I am just home from spending the day at Knit Camp. I did not do any classes as I was unable to go throughout the week and the only class I really wanted to do was a lace class scheduled for Thursday (I think it was Thursday), but I still wanted to experience a proper knitting event. You know what? It was pretty good. The event itself has been riddled with mishaps, confusion and general chaos, but as a Saturday visitor to the marketplace I had nothing to complain about. The choice of vendors was outstanding, the venue was well-chosen and even the weather was on its best behaviour. We had a lovely time.
One of my favourite moments occurred when a friend’s mum showed off her mum’s fair-isle work to the Jamieson & Smith people from Shetland. My friend’s grandmother used to knit up swatches whenever a new Jamieson & Smith fair-isle pattern was released and as a result she now has a long sampler of pattern design spanning decades. The Jamieson & Smith people were absolutely intrigued by the sampler and many photos were snapped (as you may be able to tell from the photo). My friend’s mum even had to pose holding the sampler which made us all beam. 
Other great moments: helping out at the Old Maiden Aunt stall and hearing all the amazing buzz surrounding Lilith’s yarns, meeting Norah Gaughan and getting terribly star-struck, catching up with a truly enormous amount of people (Roobeedoo! Dodiegirl! Janicebee! Knitsomniack! LisaFalcon! Teagenie! Celtic Stitcher! Chatiry! So Cherry! Judith! Angela! Peerimoot! Anna! And a gazillion more – sorry if I haven’t linked you, but my head’s swimming with names!), having a knitterly lunch on the lawn outside the Pathfoot building with a beautiful view across the Stirling valley, getting so so so inspired by Artisan Threads‘ stall with their genuinely breathtaking sense of colour and visual flair, and seeing some very awe-inspiring knitting projects displayed at Artisan Yarns and the aforementioned Jamieson & Smith stall.
I actually did not buy much as my knitting budget is ear-marked for other things this season (and I have too much yarn, anyway), but I did pick up some shawl pins and buttons from Textile Garden. I do love buttons and I knew from their website that Textile Garden would have a good selection (the photo shows a tiny slice of their stock). I particularly like my new shawl pin/kilt pin which calls to mind koru, but I’m very happy with my new buttons too. I did pick up a skein of un-dyed merino/silk laceweight from Artisan Yarns, but the majority of my meagre budget went towards Knitting Shetland Lace, a CD-ROM by Liz Lovick. I am getting increasingly interested in ‘heritage knitting’ (for want of a better word) and Lovick’s CD-ROM is just perfect for me: it compares the knitted lace traditions of Shetland, Iceland, the Faroes, Estonia, Ukraine and Orenburg, has many shawl patterns and guides you all the way towards designing your own shawls.
It has been a very lovely day and yet again a big thank you to everyone who said hello. I am utterly exhausted now, but someone’s almost done preparing my dinner .. then it is time to snuggle up with some fair-isle knitting before bedtime. Tomorrow we have a Ravelry knitting picnic in the Botanics with Ravelry’s Jess & Casey plus Miss Ysolda. See you there around 2pm-ish?
Glad you had a great time…I love that Fair Isle sampler, it’s amazing!!! I’m lucky enough to live close enough to go to Rhinebeck the past couple years (more of a fiber/agricultural event, but still awesome) Also Stitches East is 20 minutes from me for the next couple of years. I’ve also been to the national crochet guild event the past couple of years, too. I think every fiber fan should go to an event at some point. It’s just such fun!!
That sounds so fun!
And wow, those buttons are *gorgeous*.
That sampler is gorgeous – I made a very undignified noise when the picture – and the buttons are gorgeous.
The CD Rom sounds amazing. I actually stumbled across a pdf she made a few years ago on that topic and meant to send it to you [and read it myself since I still haven't had time]
@Tammy: Most knitting events happen in the London area which is difficult for a lot of Northern-based knitters. It was great to have an event in Scotland so many people from the Scottish isles (including Shetland!) could attend. I do have my heart set on either KnitNation or a certain Danish knit camp. It is really so much fun!
@Mahoni: It was fun but oh so exhausting.
@Emma: It was Elaine’s grandmother’s sampler. Totally gorgeous stuff. I had a brief look at the CD-ROM last night but my head’s not in the right place (need sleep). Looks fab, though.
Sorry to have missed the J&S sampler, that’s amazing! And I didn’t realise Angela and Dodiegirl were there either… It was a good day wasn’t it?
It was a very good day. The Rav picnic did have an air of “the day after the night before” feel to it, although it was good too.