Spring Fling 2011

I’m back! Brazil was fun, Peru was incredible and the two days that I got to spend at home very relaxing (lots of pictures and stories about the trip to come!). And then it was time to head off to St. Louis and go to Spring Fling again. Last year it was amazing, if you remember, and this year? It was SOOOO awesome! I enjoyed every single second of it just as much as last year. And will I be back next year? You bet I will (well, if Sheri lets me in)!

Just like last year everyone was friendly and happy to be there and to knit knit knit. It was just so much fun to see everyone from last year again and to meet all of the new people, though I’m sorry that I didn’t get to meet everyone like I had hoped to! The weekend started off perfectly with the goodie bag:

The skein of Wollmeise given away had a Make Friends – Swap! label and that’s what we did. Everyone got a different color and we all switched for whatever color we liked best. I received a very pretty Fuschia-like color and switched for this gorgeous Twin. Not sure what the equivalent is (maybe Aurora?) but I love this one!

And we spent a ton of time in the knitting lounge chatting and knitting and laughing. Plenty of laughing and smiling went on… I was getting sick (am very sick right now actually) so I spent most of the time a bit hoarse, but that’s okay… a sore throat couldn’t stop me from joining in on the fun!

And lots of silliness too!

Loopy was up to his old tricks as well, though he behaved a lot more than he did the previous year.

I took a class with Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops and it was such a great class. Kirsten is a great teacher and such a sweetheart! She found out I live in Brooklyn and as she’s thinking of moving here she said we should knit together sometime! OMG! Of course! Who wouldn’t like that? I’m excited about my upcoming shawl design that I’m working on and she was so helpful with the charting of it as it’s a difficult pattern to chart… so nice of her to do that! I will definitely be thanking her in the pattern when it gets done. 🙂

A few people knit up my Nouveau Bohemia and modeled it for me, which was so sweet! It was also a lot of fun seeing the different types of yarn and styles that people made. Here’s one that Ricia made… I love the variegated yarn with the hat!

There was also lots of beautiful projects being worn and worked on!

My roomie Julie (who I met as my swap partner last year – love her!) showing off her beautiful sock yarn blanket:

And of course, there was a TON of shopping… that’s a large part of what we were there for, no?

Me at The Loopy Ewe:

I was very lucky and won one of the raffle items! This is a Studio June laceweight yarn that is oh so soft… I think I look happy to have won, don’t you?

Claudia, the Wollmeise herself, was there and was a blast to hang out with! She was so funny and sweet but she hates having her picture taken! I had on my Wast Side Shawl made out of her We’re Different Turkis and she was admiring it and was surprised that it was made out of Wollmeise at first. 😉 It was hilarious because she won one of the raffle items and it was a skein of Wollmeise! LOL! As she doesn’t like her picture taken, I made sure to only do one of her from the back going up to get her prize (she returned it right after and gave it to another lucky winner, though!):

And Sheri, the owner of The Loopy Ewe, introduced her new self-striping sock yarn due out in Late Summer/Early Fall. She was nice enough to give everyone their own skein and it was totally like an episode of Oprah in there with all the screaming and clapping. Hilarious and so fun!

One of my friends, Tasha, was making a Melody scarf out of Noro laceweight while we were there and it’s made by CUTTING the fabric after you make it. Of course, we all had to line up to see her doing it. I love the picture of everyone watching so intently!

Pulling the stiches out to make the fringe:

It was fun because it became a group project with each one taking an end to do:

And then it was over and we were sad to leave, but had to line up for a group shot of some of us who hung out this year and the last together. Good times!

As for my purchases?

I went a little crazy at TLE this year, but that’s okay, I think, as I haven’t really bought much this year! Plus, I won’t be buying anything else for a LONG time after this. Plus, it all looks so pretty together! 😉

I already miss all of my Fling friends and wish they all lived closer so we can see each other more often. I can’t see myself NOT going again… It was way too fun to miss!