I woke up this morning and tried to look at the clock to see what time it was.  I somehow could not see the time, so I pushed the button which activates the “projector” feature on my clock.  I still could not read the time, it was upside down, and I could not for the life of me figure that one out.  My husband, laughing like crazy, took the clock from my hands and turned it around, showing me a perfectly readable time on the ceiling.  I took the clock back, the time was backwards again…  Hubby was laughing, I was just confused.  I think I am getting old.  What a way to start the day!

I finally managed to get up and get dressed, the fog lifted somewhat from my brain and I started getting excited about going to Stitches South Market.

We found our way to the Cobb Galleria Center (thanks to my GPS)  and after many U-turns and a lot of confusion searching for the right parking lot, we finally parked the car (not the in the right parking lot, but still, we parked the car…) and made our way (actually  a good Samaritan helped us) to the registration booth and  the  Market.

Sensory Overload is how would describe the feeling I experienced when I first walked in there.  There were rows and rows of vendors selling yarns of all fiber content and colors.  Books and tools were also well represented.    It was amazing and overwhelming!

So much yarn, so little money!

I never buy a lot of yarn when I am at a show like this, first of all, there is just too much of it and I loose focus.  I am also more of a project yarn buyer than a stash buyer, I need to have an idea of what I will do with the yarn before I buy it, which is very hard to do on those days when you brain just refuses to work properly and wants to stay in foggy twilight zone. Hopefully the fog will lift for the class tomorrow.

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t be a knitter (even a foggy brained one) without falling in love and buying some knit-related stuff:

So… there’s the list of our purchase (I am including hubby in this, because he is a brave soul and followed me  all day, carrying my purse and bags around.  I even had  a few request to see if I could “rent” his services for a fee, some women with very big  packages  were really interested….  but I kept him all to myself! How selfish of me!)

It's not my birthday but it sure feels like it!

Anyhow, Bear bought me the most wonderful Sterling Silver needle gauge pendant , very suitable to wear as jewelry, not available through the website though (sorry).

Silver needle gauge pendant

Then I bought some gorgeous glass knitting needles made by Sheila & Michael Ernst.  Check out their web page, they have extraordinary glass buttons and even have glass crochets!  (You read it right, glass knitting needles, I tried them out, and I must say, after you knit with those, it is hard to go back to metal or wood needles again, they are totally addictive!  They are made with a very strong glass,   like Pyrex and are guaranteed for life)

Glass needles

And then there was the Skaska Designs Ltd booth,   featuring Orenburg Gossamer lace and I was blown away.  This is the most beautiful  lace I have ever seen in my life.  Russian knitters from the Orenburg region knit this lace without patterns, the basic lace designs are passed down through generations.  The stitch patterns have names like mouse prints, cat’s paw, fish eye, diagonals, peas and strawberries, and the designs are combined into works of art. The yarn is so fine, it almost looks like spider web.   The owner, Galina Khmeleva spent years researching and charting the designs in order to save them from extinction.   I indulged there too, and bought her  book and a Silk/Yak blend lace yarn to try my hand at knitting Gossamer lace.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to make something this beautiful, but I sure will give it a try.  It must have been serendipity because I had signed up for a “Cable CSI” class on Sunday morning, but since the class was cancelled,   and without knowing anything about Galina Khmeleva, I replaced it with “Russian Knitting”, and the teacher is no one else but … Galina Khmeleva!  I am so excited about this class now!

Orenburg Lace

close-up of Orenburg Gossamer lace

The book One Stitch Below was a big star at the show, there was a whole booth dedicated to it, showing most of the designs.  The author Elise Duvekot whas there to sign, so I did get an autographed copy! 🙂

Elise Duvekot and me 🙂

I also found some monochromatic brown merino  sock yarn to knit socks for my sister Legs.  I want to make  the Bacchus socks for her, she is a wine lover and Bacchus is her dog’s name!  I tried to knit this pattern with a hand painted yarn I had, but the variegated colors were hiding the design.  Hopefully, this yarn will be perfect.

I have a lot of trouble with crochet, it hurts my hands pretty bad, so I found some therapeutic gloves to wear while crocheting.  According to the litterature, they should help with the pain.  We will see…

Therapeutic gloves

We also picked up the inevitable freebies (magazines, patterns etc, etc, etc).

Tomorrow I will be in class all day with Joan Shrouder. Bear will be free to do whatever “guy thing” he wants to do all day 😉

Chubby chicken had a good time 😉