How lucky are Stephen (hizknits) and I?
We went to Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA.
We got Press Credentials.
We interviewed a host of Knitting Gurus and Gentlefolk.
We (okay, just me) purchased a LOT of fiber
We made some amazing new friends.
We were completely overwhelmed.
Something bad had to happen right? It was going along all soooooo smoothly. Well, it was bad indeed.
A bit of backtracking is necessary. Stephen and I thought it would be fun to get a few interviews at Stitches West. We'll try to meet Lucy Neatby, we'll see if XRX will let us speak to men teachers and students and maybe walk around the market. We'll purchase a few things so that we're not completely deprived of swag.
Little did we know how receptive everyone would be to our requests. XRX gave us the royal treatment (no comments from the peanut gallery). Lisa Mannes, marketing manager for XRX arranged for our press passes and essentially coordinated a host of interviews and gave us carte blanche to speak with folks at the market. Our first interview was with Rick Mondragon, fearless leader of Stitches and Editor in Chief of Knitter's Magazine.
The opening night preview, I helped Article Pract set up their booth (very small amount of help, mind you) and then I walked around and got lots of great audio from my guy knitters. I bought some Blue Moon Fiber Arts Mill Ends. I was doing GOOD!
The next day we got loads of interviews, including the fabulous Lucy Neatby, Vickie Howell, Kristine from a Verb for Keeping Warm, Brooke and Maia from Tactile Fiber Arts Studio, Eugene Bourgeois from Philosopher's Wool and two wonderful lace knitters, Eugene and Lew. We even met our podcast idols, Jenny and Nicole from Stash and Burn as well as rockstar Rachel (Yarn a Go Go) and wonderful Wendee from Hazel Knits.
Then, it starts to become a bit blurry. I'm operating on less and less sleep AND the drive to Santa Clara from Berkeley is starting to make me cuckoo. So cuckoo in fact, that I don't realize when I'm recording the AWESOME interview with Jess and Casey from Ravelry, I'm actually recording OVER the interview with Vickie, Eugene and some sweet guy knitters on the market floor.
I didn't realize that we had lost audio until Sunday night when we starting digitizing the raw files and, believe me, when I say that I was overcome with illness. It's so heart-wrenching to know that you had a unique opportunity to speak with someone AND got great audio. But, we're in the process of contacting those folks and we hope to make it up at some point in the future. And, we've got a better system in place for ensuring Audio Integrity. So, good learnings but painful, painful ones.
We're working on organizing the bits and bobs and we've got some great shows coming up. I'll announce when the next show goes up on Yknit and iTunes.
Take care.
There's a million crafters in Fiber City and we've all got a yarn to spin, knit, crochet, weave...
Oh, what a bummer! Yikes. If you need Lew or Gene's contact info, let me know.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristi. Luckily, we have Eugene and Lew's interview intact!
ReplyDeleteOh LORD, seriously? I can imagine that you were heartsick, but it sounds like you recovered, like the true professional you are....
ReplyDelete(((Hugs)))
ReplyDeleteAwwww...crap! I work in radio, so I know this pain of which you speak! Glad you'll be able to speak with some of those folks again.
ReplyDeleteArrrgh that just completely and totally and utterly sucks. Take two will be better. Promise.
ReplyDeleteOh, ouch. But you know, it happens to the best of us at one point or other. I seem to remember Nicole and Jenny of Stash and Burn doing something similar last year!
ReplyDeleteGene Buegler?
ReplyDeleteI met him at knitting camp in 98. Great guy. (And I can never how to spell his name correctly...)
Yes, it was heart-wrenching but we're moving beyond it! And yes, it was Gene Beugler from the Lacy Knitter's Guild.
ReplyDeleteLike, thank goodness you didn't record over us. ;)
ReplyDeleteKidding!
Too bad we talked for so long or maybe you would have had more left!
Great meeting you guys- can't wait to hear the podcast. (nervous!)
Hey Jess, I would have dropped a toaster in the tub had I erased your interview. As it was, I had to be talked down from our balcony. But, the error was in not understanding how MiniDisc indexes and then re-records over blank media. We've got a better system in place and I hope it NEVER happens again. :-)
ReplyDelete