a lot of sun and string at today's boston knitout! it was a four-hour extravaganza of yarn craziness smack dab in the middle of the city, happily sprawled across one area of boston common. the weather couldn't have been more perfect for a day outside. stitchers were everywhere to be seen, with large expanses of color on people's laps and women spontaneously shrieking "that pattern is gorgeous, what's that you're making?" i got a lot of positive comments about my corkscrew scarf, from loop-d-loop in the berroco quest, which i toted along as my project for the day. a lot of ruffly scarves were spotted among the crowd, although i secretly think mine was the prettiest ;) it's definitely the oceanic robot colorway, for sure.

i was the volunteer contest coordinator, so i got to manage the fastest needles contest (who could knit the most stitches in 4 minutes), the fastest hook contest (who could do the most double crochet in 4 minutes), and the interweave press scarf style contest. the speed contests were superhilarious, with the dj playing cheesy stuff like chariots of fire, and the emcee cheering on the contestants with the energy of an nfl sportscaster. everyone's hands worked furiously with the same-for-everyone camel-colored yarn. props to the single male contestant... especially competing against women who have been crocheting for more than 40 years. go figure.

after being in the sun all day, i think i may be feeling a little loopy, though i have to mention that i met NORAH GAUGHAN! totally by accident, too! *swoon* so there were tents set up for various vendors and sponsors, and berroco had its little table with yarn samples and patterns and such. i personally think berroco patterns are terrifyingly ugly (you'll be convinced after perusing youknitwhat), but i stopped by the table since i wanted to show them the scarf i was making with the quest yarn. i started chatting with the lady behind the booth, and i glanced at her nametag and i almost fainted when i realised i was talking to norah herself. i definitely had a moment of starstruckedness. silly, i know, and i think i embarassed myself at how gushy i became at that very moment, but this gal designs impressive stuff! she told me she's publishing a book that's sort of a sequel to loop-d-loop, one that's more 'intelligent knitting' (that's the way she described it), with patterns based on mathematical algorithms and patterns found in nature. i cannot wait for it to come out in june 2006. i suppose she's one of the faces of berroco, so i must give them some credit, but i still think their patterns are unforgivably fugly. apologies.

i also met perri klass, elaine eskesen, and jil eaton, knitwear designers and authors. they were special guests who did book signings and judged the scarf style contest. i find it incredibly impressive that we managed to get these folks out to boston for this event. kudos to everyone who put on this show... are we ready for next year?

more about knitwear later. but i have to say... H&M, i would loooooove your sweaters if you invested just a teensy bit more and used a yarn that's not 30% mohair and 70% acrylic, a combination that's itchy and scratchy just thinking about it. the designs a lovely, but if only i could bear to touch it. i'll pay $10 more for a pinch of wool or cashmere. please.

but some curiousness. so here we have the H&M window display, which i espied while in downtown crossing yesterday. the 'collection' outfits are pretty attractive. i actually dig the megabobble sweater.
















but then i saw this.















who knew that socks with sandals would make it to the runway? no, me neither. :) although i'm skeptical on its ready-to-wear applicability (hello, MIT), but yay for putting mini-sweaters on cold feet.