Master Knitter Monday #16: TKGA Wrap-Up

I’m back from an amazing 5 days at the TKGA conference in Greensboro, NC.  The whole experience was phenomenal.  I took a good number of classes, and went to several events, and also met so many wonderful people and had such great conversations!

The ‘On Your Way to the Masters’ day on Wednesday was fantastic.  Spending the day with other knitters going through the program was really great!  And getting feedback on my swatches was invaluable.  I’ve regained my enthusiasm for the program and I’ll renew my efforts to get my level 2 done and submitted.  I had kind of stalled on my progress (as I’m sure you blog readers probably noticed!) but now I’m excited to get back to work and get it done very soon.

My Wednesday night class was ‘Intarsia and Argyles’ with Arenda Holladay.  She is a wonderful teacher!!  I am much more confident in tackling Intarsia now, and after a bit more practice I’ll start my argyle sock for level 2.

My Thursday afternoon class was ‘Colorful Cables’ with Melissa Leapman – another wonderful teacher!!  I learned several different ways to do 2 color cables.  Very neat!!  I’d love to design a sweater for my boys using the one with the blocks of color on each side (the top right one in the photo below).

All day Friday I took ‘Math for Knitters’ and ‘More Math for Knitters’ with Edie Eckman.  FANTASTIC!  I learned so much on Friday.  I think I’m still absorbing all that learning 3 days later.  I’ve gained quite a bit of confidence about figuring out the numbers for sweaters.  I have lots of ideas for sweater designs floating around in my head now!

Game night on Friday night was so much fun!  Last Knitter Standing is a great game – everyone was laughing so hard the whole time!  I’m hoping the Charlotte Yarn ladies sold lots of copies of the game!

The TKGA dinner and fashion show on Saturday night was wonderful as well.  I chickened out on modeling my own entries into the show, but it was very neat seeing my shawl and sweater being modeled on the ‘catwalk’, and having Lily Chin rib me about being an overacheiver with my Ravelympics sweater. 🙂

I also splurged a bit at the Shopping Floor – but I stayed within my budget (for the most part!)  Found a new-to-me indie dyer (Unplanned Peacock Studio), and got some roving from an Alpaca farm based in Kentucky (Flaggy Meadow Fiberworks).  I also got some gorgeous glass buttons and a couple necklaces, as well as finally getting a pair of earrings from Sassafras Creations (been wanting a pair for forever!)

Overall, it was a fantastic 5 days that I will never forget!!