This place is amazing and the best choice for this venue, a lot of people were in here, mostly women, very few men. It was nice to be the center of attention as a man who knits and crochet, it seems to be such a strange thing happening, but hey we are in the San Francisco Bay Area and anything is possible.
I was able to help for two consecutive days at the Warm Up America booth. the charity that has warmed peoples' lives since 1991. It started in a small Wisconsin town with neighbors knitting and crocheting afghans for neighbors in need. Thanks to the creativity of founder Evie Rosen who came up with the idea of having volunteers knit or crochet small sections and then others join them together, the idea quickly caught on. Today Warm Up America distributes warm afghans, caps and other items to tens of thousands of people, thanks to the generosity of knitters and crocheters around the country. Above you see me, along with another famous friend, Peter Franzi , Hooker Bear from the Men Who Crochet , CGOA. We both worked at the booth volunteering and representing our chapter in the promoting of the Warm Up America venue.
By volunteering I was granted a badge that allowed me to have free entry for the whole four days. I did get my own tickets for two days just because this event is great and deserves to be sponsor. Benjamin Levisay and his staff, made this a great event. They do need to have a better perspective at the fashion show, but even there it was a great venue to be present. This fashion show was good, but needed some Queer Eye fashion advise, or a better Queer eye Fashion advise. I believe the items could have been showcased a lot better. Maybe next year. Thanks to XRX and the Knitting Universe for a great venue and show.
Another friend that was showcased at the Fashion SHow was Kenny Chua , another talented guy , this is the pattern that was showcased and used at this fashion show. It is a simple yet versatile pattern. Here I am getting famous by proxy. Thanks to him and my friend John Silowsky, we were able to be at the fashion show. Even bigger fortune was to sit beside Karin Skacel and Antonio Gonzalez Arnao of Malabrigo Yarns and Michael Del Vecchio of Universal Yarn.
My friend Kyle was also present and he is another talented man, recently transplanted to the City by the Bay. You can find Kyle at his Website busy as a bee.
Last but not the least our friend Chuck Wilmesher who was working very hard at the Skacel booth. Chuck is working as the Director of New Products at Skacel and his boss Karin Skacel was very kind to us and allowed us to snatched him couple of times to spend some time with us. She is a very kind person and someone so full of ideas, no wonder Skacel Knitting is such a successful company. Karin and her staff are a very creative bunch of people who I am very honored to know and be friends with. Skacel is a great sponsor of the Men Knitting Retreats and very interested in promoting Crochet as well. There is a new line of yarn Simplicity from Skacel that I am hoping to make some designs for.HiKoo Simplicity Yarn is a wonderful, soft, washable yarn with an amazing twist and is available in some of today's most popular colorways.
Stitches West was a great success in my eyes. Lots of vendors, lots of sponsors and a terrific crowd of very talented people. It is worth the time to go and visit even if you don't take any classes. Ali Mac Graw was signing a pattern for another worthy cause, Ali's Cap . This is a place were America and it's friends promote creativity, friendship and altruism in the same venue. I hope I have the opportunity to be of service to the Warm Up America booth again next year. This is Crafty Andy Thank you for stopping by.
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