Vogue Knitting Live Chicago!
Okay, so admittedly, I’m the worst blogger ever. I’m trying to catch up because there’s been SOOOO much going on. I’ll start with a couple of weeks ago when I was lucky enough to get to go to my home town – Chicago.
Vogue Knitting Live Chicago
I don’t get to go home too often, so I was doubly excited to get to teach at the Amazing VK Live in my own home town.I headed out a few days early and was able to see my family and some friends (missed a few – Boo Maggie and Amy), and then it was time for the show.
If you’ve never been to the Palmer House in Chicago, it’s hard to describe the “they don’t make them like they used to” elegance of it all, but here’s a shot of the lobby to give you a sense.
(for all you eagle eye knitting fans . . . yes, that’s the one and only Brooke Nico running through the lobby. We were really hungry and heading out to dinner)
There was too much fun, fiber, and fashion to describe here, and I was terrible at taking pictures. A few incredible highlights included the market place, the cocktail party and the amazing gala dinner with the one and only Alice Starmore . . . yeah, we got to see the actual samples from her new Tudor Roses. Made me feel a little swoony.
As much as I love all the other bits, for me, it’s all about the classes. I taught three days of classes with over 130 AMAZING students. I’m so grateful for their patience and humor and brilliant ideas. We had days of fixing mistakes, blocking, gauge, stripes, and more.
I had some really special students this year. I had a knitter who had stopped knitting a year ago after making a cowl, and came to get her knitting mojo going again, a great mother and daughter team in my Stripes class (what a supportive mom!), one of my students from Vogue Knitting Seattle who decided to come across the country to Chicago to hang with me again, and so many other really special knitters.
Here’s a brilliant little yarn management solutions from the Stripe class . . . yeah, those are socks
It’s always fun to look at the pictures my students take on my phone. I gave my camera to one student during the blocking class and she took some great shots (and a TON of shots of me making the weirdest faces . . . I’m really facey when I teach). There were some good shots despite her wildly un-photogenic subject.
At the end of the camera after the shots of wet blocking, and steam blocking, after pics of the swatches, of pinning out sweater piece after pictures of me making crazy gestures with one big piece of hair sticking up . . . after all of those there was one more.
It was left as a secret message to me. It was so nice and it’s what all the teachers want to say to all of the students and to the organizers of VK Live.
It was a simple picture that made me smile and took the words right out of my mouth.
So New York, it’s your turn next. VK Live NY will be here in no time (Jan 17 – 19) and I’m launching two brand new classes: Knitting Bag of Tricks and Fix It! Knitwear Alterations and Repairs. I’m particularly excited about the Fix It class, as it includes some of my very favorite knitting magic tricks.
Hope to see you all there!
