Good Customer Service Still Exists

I know I didn't talk much about Stitches this year. Probably because I had not been blogging much at the time, and then it seemed too late. But one thing I did want to share was the awesome customer service I received from two of the vendors there.



Vendor #1

ImagiKnit (San Francisco)- I was looking for some Malabrigo Chunky in pink to make another Dumpling Bag for my friend Brooke who is a very fun and full-of-life preteen. The ImagiKnit booth had a lot of Malabrigo. I quickly zoned in on a skein of Shocking Pink, but it was in worsted weight. I asked one of the people working the booth if they had it in chunky. He looked, but didn't find any. Now this is where I would expect him to say " I'm sorry, but we must have sold out." Instead, he said, "We probably have some at the store. Let me call and check. If we have it, we can bring it for you tomorrow." And that's just what they did. In the craziness of the market, they went out of their way to get me one skein of Malabrigo Chunky in Shocking Pink. A perfect example that good customer service is alive and well in today's world.

Vendor #2

Purlescence Yarns (Sunnyvale, CA)- My mom offered to buy me a sweater's worth of yarn as an early birthday present. Since using the Dream in Color Classy in the Baby Tulip Cardigans, I had really wanted to make something for myself with this yarn. The color Chinatown Apple was calling my name. Both Webs and Purlescence carried Dream in Color at their booths. Purlescence had more of the Chinatown Apple. As I was looking through the skeins trying to match them the best that I could, one of the employees came up to me and offered to open them from the wrapped skein so that I could compare the colors more accurately. She stood there with her arms out while I opened the skeins and draped them around her arms. I opened every skein they had and picked the ones that matched the closest. Did I mention that this was Saturday afternoon? The busiest day of the market.

I have not yet had the pleasure to visit these two stores. But after the great customer service I received from them at Stitches, I will definitely visit them when I'm in their area and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to friends.

The Reveal

I went to Stitches West last month and had a great time. This was my sixth year in a row and it gets better every year. I went with my mom, my MIL, Grace, and her friend Shirley. It was a fiber filled girls weekend!

I didn't take many pictures. Unfortunately, I was distracted. My mom came down with the flu the day after we arrived. It was bad. Poor mom. She didn't leave our room for the entire weekend! She missed out on everything. I felt so bad for her. There's nothing worse than being sick away from home. So I made sure she had medicine and food when she felt like she could keep it down. I checked on her often. When it was apparent that she wasn't going to feel well enough to go to the market before the weekend was over, she handed me money and asked, "Will you buy me some yarn?" (Mwaa-haa-haa-haa-haa)

Now some of you might remember that my mom missed Stitches last year because she was sick. Next year, she's getting a flu shot! I have to say that the Stitches staff were great about this situation. They gave her credit for her classes and events that she had paid for at the last minute, no problem. Great customer service!

I took two classes this year. Fair Isle Knitting with Fiona Ellis and the Joy of Steeks with Maureen Mason-Jamieson. I took the class with Fiona because I enjoyed the class I took last year with her. She has a great energy about her. I didn't learn anything new in this class though. I had taken a fair isle class last year. I thought this would reinforce what I had learned. The problem was that Fiona knits english style and holds both yarns in her right hand. I knit continental and learned to hold one color in each hand. So I practiced what I had learned last year. Practice is always a good thing. The steeks class was fun and I learned a lot. It was actually fun cutting my knitting...on a swatch, that is. I'm not so sure about a project I had spent a few months of my life knitting and then taking scissors to it. Maureen was a great teacher and very inspiring.

Here's a picture of the Bellman with 4 womens luggage and stuff the day we left.



Now onto the loot!

Koigu, anyone? I've been charmed by the Babette Blanket deisgned by Kathy Merrick. So I decided to start collecting Koigu for the project. Foxy Knits always has a great selection of Koigu solids at Stitches West, so that was on the top of my list. I'm making a girlie blanket for my future little girl (someday). I bought several shades of pink and pastels. I'm going to add two different shades of red (trust me on this), a neutral such as taupe and possibly a shade of purple. Here are some of my favorites from Ravelry: Baizou's Babette, Angie's Babette, Chatoune's Babette... There's more to look at. Twenty pages in fact. So if you have the time, it's fun to look at the different color combinations. Do you want to see a Koigu closeup?!


I thought so. :)

I also bought some alpaca from Honey Lane Farms.

The colorway is called Jelly. I resisted buying this last year, but couldn't resist two years in a row. I'm thinking about making a cardigan with a shawl collar.

Also on my list of things to buy was this design software program.


Cochenille's Garment Designer and Stitch Painter. This has been on my list for the past couple of years and I finally took the plunge. I didn't buy this because I want to start designing. I don't. But sometimes I'll have a specific idea of what I want to make with something in my stash and can't find a pattern that matches my idea. And this will be ideal for very simple sweaters. You just plug in your gauge, pick your silhouette along with details for the neck and sleeves and it gives you a pattern. It will be fun to play with.


Last, but not least, are my impulse buys.

Lace yarn! I'm lured by the lace ever since seeing the garments in person last year from Victorian Lace Today. They are stunning! All of these yarns are from the Yarn Place booth. From left to right we have Gentle in Dark Ruby. This yarn is 5% cashmere and 95% Australian Merino. Next is Heaven, which is 45% Tencel/55% Merino Wool. It's a very bright chartreuse like color. And it's cobweb laceweight! I don't know why, but I was drawn to it the whole weekend, so I bought it on the last day. And last is Touch which is 5% cashmere/10% tencel/85% merino wool. The color is called Wedgewood Blue. Someday, this will be a shawl for Grace. I let her pick out the color and told her the surprise will be when she gets it. Could be this year or next, for a birthday, mother's day or Christmas. All of these yarns are super soft! Maybe I'll focus on knitting lace this summer.

Stitches West did not disappoint this year and my mom has fully recovered. That's all for now. Next time I'll share some WIPs with you.

Stitches West, (Part 1)

You can create these cards here.

I attended Stitches West for my fourth year in a row. For me, the event gets better and better. This year was special because some of my knit sisters were there!

From left to right: Jillian, Madge, Marie, me (sitting) & Mary. I didn't think Stitches could get any better, but it did! It was much more fun having friends there to meet up with.

We had four days of knitting, shopping, taking classes and talking about yarn. Did I mention shopping? We did some major shopping people. When it comes to yarn, we are enablers at their best. Go check out their blogs and you'll see what I mean. At this point, you'll have to scroll back to Feb. I'm a little behind here in the news. Since my life isn't going to get any less busy in the near future, I'll have to post my experience in snippets.

Next up - photos of my loot!