Back To Life

My trip home was happily uneventful. The most excitingly unexpected thing was getting in fifteen minutes early.

Whenever I travel, my first priority in terms of packing is knitting projects.

Yeah, I'm glad I brought three.

When I took this photo in my hotel room yesterday morning, I felt a little foolish, but as it turns out, I was not misdirected at all; my instincts were spot-on.

On my flight home, I determined that the project top left (a bolero-to-be) was ill-fated due to yarn insufficiency, and so there was little point in continuing. Two projects left.

As an aside, if there's not enough yarn for a cropped, short-sleeved bolero, I'm not sure that there's enough yarn for anything I'd care to make (not suitable for socks or gloves, not enough for a sweater, not going to make unmentionables), and as it's completely dissimilar to any other yarn in my stash, any project in which yarns are combined will needs be on the creative side.

Since I neglected to bring a tape measure in my carry-on (my knitting kit in a little tin also contains scissors which I thought should fly in the hold instead of with me), I was unable to check fit, size or gauge on the grey/pink project, so I stopped in order to prevent massive rippage due to a garment better fitted to a giant than I. Not big enough yet is more happily remedied.

Which left the third project, socks composed of hexagons, of which one is complete. Hexagon, not sock.

Booyah! I brought exactly as many knitting projects as I needed, and in fact one could argue that I was cutting things dangerously close.

Before the market closed, I went back to Scott and bought this huge bead because let me tell you, size does matter.

I have no idea how I'll use this bead, but I will, because it's gorgeous.

And big.

And because I always neglect to buy these capped resin beads, which I know are all over the place and probably nothing special, but I really like them, so I finally gave in.

There were seed beads too, and the odd Czech beads. Brass toggle clasps, Sterling s-hooks, other useful findings. I didn't find the pearls I wanted, but there's always the Inter Webs.

This was a fabulous show. I have no complaints at all.

I have taught at bigger shows where the students are ill-prepared for the classes in terms of requisite and specified skill level, and then are grumpy when they find the project too difficult. This was nothing like that.

As always, each class presented with a range of experience and skill levels. One of my classes, listed as intermediate level, because I really wanted students to have at least one of peyote stitch or herringbone, contained at least one student who had never done any off-loom bead-weaving IN HER LIFE EVER AT ALL. And it was not a tiny class, which meant that I couldn't realistically spend half the time sitting next to her, and helping her.

I was a little concerned.

She was incredibly good-natured about the mismatch, and actually, much to my delight, walked out with a partial project, and the ability to complete it (I believe). It always helps when you have little chants, like "two on top of two, one everywhere else", or "thread exits a red and goes into a red" to help people remember where they are, and what they're doing, and how to continue.

Email can be misleading, because not everyone writes the way they speak, and I was very pleasantly surprised by so many people when I met them in person. People were universally more interesting, friendlier, and altogether more fun than some of the email exchanges might have indicated. I shouldn't be so judgey.

It was a fabulous teaching experience, and the organisers are wonderful.

Once again, I realise that it's not a huge show, so it's actually possible for them to meet every teacher in person, but still. I was humbled by the fact that even as I was surrounded by stars of beading, the good people from The Bead Factory thanked me for being there. I'm not famous, I'm not iconic; I may be a star in my own mind, but realistically, I know I'm not even a minor candle in the constellation of beading stars.

It was quite wonderful to feel appreciated.

I hope they let me come back.