Stitches West 2020

Every February Stitches West comes to Santa Clara, CA and I am always there to check out the latest fashions, great yarns, cool tools, and more.  Stitches offers a number of classes along with their market event.  What I did was just attend the last day of the market.  Here you see all the cool things and so many yarns.  There are many other items to shop for like, buttons, ceramics, jewelry, fabric, and bags.  It's one stop shopping market for knitters and crocheters alike.

Have you ever been?  Let me know in the comments below.  Share with me what you thought about it. 

I want to share my highlights of the event.  

For me to see and feel the designs created by so many amazing designers is priceless.  You get to touch the yarns that were used and see how the items drape on the body.  You see close up each stitch and understand how the designer selected the yarns they use.

I noticed color was the theme this year.  Many items were created using multiple colors through the piece.  The color combinations were amazing.  You could see where they changed colors within a few stitches or by rows.  They had sweaters where each sleeve was a different color then what was chosen for the body of the sweater.  You saw amazing color pattern combinations throughout a piece.  Beading was also big this year and I've not seen that for a few years.  You combine beads within the pattern or used on the edge of shawl.  None of the beaded patterns were over taken by the beads it's just they added the sparkle that really enhanced the yarn pattern.

I was really impressed with what I saw and it's encouraged me to work more color into my patterns.  Not to fear all the color changing but embrace the possibility of how it will enhance your pattern.

After seeing all these amazing yarns, patterns and more, what did I go home with you ask. 

I purchased a few items I could not pass up and trust me there was so much to see that it was hard to settle on just these few items.

There are pros and con about going on the final day of the event.  First of, if you are lucky, some of the vendor give a sale on their items.  They are not wanting to pay for shipping it back home and I can't blame them for that either.  So it has nothing to do with the item not being worth it's price tag.  And on this day I got lucky.

I have a plan when I attend this event and that is to set a time limit and a price limit.  Trust me you could stay all day and spend much more then you have.  So many things are just that great.  The fact you can find so many items in one place you really do want to take advantage of it.

There is always a catalog of vendor and where they are located.  If you have a vendor in mind this reference makes is much easier to find them.  Once I have seen who is at the market I usually circle them on the page to easily find them again.  Now that that is done I head out.  This year I skipped that part and just took off walking each and every isle. Sometimes more than once.

I found a number of new vendors this year and so pleased to see that.  It great when they bring in new vendors yet they keep the big stores in the listing.  So they have a good range of big and small companies along with many small business.  I think it was well rounded this year.

Right as I entered the doors there was a fabulous display with so many bright and cheerful colors of yarn, patterns and supplies from Stunning String Studio.  Here I picked up some notions likes stitch markers and note tags.  I may go back and get a few patterns from their site that I found really beautiful.

Next up I purchased yarn from a local yarn dyer.  Wow!  Beautiful colors so of course I got a few skeins from her.  Yarn Matrix out of Santa Cruz Mountains.  She dyes sock yarn, worsted and dk weight yarns.  You know how I love me some hand dyed yarn from locals.

I did stop a other local shops in my area just see what they were carrying and as always, great stuff.  But since they are local I knew I could always go there.  These are shops like The Royal Bee in Pacifica, Imagiknits in San Francisco, and The Monarch in Monterrey.   Now all of these you can shop online as well.  I give Imagiknits two thumbs up since I have made a few online purchases from them and they mail it out right away. 

Next up was a new shop Mag Pie Fibers.  I was roped in right away since they to carry hand dyed yarns and soooo many to choose from.  It took me a few minutes to decide on which ones needed to go home with me.  They are located in Frederick, MD.  I have a plan to work up my Elizabeth cowl with these and the yarn carries 10% cashmere in it to give an elegant feel.  The sock yarn is 400 yards with Merino, Cashmere and Nylon.  The colors are amazing.  I selected variegated colors with a solid color to match.  I'll share samples on these combos soon.

Last on my list was stopping at Webs, the biggest yarn online shop.  They give discounts on bulk purchases and carry everything under the sun.  This time no yarn but I did purchased a pattern stand.  This is not a new thing since they have been around a long time but I needed one.  Not sure what happened to my last one.  It's great to hold your pattern while you work and you can use the magnet strip to track where you are on your pattern.

I spent two and 1/2 hours there and that was going through it pretty quickly.  I missed a few vendors I wanted to see but my feet were tired and my pocket book was empty. Funny how that always happens to me here.

If you have any questions about these items or the event, let me know.

Trust me when I say I could have purchases so much more but I controlled myself and besides, I can always go online later to make more purchases.

Let me know if this information was helpful by commenting below.  Thanks!!

https://imagiknit.com/
https://www.yarn.com/
https://www.magpiefibers.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/YarnMatrix
https://www.stunningstring.com/