Interweave Knitting Lab

Welcome to the Knitting Lab

Hats off to Interweave

for their first annual Interweave Knitting Lab,

November 3-6, 2011.

I was thrilled to head back to my old college stomping grounds

in San Mateo, California on Saturday for their

special events with Alice Starmore.

 The Knitting Lab event appeared to me to be a huge success.

Everyone on the Interweave team wore lab coats and were professional, friendly and helpful.

I met Beth, Interweave Sr. Marketing Manager and she told me that they wanted the Knitting Lab

to be "the magazine coming alive". 

She summed it up best when she said

"the Knitting Lab is an educational conference with a marketplace". 

I chatted with a few fellow knitters and they all raved about the classes and instructors. 

Here is a recap of my day at Knitting Lab...

 Knitter's Market

My first stop was the Knitter's Market.

The Knitter's Market was a small marketplace,

 free of charge to Knitting Lab attendees and the general public. 

I met a lot of nice vendors and retailers walking through it.

 The Habu Ladies

I saw some familiar faces at the Market,

 like the lovely Habu ladies.

 Yummy Yarns

Yes, there were yummy yarns
at the Knitter's Market!

Designing Women

(Left to right: Ann Budd, Joan McGowan-Michael, Vivian Hoxbro & Annie Modesitt)

Of course, the best part of the Knitting Lab were all

the Designing Women!

Each day along with classes,

there were book signings with

favorite knitting authors and designers. 

Eunny Jang

I also ran into Interweave Knits magazine Editor,

Knitwear Designer, Author and TV knitting celebrity...

Eunny Jang.

Eunny was so cute and nice. 

 I couldn't wait to tell her how much I enjoy  Knitting Daily
every Tuesday morning at my house.

Alice Starmore

Naturally, I've saved the best for last...

the legendary Alice Starmore was at Knitting Lab

 as a keynote speaker for "My Colorful Life"

as well as a book signing.

I was a bit curious how Interweave managed to get Alice Starmore to come out for Knitting Lab.  

While chatting with  Karin Strom, Editorial Director,

I found out that Alice is long time friends

with Interweave founder, Linda Ligon. 

Last night when Karen Strom introduced Alice for her talk,

she told us that it took Alice 27 hours to travel from her home

on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland to San Francisco, California. 

Alice said it had been 13 years since she has visited the

United States.  

How grateful we knitters are that she made the extremely long journey.

At the book signing earlier in the afternoon,

I asked Alice what else she will be doing on her visit

to Northern California. 

She told me that she loves the Pacific Coast and Pacific Ocean

and is looking forward to spending time north of San Francisco

at the coast again.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Alice Starmore

and another knitting dream come true for me.

Stay tuned for my upcoming post on meeting

this legendary knitter.