a NYC subway on a Saturday night. If you have ever ridden a NYC subway, you would know what I mean.

The next morning, I headed back for another 2 part class with Ysolda. This time the class was called, Beyond the Raglan. The class covered the different types of sweaters that can be knit from the top down and explored ways to get the best fit in a top down sweater. Yoke styles included: compound raglans; round yoke; saddle shoulders and set in sleeves and we discussed the calculations involved in creating these. Wow, Ysolda really knows what she is talking about. I wished I was able to absorb more, but I was exhausted. I was carrying around Dayquil in my bag so I could medicate myself whenever the medicine wore off and my coughing fits started. During the 2nd part of the class, we all chose a different top down seamless set-in-sleeve construction method and knit a small shoulder swatch. That way, Ysolda could walk around the room and help us when we ran into problems or had questions while we were knitting.

When class ended at 5pm, I headed back home. I was sad to skip the champagne charity auction in Tribeca (they rented buses to take us from the hotel), but I knew I had to rest or I would fall over. So all in all, I had a fabulous time. The only thing I wish that they would do differently is to schedule the morning classes an hour later, 9am instead of 8am.
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Ready to see my latest published design? Well, it's published in Knit Noro Accessories! Yes, it's one of the books I won. I had recently received my complimentary copy, so I gave the copy I won to a good friend of mine.

photographed by Rose Callahan

This Tulip Scarf is knit with 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. It's a quick little project that is garter stitch based with just a touch of lace. This book is gorgeous! The styling, models and backgrounds they used really made this book spectacular.

photographed by Rose Callahan

Books take a long time to publish, so I have been waiting patiently for this to be published. I am really proud of this design because it is my first design to be included in a book and it also was my 2nd accepted design. This was accepted last year after my 1st accepted design in Knitscene. It definitely motivated me to continue to submit more designs to publications. And since last year, it has been a whorl wind of knitting and designing for different publications.

photographed by Rose Callahan

If you like this pattern, please RAVEL IT for your queue or fave list. I have been enjoying seeing knitters using a solid color for the scarf.