Friends Meet At Stitches West 2009

By Sally Gray  

After waiting for a long twelve months Stitches West 2009 has finally arrived in Santa Clara, California. It really is such a marvellous venue for all the producers and vendors of quality products associated with knitting and crocheting, to showcase everything in one place.

I had the opportunity to have a whole day in fiber heaven. We drove the 150 miles in about 2 hours and arrived to discover a line to get tickets, which was good to see.

Once inside, any plan I had to go slowly down each aisle quickly evaporated as I was overcome with a desire to savour every booth all at once. By the fourth booth I had already decided that next year I really do have to come for at least two days, because although one day is great, to see everything really takes two days.

Sally, Kathie, Lisa, Susan and friend at Stitches

We met two vendors from Australia and got very homesick talking to them. The fact that they had both made the trip with all the gorgeous products proves how important this particular show is to spreading the word about overseas products. It also shows that we really are a global economy now.

In my stash of yarn I have three balls of Windy Valley Musk Ox Qiviuk from Alaska. It has been knitted in my mind on several occasions but... My goal was to find a pattern here that would do the yarn justice, so I found myself before lunch at the Windy Valley Musk Ox booth. Their yarns are stunning and I was very excited, but my true focus was a pattern and I managed to find exactly what I wanted. It is a small caplet called the Guanaco Caplet designed by Helen Hamman and it takes just three balls of yarn - perfect!

Sally and Susan at Stitches

Sally and Susan at Stitches

While swooning over the yarn and the many samples on display, I was surprised to find my good friend Susan Turner doing the same. It was a pleasure to see her as I had called her the day before, to see if she would meet me at Stitches but hadn't been able to reach her.

Once my purchase was made, Susan and I chatted for a while about the show. Just as we were heading off for lunch there was a tap on my shoulder and when I turned around, it was two friends who I knit with regularly. Kathie and Lisa had come down for the day from Roseville, not too far from Folsom, however they had travelled down on the train which seemed a far more relaxing way than driving. Perhaps that's the way I will do the trip next year.

It was a wonderful day and I wished we could have stayed longer, but the cats need feeding and there are stories to write.

Editor's note: Look for more stories about the vendors.