Stitches West in Sacramento has come and gone. I spent Friday in the Market and Saturday and Sunday in class. Here are the spoils of the Market:

2023-03-05_Stitches-West-loot

Top row: Shetland fiber from Clemes & Clemes, fish dish from Kunihiro Pottery at the Farm, embroidery patterns from Rosanna Diggs, Shetland/silk/firestar fiber from Goodie Supply Company

Bottom row: orange Mendocino from Bella Yarn, 3x speckled Tosh Merino Light from Madeline Tosh, 2x purple Cormo from Sincere Sheep, green Merino Sock from Lazer Sheep, 2 colors of Annapurna from A Verb for Keeping Warm, green and blue Dude from Schmutzerella Yarns, olive green Smitten from Wonderland Dyeworks

It is just 5,105 yards of yarn (under 3 miles) and 12 ounces of fiber this time. I went in intending to buy the 2 skeins of Sincere Sheep and possibly the 2 from AVFKW. Leaving with only 8 skeins more than planned is good, yes? 🙂 I didn’t plan to get mostly fingering weight, but that’s what I ended up with. No Addi Turbo needles or Jamieson & Smith yarn to be had this year. The Market was small already, and even smaller when it turned out a few vendors could not travel due to the weather.

I have plans for the Sincere Sheep. I have collected 6 colors of Cormo Fingering over several years and this is the neutral to tie them all together into a striped sweater. The Annapurna will be Rosemary Hill’s Mystery Shawl 2023. I didn’t buy the kit because I don’t need another project bag or another shawl pin, pretty as both were, and bought the yarn once I knew I could get the pattern without the kit. The KAL kicks off on April 21.

Leaving the hotel parking lot on Sunday, I noticed a fancy cupola peeking beneath bare and damp trees and realized for the first time that I had been across from the state capitol building the whole time. The joke’s on me for not noticing until then. To be fair, our room’s window had a view of the top floor of the parking garage and the weather was rainy, and I was distracted by yarn fumes, good friends, and tasty snacks. Next year, I need to plan part of Market day to wander the neighborhood. Just an hour won’t hurt, right?