VK Live: part 2

Saturday morning rolled around all too quickly, and we were up and at 'em again for the next day of classes. Once again, I was teaching morning and afternoon, and tried to dash up the room for a quick rest between classes. I know I said this in my last VK post, but the students in my classes were extraordinary. It makes such a difference when your students are eager to learn and so engaged in what you are discussing.

By Saturday night -- after teaching four classes in two days -- I was really starting to feel fatigued. However, someone had thoughtfully passed on extra tickets to the banquet to Kathy and me, so instead of crashing at 6 p.m. (which I was sorely tempted to do), we freshened up to attend the banquet.

Street sign

The banquet room was huge and jam-packed with people. There were two presentations made by the VK folks in between courses. Trisha Malcolm began with a charming overview of the history of Vogue Knitting, followed by a sneak peek at the upcoming issue (including showing us unretouched photos from the most recent photo shoots). It was fun to get an early look at the upcoming magazine, and there plenty of gorgeous garments in there. We happened to be sitting at the same table as the talented Brooke Nico, and were very excited to see one of her fabulous lace garments shown. We were also sitting with Ruth Garcia-Alcantud, who has a lovely sock design in the latest Twist Collective.

Radio City

The second presentation was for the winners of the Magic of Mohair contest, a competition sponsored by a nonprofit South African trade group designed to publicize and educate the public about mohair. We were treated to a fashion show of the finalists, and there were some absolutely spectacular entries. The competition was divided into a student category and a regular category. The young woman who won the student category was so visibly thrilled that she captured everyone's heart. Laura Zukaite (who designs a lot for ArtYarns) was the winner of the designer category with a gorgeous dress. I tried to take some photos of some of the finalists because the level of creativity and skill was so amazing, but only one of them came out (this was from my cell phone):

One of the mohair competition finalists

After the banquet, Kathy and I reconvened with our pal Sally for a sleepover in my room. We giggled, gossiped, read Tiger Beat and ended the evening with a tickle fight.

Purl Soho

Or at least a snoring competition, which I am sure I won. (Any time I travel and spend a lot of time in recycled air, it wreaks havoc on my sinuses. Getting old sucks.)

Kersti & Kathy

Sunday was another blur of classes (again -- super-amazing students who made the time fly), quick trips through the marketplace and saying goodbyes to the lovely people around us -- although I was very pleased that I managed to see the amazing Mochiland display in the marketplace. The level of detail was incredible. For some reason, none of my photos of it came out, but you can see a great shot of it on the Mini Mochiland blog here.

After not seeing my kids for four days, I was very eager to get home and after my last class, I bolted. I got lucky: found a cab quickly, got to the station quickly, and grabbed the next train home.

It's been a week now, and I still feel mentally energized from the show and also physically fatigued! But I had a fabulous time. There is nothing more exhilarating to me then getting to spend a lot of time around other fiber-lovers, to see their knitted items, to exchange ideas, and just to be surrounded by people who love yarn and knitting as much as I do.



And getting to do it in the amazing city of New York was just the icing on the cake.