Good Omens and Good Fridays (2 of 4 posts)

Stitches West 2009 - The Love
Originally uploaded by >>>WonderMike<<<

The Stitches West 2009 Saga continues...

Thursday night the Verb crew (Kristine, Adrienne, Michelle & I) stayed at the lovely Hilton located just across the street from the Santa Clara convention center. This meant that our carbon footprint was significantly reduced and my sleep and sanity was greatly increased. Good for everyone. I'm told that my snoring is perceptible but not obnoxious for which I'm very grateful. I shared a bed with Adrienne and she didn't punch me in the middle of the night. A clear victory, methinks.

The next morning, we walked over to the CC and did a fluff up of the fiber and prepared for what could be the busiest (from a financial perspective) day of Stitches. I would have thought that Saturday would take the prize, but not so with respect to last year's receipts.

Once we got the booth all set up, I walked around, took some notes and I even got some video with the Mini-DV camera I borrowed from my friend, Rene. I started at the entrance to the market place and who should I run into but, the wonderful Jenny & Nicole from the Stash & Burn podcast. I took this as a good omen and snapped a pic for proof of my good fortune.

We ran into each other at the Wall of Socks for the XRX Think Outside the Sox competition and, although it wasn't as many as I was expecting, it was a stunning array of knitted and crocheted footwear. There was intarsia, fair isle, hand-dyed, felted and even knit-with-wire creations. I was never so happy as to discover that one's name was not associated with one's entry, because my two pairs of socks were sooooooooo mickey mouse compared to some of these works of art.

While I was chatting with Jenny & Nicole, two women approached me and asked if I worked at a software company with a gentleman named Dennis. When I confirmed that I did, I was introduced to Dennis' god-daughter, Elizabeth and her mother DeeDee. They were so sweet and charming and I got a pic of them for Dennis. After voting for my "People's Choice" award for the socks... yes, I voted for myself (I had to at least get one nod), I walked around and got a fair amount of video b-roll. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this, but I thought it best to use my Press Pass to full advantage. I'm sure it's a use it or lose it situation with events like these.

Once I was back at the Verb booth, it was full tilt boogie with respect to the shoppers. There were many times that I only had room to stand up straight, write out a receipt and direct the customer to check-out in the back of the booth. Thank goodness everything was labeled properly with colorway name and price because it was hopeless for me to try and memorize all that. I especially suck at remembering the percentages of fiber in the different blends.

Quite a few people stopped by to say hello and share how much they love Yknit. I was so touched and bowled over with the generosity. We really do have the most wonderful listeners. It's also nice to have people tell you that they appreciate the quality of the production and the hard work that goes into each episode. Hurrah!!

Our convention "neighborhood" was purrfect because we were close to friends (Fiber Fiend, Purlescence and Cocoknits) as well as the archangel Ray (massage therapist) but not too close to the fiber crack (BMFA, Toots LeBlanc and Brooks Farm). A perfect balance of personalities, color and texture.

Friday was also the day that K.C. and his roving film crew were making the rounds and capturing footage for his documentary. There was quite a long segment that featured my demonstration of drop spindling and I was shaking like a leaf. I'm positive that the glare from my shiny forehead was causing issues for the cameraman, but I'm hoping they can correct that in post-production.

In addition to the lovely celebrities that stopped by such as Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, Rosemary Hill, and Kristi Geraci, I was chuffed to see Men's Fall Knitting Retreat attendees, Jonathan and Joe. Jonathan was sporting his Alice Starmore vest that he had been working on at the retreat. While he was visiting the Verb booth, the Stash & Burn ladies interviewed Jonathan and he is on their latest podcast.

Once our workday was done, we headed back to the hotel for HOT-TUBBING and cocktails. On our way to get drinks, we ran into Leslie, Debbie and Susan from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and were treated to delicious Fat Tires. Those ladies know how to relax, let me tell you. We visited for a spell but then made our way to the hot-tub. It was Kristine, Adrienne and I and had it not been for the encouragement and slight-guilting, I would not have ventured to the pool area. Thankfully, it was deserted and quite a lovely night for it, so we had the whole tub to ourselves. My friends Michael and Jodi showed up after we had been "steaming" for about an hour, but they (shrewdly) declined to join us.

We finished up the day by ordering pizza and falling into bed quite exhausted but relaxed.

Next up: S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. Fright!