Stitches West 2011

The rubber stamp industry has buckled under the economy and I really hope it bounces back. Yarn however, continues to enthrall and hypnotize, if one is to go by the turnout of both vendors and customers at the convention. Fabulous.

Did I buy yarn? No. Did I buy books? No. So I wasn't exactly the perfect customer then? Don't judge yet. Here's some exciting stuff I found:

1. leather straps for knit/fulled handbags here - gorgeous.

2. Kollage yarns - corn fiber here and stretchy cotton blend here . Corn as I discovered, is deliciously soft and luminous. Only, I'm torn by the concept of knitting with somebody's potential dinner. But then again, it is a bit too tempting to pass by easily. The other yarn - stretchy cotton blend - was the exact species I was looking for. I'm very fond of wearing cotton but not too crazy about knitting with a yarn with no elasticity. This one solves my problem.

3. Habu Textiles here. Such curious yarns! So unique!!

Order these products I will.

Among books, I saw an enormous interest in global knitting techniques - also called 'ethnic', much to my irritation. Icelandic, Scandinavian, Peruvian, Nordic, Estonian, and a host of others I don't even recall. I got the sense that the community has plateaued out on the sock knitting frenzy, going by the number of new books on the subject.