Portland: Day One

Portland was a blur. Jenna and I flew into this fair city to our north last Thursday evening and began a whirlwind three days of Knit and Crochet Show participation, meet-ups with friends, eating, shopping and general jaunting about town.

Friday morning began with a bit of breakfast, pretty standard hotel eats, and a short Max ride to the Oregon Convention Center for the Knit and Crochet Show where Jenna and I then parted ways. She went to go get magical with the mobius while I immersed myself in hairpin lace. Now, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, then you are probably aware that I am a sucker for process. Yep, I love to learn new techniques! So, when perusing the class listings for the Portland Knit and Crochet Show, I was immediately attracted to Jennifer Hansen's class and she did not disappoint!

The all day hairpin lace extravaganza was divided into two distinct parts: general technique in the morning and learning how to join the lace strips in the afternoon. It took me a while to get used to holding the loom and managing my yarn with one hand and working my hook with my remaining hand. Eventually, despite the trial and error, I did get into a groove and was churning out strips of lace faster than I originally expected. I still felt like a hairpin lace tard though.





After lunch, it was all about "the joins". As Jennifer explained, once you get the general technique of making hairpin lace down, the artistry happens when the strips are connected. She taught us several techniques beginning with the cable join. All joins were very interesting to work with and I was amazed by the variety of connections available. Also, Jennifer is a great teacher! If any of you ever have a chance to take this class at one of these shows, I highly recommend it. Hairpin lace is an awesome technique.

Intrigued? Go to Jennifer's website for more info and tutorials. Oh, you can buy her wooden hairpin lace looms there too...

After classes finished for the day, Jenna and I hightailed it back to the hotel for a meet and greet with one of my favorite bloggers on the planet...Jimbo!


Jimbo standing next to his latest and greatest hook, Diplohookticus.

This master of the hook and his lovely wife, Carol, whisked us away to their son's humble abode where we were wined and dined in style with their amazing family. Our evening runneth over with wonderful food, outstanding wines from the region, homegrown micro brews to make even the seasoned aficionado weep, not to mention great conversation and lots of laughter. I hated to leave! It was a special evening of very special people. And if this experience alone wasn't enough, Jim gifted me with a lovely rubescent hook...



It's stunning!

Jimbo, you're the best, bar none.

More to come...