This post should really be called "A Weekend in Atlanta", because I did a lot more than just go to Stitches, but I don't know how much of my shenanigans you really want to hear about, so I'll stick to the yarnie variety. I went to Atlanta to visit two of my good friends from grad school, Taryn and Erica, who I had not seen since my wedding, which I firmly believe should not really count. So I saved up my days off and scored a four day weekend that just so happened to be the same weekend as Stitches South. Taryn may not be a knitter (yet), but Erica is and so we set about a plan to hit up the convention center on Friday afternoon, when the stock would be relatively full but the crowd slightly less.
This is one of those times when I lament how few photos I took. To be honest, a lot of booths had signage asking that you not take pictures of their wares and setup, but really we were just having so much fun I couldn't be bothered to remember.
 |
| Twin squishings of Cephalopod and Buffalo Gold |
The only other shows I have to compare this to are the Carolina Fiber Fest, which I have missed the past two years, and SAFF. To be honest I was expecting a lot more out of Stitches. Don't get me wrong, there was a ton of stuff and the majority of vendors were awesome, but the number of booths was quite small in comparison to SAFF. I don't know if this is because the show is confined to one building or if the inclusion of animals at SAFF made this one seem lacking, but there was quite a lot of variety without as much quantity as I expected.
For me a few highlights of the show included seeing a full booth of
Dragonfly Fibers, holding a $250 skein from
Buffalo Gold, being told the dyers at
Cephalopod Yarns call the colorway I bought "Dexter" among themselves, watching a woman knit an afghan with giant needles, and getting to actually choose patterns from the selection at
Erin.Lane.
 |
| I did get Lindsey of Erin.Lane to let me take a photo of Hank. He speaks for the knitting things. |
As I do most times I have some free yarn money, I wanted to buy from indie dyers, who for the most part were super friendly and enthusiastic about their wares. I did find myself disappointed in some booths that I had been excited to look at because they brought almost exclusively fiber, rather than yarn. I get that you need to cater to spinners, but it made me sad that some of the more local dyers made their selection so specialized that I was unable to support them. But then I walked into the
Miss Babs booth, lost my head, and had to give Taryn my credit card before I went back for more.
 |
| Sometimes squishing yarn is the only way to survive really bad really slow traffic |
Overall, Stitches was a lot of fun. I definitely only needed an afternoon to shop the market, but I'm sure if I took classes the experience would be a little different.
Oh. And what trip to Atlanta would be complete without a trip to
Eat. Sleep. Knit? If you think that their selection is wonderful online, you should see it in person. How I walked out with only one skein of Sweet Georgia I'll never know.
Posts
