Stitches West: a parting gift.

In February, my dear Godsister, Tina, passed away from cancer. We knew her time was near, but her illness was so sudden, and she left behind 2 darling little boys. We’ll all miss her terribly.

After I finished crying (at least for the first time that day) and found out when Tina’s funeral was scheduled, I thought to myself “I wonder when Stitches West is? How cool would that be if I can go since I’m there, anyway?” I had suspected that it was around February, so I looked it up. Her funeral was 4 days before the start of SW, and it was in the SF Bay Area! Tina knew I am an avid knitter (I even made her a chemo cap, which she thankfully never needed). My Godmother (Tina’s Mom), Mom & sisters even got to go to SW a few years back when I told them about it. But even though I dreamt of going, it’s just way too far away for me to justify a flight from here to CA in the middle of February. So, I choose to believe that my being able to go to SW after Tina’s services was a parting gift from Tina to me, and a wonderful silver lining to the trip that had to be taken.

 Imagine my surprise when I saw this photo in the slide show they played at Tina’s services. That’s her & her boys, and LOOK, she’s knitting!! I found out later she was just learning to knit over the past few years.

As for SW, it was really incredible. I wasn’t able to sign up for classes since it was a late decision to attend, but I did get to the Ravelry meetup, where I real-life “Friended” orcoastknitter, creative & baygirl. I also got to finally meet Kathy & Steve Elkins, and Kirsten Hipsky from WEBS (where I spent the most of my yarn “budget”). It was really neat to have access to SO many LYSes all in one place. I had to exercise much restraint however, for fear of 1) not being able to get everything home in my luggage, and 2) not being able to afford food for the rest of the year  I did pretty ok, I think…just don’t show dh my credit card bill!

It was a little weird when people noticed that I was there all the way from Hawaii and they asked in wonder, “Did you come over just for Stitches?” But everyone was very, very nice, and I had a great time. It was a much-needed happy event after our sadness of losing Tina.

I forgot to take a photo of all my new stash together (and now it’s all sealed up in Space Bags). But if I can figure it out, I’ll put some flickr photos up here.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who were so nice at SW, and of course, thanks Tina!