Vogue Knitting Live - Seattle 2013

If one is going to choose to attend a great knitting conference, Vogue Knitting Live (VKL) would arguably be near the top of the list.  VKL has been held in New York City and Chicago as early as 2011, but this is the first time they have ventured into the Pacific Northwest, where according to the editor in chief, ". . . we know there are more knitters in Seattle than any city in the United States. . ."  Perhaps that is said about every region they visit, but it is still nice to hear.

Tena and I decided to take in VKL last weekend.  We took Friday off and managed to outlet shop our way down to Bellevue's Meydenbauer Convention Center. (This is where the actual event was held.)  This Convention Center was the perfect size, big enough to allow for just over 60 vendors, a stage, fitting station and lounge, yet small enough to not intimidate.  We found our favorite local designer, Alexa Ludeman, right away on Saturday morning to say hello, but Alexa was busy signing her book for others, so we were brief.

There were buttons galore, more beautiful yarn and knitted items than I could absorb.  (My knitting senses went berserk.)  We stopped by every booth twice, to review all the yarn by touching it, to look at what was made with it and to attempt to resist buying everything because it was so lovely.  Here's a few of my own photos of the Market Place.

See the cylinder on needles in the centre of the photo?  We had to guess how many needles it held.

Attendees were invited to knit or crochet to add to this instillation

The elevator decorated using the VKL photo

Registration table on the left and entrance to the Market Place on the right

Cascade Yarn hung to the balcony.  It had an entire rainbow of colours.

Then off to a lecture and one class each.  The lecture was presented by the prolific designer, Lily Chin.  Click on her name to get a complete bio and video.  Lily is a high energy presenter who had us in one hour talking about how to take inspiration from the room we were sitting in and turn it into knitted work, both abstractly and literally.  Tena and I walked out and found ourselves talking and thinking about shapes and designs in completely different ways.  I found inspiration in the carpeting and photographed it.  Perhaps it will become something in the not so distant future.

From 2:30-5:30 pm we separated and took individual classes.  Tena meet with Patty Lyons in "Demystifying Knitting Patterns".  Patty works for Lion Brand Yarn as a studio director and in her class she focused on teaching the "why to" and not just the "how to."  Tena walked away from the class with a ton of ideas on how to make sure the item she's knitting will turn out to fit just the way she wants, even if she does substitute yarns.  I'm looking forward to looking at the handouts to see if my math skills are up to the test.

Melissa's work from the back

I took Melissa Leapman's "Stashbuster Magic" class.  She is another knitter/author who has designed a lovely sweater named Roundabout that is great for using up your stash.  You can see it on Melissa's Ravelry page here.  We knit a small version of the sweater in class (think cat sized), but Melissa gave us enough of the principles to make an adult size.  Approximately 25 of us took the class and we all walked away with some great ideas about how to beautifully use up stash.  (All these instructors are NYC based so without them coming to the greater Seattle area, I would not have an opportunity to learn from them.)

 Front of the sweater can you tell, I caught Melissa off guard

And some purchases where made, they will be shown as they are used.

Should this not yet be enough photos for your, check out this link.  The Convention Centre was decorated with hanks of Cascade Yarn tied with ribbon from the balcony of the second floor.  (See above)  The link shows these hanks being cut and falling into the excited and noisy crowd.  It took place at the very end of the day on Sunday.  Unfortunately we had to drive back to Vancouver and missed the event.  I think I would have enjoyed the activity if we'd have been there.

Bottom line, if you knit, no matter your level of expertise, do take in a Vogue Knitting Live event if it swings into your area.  It is great way to mingle with so many like-minded people and improve your knitting knowledge.