It was a good weekend...

I turned another year older (wiser :-) ?) on Friday and celebrated with family (thanks for the cake mom & dad!).  I was up in Chicagoland for a family wedding over the weekend and managed to sneak in a birthday trip to Stitches Midwest in Schaumburg for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. 

This year, Stitches seemed like a bit of a mixed bag.  Some new vendors, some regulars, and a lot of LYS.  When I was driving over, I was hoping to pick up a kit or two, maybe some new patterns, and a skein of two of sock yarn that caught my eye.  Why would I go all that way just to purchase Cascade 220 that I can pick up anywhere?  I found several patterns I was interested in, but vendors were sold out and only had their displays left (and this was only halfway through Saturday).  Walking through the marketplace, it felt like almost everyone (!!!) had a Color Affection shawl on display, and while that pattern is in my queue, by the time I saw twenty of them I was just tired of seeing it.

I found lots of inspiration and shopping competition over at The Plucky Knitter's booth, which was brimming with color, texture, and test knits.  Over at Esther's Place, we made felted flower brooches and I liked the kits.  I'll be interested to see what their fall class schedule looks like.  Halos of Hope was celebrating passing their donations goal and I won a shawl stick doorprize from Foofaraw.

I did buy a few birthday presents for myself while I was there. 


• Two skeins of Plucky Traveler in Barn Door (red) that will be a woven scarf.  It's 65% merino, 20% silk, and 15% yak, so I'll be interested to see if it holds up well on the weaving shuttle.
• One skein of Plucky Sweater - One Hit Wonder in a black shade that I think will be the base of Sylvana by Ann Kingstone from Twist Collective.  (Still need the top layer).
• Two skeins of Plucky Primo Fingering - One Hit Wonder shade that reminds me of the color of antique maps.  One hit wonders are one-offs, but it reminds me of a lighter version of the Chinos and Humphrey colorways.  A shawl perhaps?
• Two skeins of Plucky Primo Worsted - One Hit Wonder color that is lighter than Fly the Concord.  Scarf or shawl?  Reminds me of blue violet Crayola crayons.
• Five skeins of Plucky Primo Worsted - One Hist Wonder in a colorway that not quite as yellow as Build Me Up but not as creamy as Milk Maid.
• And a t-shirt to show off my Plucky love.

All from The Plucky Knitter. I might have visited that booth more than once during the day.